The Social Media Playbook – Making Your Posts Count

We’ve all come across social media posts that we’ve taken to heart, shared with our friends and in some cases can still remember to this day. Likewise, we’ve also forgotten 99.99% of all social media posts we’ve ever read having been less than impressed at the time of coming across them. So here’s the question – what makes the difference between the two?Answer this question as a business owner or a webmaster and you have yourself a pretty powerful blueprint for making the very most of every social media post you script. Of course, what works and what doesn’t varies enormously in accordance with the nature of the business, the niche in which it exists and the overall intent of its respective owners. However, there are certain rules you should be looking to follow whenever possible to give your posts a much-needed shot in the arm.     …and here’s a look at a few examples to get you started:Stand Up for SomethingReprinting the headlines is one thing – affirming your faith to one side of an argument or another however is very, very different. If there is any cause that you believe in or subject you have genuinely strong feelings on, one of the best ways of triggering a response from your readers is to make this known. The most effective posts are always those that contain genuine emotion and thus trigger an emotional response – pure gold for social media discussion. Of course, you need to be very careful not to offend those on the other side of the argument…if they’re important to you…but show your true passion and you can’t fail to win your readers over.Avoid NegativityNegativity is a great way of spurring a response, but not the kind of response that’s good for business. Positivity on the other hand comes across as infinitely more professional and generally represents a more pleasing tone that’s likely to get your target audience members responding in a similarly positive manner.Remember – It’s Not All About You!When a person or coworker does nothing but talk about themselves all day, do you find yourself gripped with interest or wanting to hear more? Likewise, when a commercial goes on for longer than about 5 seconds, do you find yourself craving more information or just get sick of hearing the sales spiel? It’s exactly the same with your social media posts – you can either engage your audience or you can throw sales tactics at them. Sure, you need to advertise, but direct promotion should represent a much smaller proportion of the posts you put out.Ask Yourself – Would I Read This?Last up, think long and hard about whether or not you would make the effort to read your post if somebody else had written it…and be honest! This is a sure-fire way of getting out of the habit of writing posts just because you think you should write them, as opposed to having anything of genuine interest to say. And the simple truth is that if you don’t have anything worth saying, you’re better off saying nothing at all.