Social media best practices may be simple, but that doesn’t mean they are easy.
We’ve all encountered that guy - the one who starts talking about himself or his business and just doesn’t shut up. Whether at a cocktail party, business reception or networking event, he’s the guy to avoid. No one likes to hear someone talk nonstop, one-sidedly, about themselves or their successes. So why do so many companies and individuals enter the social media space and do exactly that?
Our formula: 70/20/10
As Kelly Malone mentioned last week, our Fahlgren Mortine social media practice group has developed a formula to guide individual and corporate interactions on the social Web. This formula was originally created for our clients’ use on Twitter, but we’ve since begun using it to guide content strategy for blogs and interactions across all other social sites. The formula is based on more than a dozen years of observing, studying and participating in online communications between consumers and businesses. The ratio breaks down as follows:
- 70% of content is value-added, audience-based and not about your business or service at all. It’s comprised of whatever news or information your followers, fans, prospects or customers most want to hear and learn about. This can involve sharing industry information, links to great blog posts or articles you’ve found, tips about how to do something better, or insight into national trends. Above all, it’s about sharing and giving information that benefits them - not you. For a great example, follow @DiscoverOhio (disclaimer: they’re a client) or @JOwyang.
- 20% of content is spontaneous interaction with your followers, fans or friends. This can include answering questions, asking questions or even light-hearted banter back and forth about the weather, family or sports. This is the part where you show you’re listening and respond as a human being, not as a business. This is where true engagement happens. Watch how @SouthwestAir holds entertaining conversations with their customers, or how creatively @PFChangs responds to brand mentions in the Twittersphere.
- Last but not least, 10% of content can be unabashedly self-promotional. You know what? After all that great sharing and giving you did in your 70% content, and all the genuine human interactions you had in your 20% content, no one will mind you tooting your horn 10% of the time. This 10% can be about your business, recent accolades, links to articles you were featured in, or just a note promoting a new blog post. Go ahead - you’ve earned it. For an example of how to do this sparingly and well, I really like how @ChrisBrogan approaches self-promotion.
Is all this easy to do? No. It requires research and information mining to provide enough good quality content in that 70% that people will really find it worthwhile to follow you. Would it be a lot easier to be 70% self-promotional on Twitter or your blog, and share added value content only 10% of the time? Of course it would.
But think about the companies and individuals using Twitter and other social sites well. Think about how they communicate, what they share and why they’re worth following. They’re probably sticking pretty closely to this 70/20/10 ratio, whether they realize it or not.
Over the longterm, this is how you gain and keep followers - and how you build meaningful relationships in social media that will eventually translate into meaningful in-person relationships that drive your business.
