Social media has evolved.

From the early days of MySpace, and AOL, to the very origin of Facebook,  the purpose of social media has always been the same: to breakdown the barriers for conversations and engagement.

Fast forward to today.

The social media landscape is more complex. However, if you look at the highest performing posts and the brands getting the most buzz they all have one thing in common: engagement. 

This quote by David Whyte, perfectly sums up this message.

A real conversation always contains an invitation. You are inviting another person to reveal herself or himself to you, to tell you who they are or what they want.

Commerce Vs Conversation

Many business struggle with how to use social media. Some treat it as merely another advertising method. However, forgetting about conversation and engagement – forgetting the invitation – and only focusing on selling can have negative results.

Even with the fancy tools and advanced metrics, engagement is still key.  And engagement is earned through conversation.

But finding ways to create engagement can be hard.

If this feels at all too familiar with you, and your company might be using its social media platforms as more ad space than a way of staying top of mind with customers it is ok. We are going to introduce you to the 5:3:1 ratio. 

It’s as simple as 5:3:1 

 

Content shared utilizing the ratio of 5:Culture 3:Community, 1:Commerce for most industries has been proven to increase engagement and overall interaction among followers on social media. This ratio invites your followers in as guests to your table and see most often what your company is about, represents, and focuses on. 

For every post that your organization talks about “sales”, there should be 5 posts highlighting the cultural components of your company, and 3 featuring community. This might seem counterproductive, but sometimes not being all business makes your business more approachable. 

Sales without Selling 

If you think about the brands that you personally support and interact with on social, chances are the posts and content you remember most were not about the sale they had last week, but perhaps an employee feature, an organization highlight they support, or something about the company’s history that made you stop scrolling and pause for a minute. 

It is more than ok to be excited about a new product or service you are providing. The delivery in how you share your excitement is really the art of staying top of mind. Anyone in business knows that companies do not stay in business on sales from one time buyers. It is our customers who become our raving fans, who have been to our table that truly support our companies. 

Building Credibility Through Content 

We all tune out overly scripted selling pitches. The key is to build your sphere of influence in your industry and make the content that is more of a conversation with readers. 

Some helpful ways to do this are: 

• Brainstorm topics covering the 3 C’s of your company. 
• Create (and use) a content calendar utilizing 5:3:1 
• Read content through your target audience lens. 
• Schedule content to be shared at peak visibility times. 
• Revisit topics and share updates and insights. 

If you would like to explore ways to breakdown the wall and let your customers in, I would like to invite you to our table to have a conversation. You can email me anytime, lisa@sutherlandweston.com. Additionally, Kate Belinski and I are hosting a content planning workshop on Tuesday, November 12th, here in Bangor and we would love for you to be our guest.