Using the Social Media 80/20 Rule to Build Relationships
You may have heard of the 80/20 rule for social media, but is your business practicing it? If you aren’t practicing it, you could be alienating your audience. At the end of the day, social media is about building relationships. Of course, you have to take advantage of the platform to sell as well, but your main focus should be on the relationships and how you can add value to the lives of your followers.
What is the 80/20 Rule?
The 80/20 rule is a basic guideline that encourages posting content that is non-promotional for 80% of the time, and using the other 20% to sell your business. You might be thinking that 80% of posts that don’t promote your business could allow you to miss out on sales or leads, but social media is meant to be social. People are not interested in seeing product ad after product ad. This starts to look spammy to users and once they unfollow your page, they are unlikely to come back.
Now you’re probably thinking, what do I post for 80% of the time if I’m not supposed to sell my products? Check out the following ideas to help make your social media post scheduling a breeze!
Non-Promotional Post Types to Help Engage Your Followers
Social media allows businesses to have a voice and a personality. People want to interact with a business in their community like they do with other people in their network. I like to think of the non-promotional posts as being “personality” posts. Each of these posts gives insight into what type of “personality” your business has.
For example, if you are a home furnishings company, you could publish a multiple choice type of post asking users to vote on their favorite curtain design. This shows that your business’ personality is interested in learning what followers have to say. You want these posts to relate to your business in a non-direct way so that they make sense. It would be odd to see the same home furnishing company post a multiple choice question about choosing your favorite kind of ice cream (unless they were able to relate the post to the business).
Here are some ideas of non-promotional post types to get you started:
- This or that
- Multiple choice
- Fill in the blank
- How to’s, life hacks, or advice
- Seasonal holidays
- Participation at local events
- Team bios
- Behind-the-scenes glimpses of your business
- Inspirational quotes
Social media is the perfect outlet for your business to get creative and show off that creativity! Need help with your social media strategy? Give us a call at 608-519-3070 or shoot me an e-mail at amanda@theblugroup.com.
Sources: cinchshare.com, houselens.com