Good morning everybody and welcome to Gigging for Gold!
Today, I wanted to answer a common question that I get regarding strategy and that is:
How far in advance from launching your business should start posting on social media?
I would recommend you post two to three months of content before launching your business.
This is for a number of reasons.
+ Start gaining brand recognition.
+ Start becoming the leader in your industry.
+ When you finally do launch your website and people immediately go to your social channels, your page isn’t empty! (this is digital suicide)
The next common (and rightfully so) question: What do I post about?
Some ideas:
+ I would recommend committing to just 5 categories to post about at first. Then infuse those with a little bit of your personal jazz.
+ Post about the services/product that you offer
+ Post anything from the story of how you got started.
+ Post about the countdown to launch day!
+ Another idea is to post about a popular topic going on in the world. So, if for example, there is a big sporting event going on, or if there is a political situation… pair these with your personal thoughts on these events.
[Note: it is up to you how involved or how much of a voice you want to have when it comes to your personal views posted on your business social pages. Those of you that know me, know that I feel very strongly about many many topics but I keep my business page very positive and non-spammy.]
And of course: How Often Do I Post?
You should try and post every other day. If that’s too much, post 2 – 3 times a week, just get stuff going!
An empty social page looks like your not making an effort, or not really involved in your brand, or that your product/service isn’t good so you don’t have anything to write about it…. and we know that is just not true.
Last but not least – don’t worry about posting too much.
It is highly unlikely that someone is following every single thing that you do (that’s reserved for your parents and your best friends, and even they fall short of that sometimes – it’s OK 🙂 ).
Thomas Smith, in his book “Successful Advertising,” makes the following reflection on effective frequency:
The 1st time people look at ad, they don’t see it.
The 2nd time, they don’t notice it.
The 3rd time, they are aware that it is there.
The 4th time, they have a fleeting sense that they’ve seen it before.
The 5th time, they actually read the ad.
The 6th time, they thumb their nose at it.
The 7th time, they get a little irritated with it.
The 8th time, they think, “Here’s that confounded ad again.”
The 9th time, they wonder if they’re missing out on something.
The 10th time, they ask their friends or neighbors if they’ve tried it.
The 11th time, they wonder how the company is paying for all these ads.
The 12th time, they start to think that it must be a good product.
The 13th time, they start to feel the product has value.
The 14th time, they start to feel like they’ve wanted a product like this for a long time.
The 15th time, they start to yearn for it because they can’t afford to buy it.
The 16th time, they accept the fact that they will buy it sometime in the future.
The 17th time, they make a commitment to buy the product.
The 18th time, they curse their poverty because they can’t buy this terrific product.
The 19th time, they count their money very carefully.
The 20th time prospects see the ad, they buy what it is offering.
Creativity is endless! I have many people say “I don’t want to post that just yet” or “we are going to wait until such and such date.” Your mind is so creative if you let it be, and naturally motivating already – you are not going to run out of things to post – just start!
Humans are wired to win! We are not wired to fail. So we want to win, we want to post, it’s in our nature. You can always come up with new ideas.
OK, now I’m extra motivated and extra caffeinated. Happy Posting…
– Sonja
