Chris Baldwin and Tyler Norris recently spoke at the YouToo Social Media Conference presented by Akron PRSA in Kent, Ohio. Their session focused on True’s checklist for posting social media updates. The following post highlights insights from the presentation.
Whether it’s from a content calendar, under direction from a marketing manager or off the top of your head, you post new content on social channels daily. You type a sentence or two, maybe include a photo or a link and you send it of into the social ether with your fingers crossed – hoping for retweets, waiting for shares, longing for engagement. Instead of relying on the fictive social gods to lift your post onto the wings of social prosperity, apply some strategy to help. We recently finished a book called the Checklist Manifesto for our agency book club. The book is a nonfiction account of how some of the most complex professionals (surgeons, pilots and civil engineers) have implemented checklists to be more efficient and save lives. While social media and marketing strategy may not save lives, we thought we could learn a thing or two. The result was a checklist to make sure every social update, no matter what the focus, is as engaging is it can be.
Value doesn’t have to be a discount, a freebie or contest. We define value as anything that would make your followers say “thanks.” Sometimes this is affirming quotes, humor or helpful tips. It all depends on your audience. What do they want from you?
Make sure anything you post caters to your band messaging. It sounds selfish and may not directly influence engagement, but remember what you’re here to do: benefit your brand. A lot of times we see organizations break this rule when posting topical content that has nothing to do with their brand. For example, “Yay! It’s the first day of Spring!” or “Can you believe the How I met Your Mother finale? #disappointed.” Maybe these are relevant in some cases, but odds are, you should steer clear. Stick to topics that allow you to create a direct connection.
How does your brand talk to its followers? Things like user personas and competitive research are particularly beneficial here. The more you know about your audience, the more you can effectively talk with them. Beyond some of these traditional tactics we use a basic Excel function to determine which words and phrases resonate with audiences. “=AverageIf” tells you the average of a range of data based on a specific criterion in a separate range. Put simply, it can tell the average reach or engagement of posts including specific words or phrases. Just export your data to excel. Using the syntax below, include your posts in the column A range, the word or phrase (surrounded by asterisks and quotes) and your metrics in column B. =AverageIf([post copy],”*[word or phrase]*”,[metric you’re measuring])
Last but not least, make sure users can understand your posts. It’s scary how often I come across updates online that make no sense. If I view the media or click the link, I can piece it together, but it’s 2014 and this is the Internet! It should be easier! You may not agree, but your followers think this way. We like to give posts a new-follower test. Will the post make sense to someone who just heard about your brand? This is typically your basic who, what, where, when, why and can be tougher than it sounds when dealing with 140 characters, but it’s worth the additional clicks. So think before you post. Stop relying on social magic and be a social master!
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