Rush
Signals
Mercury Records
1982
Rush meets MTV!
Post Every Day on All of Your Facebook Pages
In the presentation titled 9 Social Media Best Practices for Franchisors, the practice that is most challenging for some marketers is also my favorite:
Post Every Day on All of Your Facebook Pages.
Few argue with the value of good, regular content flowing to their fans’ newsfeeds. And, in case consumers seek and discover your page on their own, my observation is that having a page with nothing new on it in the past two weeks looks like you’re out of business.
But some marketers are challenged by this daunting daily task looming over their content calendars. The reluctance may be caused by a feeling that daily posts are too much for their fans and that it’s just too hard to produce.
Too much? No.
With today’s painfully low organic reach, your risk of overserving content to a fan is nonexistent. When only 1% to 10% of your organic posts is actually seen by your fans, your daily posts will rarely hit their news feeds once each week.
Tell any fans who think you post too often the same thing I would tell radio listeners 20 years ago, when they would call my station and complain, “You played that same Pearl Jam song yesterday at 8am and then again at 10pm!” I would respond, “You’re right. THANKS for listening so much! Let me send you a t-shirt!” They may have been an irritated listener (or more likely, one who just wanted to show they caught a perceived flaw). But, to me we had someone who was engaged and listening for 14 straight hours! Now if only they had an Arbitron ratings diary…
Too hard? No.
Posting this much can be hard. It’s especially hard if it’s in addition to your current marketing workload or job description (whatever that is). But being too hard is no longer a reason to not do something. I frequently tell friends and groups with whom I speak that it’s now okay to ignore anyone who gives the excuse of not improving because it’s too hard. They will be soon gone from their current position and will no longer block you.
Exceptions? Yes.
Are there days when you shouldn’t post at least once? Yes, but it has less to do with the quantity of posts, and more about special occasions when your content is best throttled back. See these suggestions on days to skip posting.
TBT Vinyl: Cheap Trick, In Color, 1977
Cheap Trick
In Color
Epic Records
1977
My favorite Trick studio album.
TBT Vinyl: Rolling Stones, Tattoo You, 1981
Rolling Stones
Tattoo You
Rolling Stones Records
1981
Tattoo You was released 35 years ago today. This was my first Stones record; it’s still my favorite.
TBT Vinyl: Pink Floyd, Dark Side of The Moon, 1973
Pink Floyd
The Dark Side of the Moon
Harvest Records
1973
Perhaps more than any other album, Dark Side has been re-issued, re-mastered, and re-packaged. Re-releases include Ultradisc, Gold CD, Anniversary edition, Boxed Set, and 180 Gram Vinyl version.
This is the original 1973 LP version and it’s perfect as it is.
How Your Brand Can Get 10X More Organic Reach on Facebook
As Facebook organic reach continues to drop, some marketers are completely abandoning all hope of having fans see any unpaid posts.
On Social Geek Radio and on this blog, we’ve recently discussed how Facebook Live is like “old school Facebook reach” (thanks to Nick Powills for that phrase!). But what if you simply want to drive fans to your website, landing page, or blog?
The prevalence of Facebook Live videos is further hurting the organic reach of your shared link. It’s a zero sum game; that great organic reach attained by other brands’ Facebook Live videos will take away from your posts’ reach.
How can we get old-school reach numbers on old-school links?
Override the Link
While all organic reach is down, links to posts and pages appear to be doing far worse than photos. Using that to our advantage, we can share a link just as we would share a photo.
Here’s how: Hold on to that copied link that you would normally paste in the posting area. Instead, select Photo first and upload an appropriate image for the post. You may want to first go to that blog or page and save an image from the page. After you’ve uploaded the photo, now you can paste the link. Add text before that link and you’re done.
I’ve been doing this consistently on pages I am managing over the past few months while also occasionally posting similar links as links on alternate days. My Photo + Link posts are all getting 20% to 45% reach each day! The Link posts are getting 2% to 10%.
