How many posts are 'too many'?

I post a lot to social media for my business and when I tell people that I post 15-20 times a day, some people are surprised.  Many ask me 'Don't people get fed up with so many messages?'  My answer is usually to ask them a question.

'Do you sit in front of your computer all day watching every post?'

The answer is usually 'Of course not'.  Nobody has the time, certainly not people with a business to run, a job to do and a family to look after.  Yes, most people look at their social media on the run, via mobile phones, tablets, notebooks and so on, but how long does it take for one post to disappear down the list?  Usually no more than a couple of minutes, and the more people your connected with the faster a post disappears into oblivion!

As long as you spread your posts out throughout the day few people will see more than one or two.  Obviously, if you post 10 posts at a time, people get irritated.

If your posts have value and offer advice, tips, good sense and useful information people will be happy to read, retweet, share or promote them.  If they are inconsequential trivia about:

• What you're eating/drinking
• How bored/tired/upset you are
• Your social life and activities

People won't have more than a passing interest and are unlikely to respond in business mode.  If you're trying to use online marketing as a business tool, then you need to have some solid content with real value to your readers.

I'm not suggesting you should never post any social comments or chat to other people in your online networks, but choose your platform carefully and think about what you say - particularly if your Twitter feed happens to be streaming on your website.  When business people come to your website 'I'm just off to take the dog for a walk' may not be what they expect to read; unless you're a professional dog walker and even then you should be posting something that promotes you better, e.g.

Taking my 3 canine charges for a great walk along a bridleway where they can explore interesting smells in the hedgerows. [link to your website services page].

Use the tools available - such as Hootsuite - to post to your Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and other social media accounts and schedule your knowledge based content so you aren't tied to your computer.  This kind of material can be recycled so if you invest some time developing it until you have enough posts to last a month, most of this can be used again.  Nobody will remember what you posted last week, let alone what you posted last month.

Give good value information and people will appreciate your posts.

Social media - to automate or not?

The issue of automation is one of those things that generates lively debates and there are many people who think it is completely false to use automated systems to post for you.  In a business world where one of the key words is 'authentic' it simply goes against the grain.

On the other side of the fence are a band of people who think that it's unrealistic to expect a business person to be tied to the computer for enough time to post regularly throughout the day.  They quote things like 'if we weren't using tools like this we'd still be washing clothes by hand and writing everything by hand.'

There is a case for both.

You need to be authentic - you should only post material that reflects you, your business and your beliefs.

You have a business to run and it is immensely time-consuming to be on social media all the time.

However, there is a happy medium - where you can get the best of both worlds.  Let's look at how this might work.

If you use social media as a marketing tool part of your activity is likely to be sharing your knowledge in the form of tips and advice.  You need to generate this material so it reflects your expertise and knowledge, but you don't need to write each tip out again and again.  This is where, once you have a bank of information, it's reasonable to use an automated system to share this on your main social media platforms.

Most of us repeat our core messages frequently, it's how people get to know what our expertise is.  To rewrite the same information over and over would be a bit like writing 100 lines in school - a punishment, with little point!

So messages that are not topical and are simply sharing information can be automated.

However, if you only broadcast people will tune you out.  This means that you do need to monitor your various social media feeds regularly and respond and engage with people.  If this is just a few minutes once or twice a day, it's better than not at all.  I do my social media at the same time I look at my email - it's all part of my communication activity.

There's a place for both automated posts and live interaction - as long as you use them intelligently.