It’s July here in Maryland, and it’s growing season. Full disclosure – every year, I plant a vegetable garden, and, every year, I get a handful of tomatoes and a single cucumber for my efforts. Our soil is mostly red clay and good for little but making muddy dog feet, but I keep trying.
However, this year, the garden seems to be doing well. It looks like I’ll have tomatoes galore, lots of cucumbers, and some random squash. And, thanks to the wonders of MiracleGro and what appears to be a magic container, jalapenos for the entire Mid-Atlantic region.
Which brings me to a challenging concept – more isn’t always better.
You see, having a few jalapenos in the crisper can be amazing. They evoke the promise of nachos, spicy margaritas, and jalapeno poppers. However, the idea of baskets and baskets of jalapenos is overwhelming. Unless you are a canner (or have friends with spicy palates), it seems wasteful and just too much.
The same can be said of social media content volume. More is not always better.
There are schools of thought in social media marketing that believe putting something – anything – in front of an audience is worthwhile. Entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, whom I admire a great deal, posits in several videos that just putting a lot of content out onto social media will net you some kind of interest and, therefore, a potential sale. And he’s not wrong – when you throw a lot of stuff out there, it’s bound to resonate with someone.
However, when your resources (namely, time and money) are limited, thoughtful social media content may get you even more of a return. It could mean the difference between your audience seeing your post and scrolling by because it’s the 10th meme in a row you’ve posted in 24 hours or them taking the time to engage with you because what you’ve posted resonates deeply with them.
So, what do I mean by thoughtful content? Let’s talk about it.
Make it worth their time – and yours.
Posts containing survey questions can be useful, but they need to be constructed so that they serve a purpose. Asking your customers to comment with their favorite song is only useful if you’re thinking about changing the music you’re playing in your storefront or restaurant dining room. Posting random questions simply to check a box that you’re putting out content wastes everyone’s time and could cause your target audience to ignore the messages you really need them to read.
Meme wisely.
I get it – a well-timed meme can bring a laugh and a smile and can certainly brighten someone’s day. But when you are posting on a business profile, you want to use memes sparingly and tactically. Does the tone and feel of the meme work with your brand? Will it elicit positive engagement from your audience? Does it help promote your business? If the answer to any of these questions is “no,” I encourage you to save the memeing for your personal social media accounts. (I’ll cover this a little more here where I discuss personal versus business social media profiles.)
Engage. Engage. Engage.
There is a difference between talking at your audience (which can happen when the volume of posts is so great that they simply tune out) and engaging with them. Your fans and customers are an incredible asset, and their thoughts and opinions can provide you with an amazing opportunity for product or service development. Asking strategic questions at the right time could help you solve service problems, create new offerings, and build customer loyalty.
As a small business owner or manager, your time and money are precious. Rather than spend those two assets throwing loads of jalapenos at everyone all the time, you could be serving up tasty nachos and margaritas in a thoughtful fashion. As a social media consumer, which would you prefer?
(If you would like some help with your social media content, feel free to reach out – I’d love to hear from you!)