The Photo + Link posts get 10 times more reach than the links alone. If you’re doing this now or will being trying it out, I’d love to hear about your results!
TBT Vinyl: Pearl Jam, Vs., 1993
Pearl Jam
Vs.
Epic Records
1993
The cover photo on the LP version of “Vs.” is more content sheep than the CD version’s angry sheep.
Days Not to Post on Facebook
I am a big proponent of posting shareable content on all of your brand’s pages every day. A steady cadence of a daily organic posts (and now coordinated with ads) will help you stay top of mind and in the newsfeed to your customers. But as I discussed at my recent Southeast Franchise Forum presentation, there are days when no post may be better than a post.
This is advice for any US brand’s national postings. If you’re a Franchise brand or have multiple locations in multiple markets, be aware of what’s happening in all of your local communities as well. Local emergencies and weather issues may be reasons to hold off on posting for a day or two. Obviously you will need the help and input from your field team and perhaps alerts from news sources within your geographic footprint.
National tragedies and major International tragedies:
When terrorists (domestic or ISIS) struck in Baton Rouge, Nice, Dallas, Istanbul, Orlando, Paris, San Bernardino, and the growing list of places, people took to social media to learn, grieve, and show anger with their friends. Your brand’s marketing message would at best be lost in the outpouring or at worst stick out like a clueless, poorly timed, insensitive faux pas. Just wait a day or two to get back on schedule.
Celebrity deaths:
When icons like Prince, Muhammad Ali, or David Bowie died, many brands posted ill-advised images complete with marketing tagline and logo. It works if you’re MTV or SiriusXM and you’re sharing an artist’s work for the day, but it doesn’t work if you’re selling fast food.
Political events:
Avoid posting after the first day / last day of the upcoming conventions. Also avoid the evening of and the morning after the Trump / Clinton debates and of course, Election Day. You will be buried in newsfeeds, so just wait a day.
Holidays:
Take a break on MLK Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and September 11. Unless you have an inspirational and relevant message, please avoid it!
TBT Vinyl: Rush, Moving Pictures, 1981
Rush
Moving Pictures
Mercury Records
1981
MASTERPIECE. That is all.
Communications, Churchill, and Wine Thirty
It’s Wine Thirty PM. Are You In?
By “in” I really mean on. If your connections, colleagues, and collaborators are anything like mine, you may have seen a growing trend in late evening communications over the past couple of years. We all have dinner, spend time with family & friends, watch an episode or two of some binge-worthy show, put the kids to bed, take out the dog, fire up the laptop, and start our second work day. Adult beverage optional, but recommended.
It’s not that we’re ever really disconnected; emails and texts make sure of that. But when the world winds down, the call of full-blown, full-sized outlook / gmail, spreadsheets, and powerpoint is irresistible.
Why do we do it? There may be an optimistic hope that each minute spent prepping for tomorrow’s meeting with ensure a better outcome. If we review that client’s data one more time, we’ll see the answer. And if we spend a few more minutes on the reports than Peterson does, it can’t hurt!
The Churchill Effect
Winston Churchill may have originated this behavior, though I don’t call it Wine Thirty just because he liked a glass or two or three of wine. He did. He did indeed.
Sir Winston developed a similar work pattern. Martin Gilbert outlines this strange part of Churchill’s daily schedule in Churchill’s Wartime Leadership. During World War II, he knew that his advancing age and deteriorating health required rest and thus took a nap late each afternoon. This allowed him to restart his day again in the evening. He would work late into the night, in essence creating a second work day in each 24-hour period. While most of the world was winding down for the evening, Churchill was meeting by the fireplace with generals, ministers, and advisors.
You and I are doing the same at Wine Thirty PM with CEOs, clients, and advisors! Only instead of chatting in-person at 10 Downing Street, we’re on chatting online, texting, emailing, and tweeting. Fireplace optional.
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