The answer to this question is dependent on what you want your social media assets to achieve. If you’re looking to convert followers into customers, I always recommend the 80/20 rule. But before I explain exactly what that is, consider this …
People generally do not subscribe to social media pages (particularly commercial ones) because they want to support them. This generally only applies if you have a charitable organisation or the people following you already have a personal relationship with you/your business.
Genuine followers subscribe because they feel like they are getting something valuable from the page they are following; information that is relevant, interesting or helpful.
Therefore 80% of the time, you should avoid selling your product directly. Instead educate your audience about your product, the larger issues to which it offers a solution, and provide free resources that sell your product indirectly.
Now, if you look at our Facebook page, you’ll realise we’re implementing more of a 90/10 approach. Why? Because we primarily see this page as being a free resource for SMB owners who, we know from engagement with new and prospective clients, often feel they should give marketing a go themselves before paying someone professional.
To help them achieve the best DIY results, we source informative marketing articles from industry leaders around the world and share them 90% of the time. Often these articles indicate to readers that they are perhaps not best placed to do business marketing themselves, but they also don’t actively push followers in our direction – they provide tips, tricks and advice.
The other 5% of the time, we let them know we are here to help them if they’re interested. And often, because they see how well informed we are, they convert.
When you think about what we are selling, it’s not something we can order in bulk, pop in a box and send in the post. So, being the boutique consultancy agency we are, and knowing we cannot resource 100 new clients a month, we don’t focus our energies on trying to convert the masses on Facebook into customers.
We focus more on providing high quality, personalised service and building long term relationships with clients. This means we get repeat customers, many of whom sign onto 6 or 12 month contracts with us, and new clients often come via word of mouth. Other leads come from business partnerships, search engines and some small business forums we offer free advice on.
So, to sum it all up: if you’re using social media to boost sales, the 80/20 rule is best practice. If you’re using your Facebook page for another purpose, such as we are, adjust accordingly.
Need a social media content strategy? Find out about our consultancy services here.
Email director@jaggededgecommunications.com for more information. (See, that’s our 5%!)