In this post I wanted to answer two questions:
1. How much is too much when it comes to posting online and
2. How much is too much when it comes to sharing personal information on your business profiles?
To answer the first part, I wish I could give you the exact amount of content you need to post to your social media profiles to get the most exposure and response from your audience, but I can’t. Without looking at your profiles and reviewing the content and engagement, I can’t give you the exact formula.
Pause for this commercial break: I am offering 5 social media reviews to anyone reading this. The cost is $150 and you’ll get a recorded video of me going through all your social media profiles. I’ll even review your website and blog if you have them. If you’re interested, email [email protected] to reserve one of the five reviews available.
Back to our regularly scheduled program…
Lots of studies show that posting a minimum of 4 times a week and no more than 4 times a day on Facebook is a good range, however it’s still a big range.
I suggest trying one week where you post every day, once a day. Then next week try twice a day, and the following try every other day. The content should be similar during each week, meaning it’s of quality (tips, resources, asking questions, being helpful) and not just promoting the entire time.
When you post a different amount of times each day you can go back through your page to see the response you got on each week, and check your Facebook Insights to see how many people you reached, how many people engaged (liked/commented/shared) and keep track of your Talking About score as that’s a more important number than the total number of likes you have.
Then run a free report using Simply Measured to learn even more about what your audience responds to, who your top fans are and what the best time and day is for you to post (meaning you get the most engagement on that time/day).
It’s important to take a month and post at different days, time and different frequency so you have a good sample to measure the responses. Make sure you also pay attention to the type of content that gets the highest response. You might find your audience never engages with open-ended questions but that you get a lot of people liking and sharing quotes.
For Twitter you’ll want to focus on RT’s, mentions and increases in followers. For Pinterest to focus on increase in Repins, Pins from your website and/or blog and increases in followers. I use Viral Tag to receive some extra analytics on my pins.
As far as how much is too much when it comes to posting personal information on your business accounts, you first need to keep in mind that these outlets are called “social media” so you much be social, authentic and human when marketing on these sites.
The kind of content will depend upon the type of business and how open you feel comfortable being. If you are your business, chances are you’ll be sharing pictures of yourself, your family (especially if they help out at your store or travel to market with you), your dog, travel photos and favorite recipes or favorite dishes at a local restaurant.
Remember that this kind of content typically gets the highest engagement because we love seeing behind-the-scenes and we love getting to know businesses on a personal level (which increases brand loyalty and strengthens relationships.)
I’d stay away from pictures of your neighborhood and front of your house; your car, status updates that include your exact location and I keep all status updates professional. Remember that anything you put online can be saved, even if you delete it. If someone caught the post before you were able to delete it, you might be in trouble.
I have talked to a lot of retailers who don’t want to show their personal side, and want to keep their personal profile and business page completely separate. Facebook does this for you already, just keep in mind that you have to have a personal profile to be an Admin of a business page, but no one knows who the admins of a page are unless that page has actively went into the settings and gave permission for Facebook to display them – like the example below:
There are things you’ll want to only share on your personal profile versus business page, but I suggest humanizing your page by adding personal posts and photos, as they tie into your business.
If you have a question about how much is too much, leave it below in a comment. And, if you’re interested in one of the five social media reviews available, email [email protected] to learn more.
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