With nearly seven and a half million Facebook likes and more than 1.3 million Twitter followers, Takei, famous first for his role in Star Trek, is certainly qualified to give social media advice. And his point that social media demands shareable content, not just self-promotion, is as relevant to businesses as it is to individuals.
This is sometimes called “The 80/20 Rule” of social media which suggests that only 20% of a brand’s posts should be directly promotional. The other 80% should be shareable content. This 80% includes content produced by the business as well as relevant links from other sources.
Your own shareable posts should be made up of high-quality educational content, which can take the form of blog posts, podcasts, infographics and more. Material from other sources should remain tied to your field. Carefully consider what your audience will enjoy and find useful.
These posts also provide an avenue for engaging with influencers in your field, especially on Twitter. When you share a link from another source on Twitter, give credit by including the handle of the writer or outlet. Twitter will notify the person or organization you mention. Sometimes, especially when your post comes from a reputable but small- to medium-sized outlet, this interaction can start a conversation or lead to further engagement with the post, such as retweets, increasing the size of the audience that will see your post.
On Facebook, posting links from major news sources of interest to your fans is often a route to reach a large audience. Facebook’s algorithm rewards fan engagement by displaying posts that perform well in more people’s news feeds. Monitor your most successful posts on Facebook over time and adjust your strategy accordingly.
How will you change your social strategy to include more shareable content? Tell us @MosherMullen.
Photo Credit: Sean MacEntee, Creative Commons via Flickr
