We talk a lot about what to say via social media. In fact, you may think we’re a bit obsessed with the Who, What, Where, When and Why elements of social media engagement. And we are. For good reason. No matter how much you think about – and how carefully you plan – your campaigns, new schools of thought are constantly popping up that make you wonder if you’re doing it right. We all process and apply things differently. Similarly, what’s good for one business is irrelevant for another. That’s why we’re always looking for parameters to help guide our clients along the way.
One such set of parameters are “70/20/10 rules” which are relatable to everything from leadership to good marketing practices. For our purposes, we’re focusing on how 70/20/10 relates to how much of one kind of social media sharing to do versus another. We’ve found a few examples that are spot-on. Each is presented slightly differently, and thus, may relate more specifically to one business style or strategy over another. Patricia Travaline breaks her 70/20/10 formula down pretty simply:
Proven content: 70%
Premier Content: 20%
Experimental Content: 10%
In this example, 70% – the majority of your sharing – is generally relatable. It’s information that your customers want because it’s connected to your business interests. It’s interesting, current, helpful, and provides value to your followers. 20% of what you share should be timeless – things that customers and followers can refer to for years to come. These are “meatier” resources that establish your business’ long-standing, expert status. And just to make sure you don’t get stuck in a rut, spend 10% of your time thinking “outside the box.” This is valuable because new ideas are always appealing to customers, and they’re typically beneficial to the company creating them, too. (Just make sure you think things through before launching them into the universe so your strategy doesn’t end up on a list of social media fails.) Jim Belosic has this to say about quantifying social media sharing:
“…The majority (70%) of content that a page puts up should be brand- and
business-building, meaning it’s information that is valuable to your followers.
Content shared from other sources makes up 20%
and the remaining 10% is self-promotional.”
Here, focusing 20% of your time on being more social via cross-promotional activities builds stronger business character and a larger following at the same time. Make sure to give credit where credit is due, tag sources and provide links wherever possible, and spread goodwill within your industry. You may be surprised at how often others return the favor. The last 10% in this example is where a lot of companies fall down. Self-promotion should not be your first social media priority. Truth be told, the number one reason businesses participate in social media is to promote their business. But, the “golden rule” of social media is that it must be social – not purely promotional. Yes, customers want to know about your company’s latest product and the great strides it’s making within its industry, but that’s not the only thing they want to hear about. Make sure to share business-specific news intelligently – don’t overdo it. Jessica Kleiman says, “Pat yourself on the back, but pat others harder.” We couldn’t agree more. One of the best ways to self-promote your business is to highlight the people who make it great.
- Feature inspiring stories about your staff members or enlightening customer experiences.
- Talk about how your company can solve customers’ problems with its products and services.
- Share news about new locations and business improvements, and publically celebrate awards and honors. And make sure to provide some background so your followers understand, for example, why the XYZ Award is such a big deal.
- And most importantly, don’t forget to be there to offer kudos to others for great things, too.
Whether you’re a visual learner or not, it’s hard to beat the impact of a great infographic like this one from SnapRetail. 
Does that ring a few bells? Start thinking of your content strategy in terms of the key call-outs above:
- Add value
- Build brand recognition
- Share ideas
- Promote
- GET CREATIVE!
We know it’s hard to come up with great content, and it’s even harder to do so consistently. Our # 1 piece of advice is always to look beyond your particular business for inspiration. There’s a wild and wonderful world out there… If you take the time to experience it and interact with it, you’ll almost always come back with new and exciting ideas and possibilities for your own use. If you’d like some help thinking outside the box, just give us a call!
