Social Media is All Promotional
At the end of the day, every person and/or entity is on social media to promote themselves. Businesses are always promoting their products or services via their social media channels. There are different ways to conduct this promotion. Some companies choose to be “in your face” with their promotion while others are authentic in their approach. Each strategy has its place on social media and the trick is to find the happy medium between the two.
Is There too Much Self-Promotion?
Quite frankly, there most certainly is. However, if a company reaches that point, it should recognize the problem. There are ways to conduct blatant social media promotion without turning users away. While large companies can promote themselves easily, the “in your face” or “over the top” promotion should be reserved for small companies trying to be noticed. As Fast Company notes, all self-promotion should give users value and reason to engage. Don’t just promote a business to promote it. Promotion must be related to the business and its goals. Although promotion is extremely important to small businesses, the focus should always be its vaule. Constant self-promotion should tell good stories about the successes of the business. One great way to gain value while self-promoting is to respond to customer sentiment. As a small business, this will show that you care about customers and are open to engaging.
Self-Promotion Strategies
There are many different self-promotion methods. As highlighted by Fast Company, one of these methods is 5-3-2. This strategy consists of 5 posts from others, 3 from the specific company, and 2 status updates. Depending on the business size, this could be a daily quota or just expand over a 10 post range. This first one can also tie into the “Golden Rule” of 30% owned content, 60% curated, and 10% promotional. For a more even spread, try the “Rule of Thirds”. With this method, 1/3 of the content is your own, 1/3 is sharing others’ content, and the last 1/3 is consumer interactions. Larger businesses usually follow the “20-to-1 Ratio”, where there should be “20 relational deposits for every marketing withdrawal”. None of these formulas or methodologies are set in stone, so businesses should only use these are basic guidelines to experiment with their self-promotion strategies.
Don’t Listen to the Critics: Continue Self-Promoting
With skilled employees who can create excellent social media copy, it will almost be impossible for users to spot self-promotion. This talent comes with trial and error to see what users do or don’t respond well to. It is important to remember that a small self-promotional blunder will not make or break a brand. However, this does not mean that making serious mistakes is excusable. If companies can combine the concepts of promoting “in the face” of users and being authentic, while also using a distent promotion strategy, self-promotion can help a company thrive.
