This is an unusually short issue because I just got back from Crete and I’m still coming to terms with the fact that there’s no more sea view from my window and I can’t reach that unreal crystal-blue water within 2 minutes anymore.
So please bear with me as I lick my wounds.
To compensate, I chose one of the most in-demand topics: what the heck do we post on social media to align our content with our business goals?
In a recent strategy session, I worked with a client on their content pillars aka what they should post on social media and write to their email subscribers. My client wanted to know whether they should keep pushing the sales angle or go for educational content.
[How often you should do sales posts is an entirely different topic I tackled here.]
I told my client something I’d like to share with you:
What you post should depend on your goals, not social media algorithms.
On social media, you can get:
- Likes/reactions
- Followers
- Fans
- Clients
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I know, most of us would rather skip straight to the last one, clients, but the truth is you need all of them. You need both popularity and authority to get clients (fairly) easily.
Since you can’t usually get them all with a single type of post, it’s a good idea to diversify your content calendar.
Let’s see how.
Pssst! in Audience Accelerator, my course launching in mid-July, I’ll go more in-depth on several other types of posts and show you exactly how to balance your content strategy out and how to repurpose your best materials to maximize their impact.
This week, I revealed the curriculum to my VIP list. Next Tuesday, I’ll tell them all about the pricing structure and how I decided on it. Want in on the scoop? Join the VIP list here.
Want likes/reactions? —> Post inspirational or funny content
Whether you like #goodvibesonly posts or despise them, they work for engagement. I’m not a fan myself but even I have to admit that telling people what to do to get the results they want doesn’t work if they don’t have the motivation to roll up their sleeves.
This is a good example from Katelyn Bourgoin:
It hits home for most entrepreneurs because we face a lot of hidden or manifest rejection. You’ll give up too soon unless you learn how to get good with it.
Want followers and subscribers? —> Post in-depth guides
With thin, meh content commoditized by AI, in-depth guides and proprietary research get people past the “like” button and onto the follow or subscribe button. Likes are cheap, follows and subscribes take more time and attention. You won’t get those unless your content is worth it.
Chenell Basilio is my favorite example here.
She grew incredibly fast because she worked incredibly hard. Her deep dives into creator strategy take her ±30 hours (by her own account) and it shows! You can subscribe to her amazing newsletter here.
My own deep dives and in-depth guides are responsible for most of my audience growth as well. Most of my time is spent on creating this newsletter, the cornerstone of my content strategy and I never, ever half-ass it.
People know that and they know they can always find something actionable in my newsies, so they come, they read, they stay subscribed. Well, most of them.
Want real fans? —> Post opinion pieces
Why am I ranking this higher than in-depth content? Because people rally behind ideas that resonate with them more than they do behind excellent, well-researched content.
Real fans will stick with you if you stand for something they believe in. If you stand against something they hate too.
My go-to is talking against bro marketing and sleazy tactics.
When I post something like this, I can feel my relationships with some of my audience members strengthen.
Everyone’s been burned by a bro or a gooroo at least once. So I make a point of avoiding grandiose promises and focus on overdelivering instead. And yes, people resonate with that.
Want clients? —> Post social proof
Testimonials, reviews, case studies — all these work! This is why I call social proof the golden standard of persuasion. I wrote an in-depth guide on collecting and using social proof here.
I never create a sales post that doesn’t have a testimonial attached to it. Most of my posts look like this:
This X post by Katelyn is very meta and it strengthens the point.
She brilliantly used a testimonial to sell her product AND to drive a point home. Katelyn is the buyer psychology expert, so people pay attention when she tells them what works and what doesn’t. Perfectly on brand and perfectly argued!
A bit of much-needed nuance
Of course, things aren’t cut and dry. Someone might buy from you because they like your ideological stances, so you might not even need social proof.
Just as someone else may become a raving fan because they like your research work and they don’t really care where you stand on politics.
However, these are exceptions and, in marketing, it’s always better NOT to count on the fact that you will be the exception.
How often should you post each of these types of content?
Queue the most hated answer in marketing: it depends.
In an ideal world, you would rotate among them in equal parts, so that you can keep growing your audience AND your business at the same time.
But the world is not an ideal place and no business works like that. So:
- If you’re in launch mode or if you need to pad your bottom line quickly, you should publish more social proof posts.
- If your audience is fairly small, post a healthy balance of everything else, so you can bulk up those numbers and make sure your new followers/subscribers are relevant.
- If you’re in maintenance mode (a fairly large audience and no need for extra sales right now), balance is your best friend.
There’s a single no-no here: don’t overdo it with a single type of post whetever that may be — unless you want to build a meme or an inspirational quotes social media profile.
Even the best in-depth research reports need to be balanced out by “lighter” content, something that can be enjoyed. I like to think of it like teaching: in school, I always preferred the teachers who would occasionally crack a joke, tell a funny story, or make a clever analogy. No matter how complicated what they taught was, this always helped.
That’s it from me today!
See you next week in your inbox.
Here to make you think,
Adriana
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