Lyric’s Marketing Tip #36: Are You Practicing the 80-20 Rule in Social Media?

“We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not figures on a dial. We should count time by heart throbs.
He most lives who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.”
~ Philip James Bailey

I know you have heard of the 80-20 rule in business, also called The Pareto Principle, that is that 80% of the outcome is from 20% of the effort. Or another way of putting it is, 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients. A great principle and one that is amazingly accurate, but that’s not what I’m sharing with you today. For this week’s tip I want to share a simple reminder that when you’re posting on social media you need to follow a similar 80/20 rule: 80% of your posts should be conversational, entertaining, informative and fun, and 20% of your posts should be self-promotional.

Lyric’s Marketing Tip #36: Are You Practicing the 80-20 Rule in Social Media?

Remember that social media is like a networking group online and your involvement is much like attending a cocktail party. You want to engage others and create conversation, share fun stories and information, and sometimes talk seriously and promote yourself. If you’re using social media for your business, then of course it’s going to be necessary from time to time for you to talk about your services and make offers by creating blatantly promotional posts. That’s okay, but don’t get caught up in just that, nothing is more boring than a Facebook business page that only posts about their business.

I work with a lot of clients to help them create and implement their social media strategies, and I see a consistent pattern with them all. When we begin to work on developing their social media program, I find that the client is usually very heavy on one side or the other – they are either only posting silliness or they are far too promotional. So take this to heart when planning your 2015 social media calendar. Follow the 80-20 rule and make a practice of posting only two of every ten posts about your business services, make the other eight posts fun, informational, educational, conversational and entertaining! Make every post count. Create content that’s going to make you proud, as you know, once you put it on the web it will live forever.

Happy marketing!