3 Social Content Principles Brands Need To Understand

A lot of organizations are still posting content that shows a clear misunderstanding of social media. The purpose of this article is to outline a few concepts that can help:

1. No One Cares About Anyone But Themselves

This is an exaggeration, but it’s where you should START when deciding what to post.

Social Media is a world of “Me! Me! Me!” Everyone is building their own brand, and thinking about how they appear to their own friends and followers. If you want them to share your content you need to think about how they appear to their social networks when they do. Ask yourself “What does liking or sharing this post say about the liker/sharer?”.

2. Content Is NOT King… Value is King

In 2011 Eric Schmidt informed us that more content is created in 48 hours than had been created throughout the history of mankind up until 2003.

In 2012 a study was released that every minute:100,000 tweets are sent, 684,478 pieces of content are shared on Facebook, 48 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube, and 3,600 photos are shared on Instagram.

It’s 2013, and these numbers are only going up. There is an unfathomable amount of content being created ALL THE TIME, so if you think people are going to share, or even look at your content just because you put it out there… think again. You need to give people a reason to be interested in your content. You need to ADD VALUE in a way that is relevant to your audience.

Think about your business and your audience. Learn from the posts that have engaged the most people in the past. Value can be humor, it can be entertainment, it can be providing unique insightful information… the truth is you don’t really decide what’s valuable, your fans/followers do. Don’t be afraid to stray from the exact thing that your product or business does to add value.

3. CTA’s Should be Used Infrequently and Strategically… “RT if you love weekends!” Is Not Helping Your Brand

It amazes me how many brands are still putting calls to action in so much of their content. “RT if you love weekends!” may very well get you a whole bunch of retweets, but it also means more people will see your brand saying “RT if you love weekends!”, which in the vast majority of circumstances will make consumers roll their eyes. Yes, engagement boosts the reach of your content, but if that piece of content has nothing of value in it or worse yet is condescending… you’re doing more harm than good with a CTA.

Be conscious of how often you’re asking something of your audience as compared to providing something of value to them (The vast majority of CTA’s are asks). Social Media is about building relationships and for these relationships to work you need to give significantly more than you ask. Gary Vaynerchuk’s new book “Jab Jab Jab Right Hook” will dive into this concept with a ridiculous number of specific examples. I highly recommend ordering a copy.