19 May Why is nobody reading your Facebook posts?
There is nothing more therapeutic than a cull of Facebook bores. On a personal and a professional level, those people/organisations whose content leaves us somewhere between our eyes glazing over and wanting to punch our screens need to be out of our headspace.
After all, we are bombarded with messages of all kinds every day – various research and surveys suggests that we are now receiving over 5,000 marketing messages each day, which is 10 times as many as back in the 1970s.
It is also clear that most of these come through the gadget that seldom seems to be away from people’s hands these days – our beloved mobile phones.
This week, in the office, we’ve had a personal spring clean of Facebook contacts across the board. Amongst the role of dishonour is a law firm who only ever posts photos of their own team, explaining that Emma does Wills and Roger is good at conveyancing, and on a personal level the friends who seem to believe taking photos of themselves in the pub every single weekend is worthy of our attention.
We all have these characters, and most of us will smile and think of names instantly, but have you ever thought – are you one of the offenders?
If we are to honest, we have to admit that from time to time, we’ve all posted some dull stuff to Facebook, which we aren’t proud of, but on a business level, it could be catastrophic.
That legal firm are now off our radar for good and probably so are many of their would-be customers, and why is that? Well, simply because they failed to tune into everyone’s favourite radio station WIIFM, otherwise known as ‘What’s in it for me?’
Businesses and individuals who wish to influence on a personal and business level have to reach out and engage with friends/customers/followers, and whilst an occasional less than inspiring window into your life is totally fine, if you wish to be popular, then you have to be interesting, and arguably more important – relevant.
Bear this in mind as it’s going to cost more money to engage on Facebook, so make it worth the spend. Facebook are on a mission to make us pay for reach, so you may need to think about occasionally boosting relevant posts to reach your market.
So share content that will resonate with your followers and use your expertise to educate or entertain your followers, and occasionally advertise what you sell.
It’s all about balance and a sense of perspective, which far too many businesses get wrong. Communicating doesn’t come easily, but we have a simple solution- and, it’s a question you need to ask every time you think about pressing share.
“What can I post today that is likely to be of interest to my Facebook community?”
If you ask yourself that simple question every time you reach out rather than being self-indulgent, inward, or irrelevant, you’ll soon find your influence and reputation will be on the up.
It’s simple to do, but equally simple not to do.
