How to Do Less but Get More from Social Media

Social media has become a powerful tool for marketers in recent years, helping businesses to connect directly with the buying public. But in a world of constant tweets, Facebook advertisements, Instagram updates and other marketing messages, how can companies cut through the noise?

You might be surprised to learn there’s a way to achieve this and it doesn't mean ramping up your marketing efforts. Far from it, in the busy realm of social media, sometimes less is most assuredly more.

There's no magic formula to maximize your social output, but the days of frequent posting to gain optimal results appear to be at an end. Indeed, new best practice advice is to rein in the amount of times you're posting each day, with one or two posts sufficient to keep driving engagement but to avoid creating content fatigue for your audience.

As brands become more savvy in their use of social media, so too do their audience who are now far better at understanding when a company is posting just for the sake of it and with little to say. As a result, the new status quo means a shift in behavior, moving from quantity to quality in order to drive authentic conversations and engagement online.

Quality is king on social

Meaningful interactions now drive the best results from social media, so tailoring your content to meet the needs and interests of your target audience is now a must.

Social media algorithms are being updated all the time, but each of the major platforms have seen a considered shift towards relevance in terms of the posts that resonate most strongly with audiences in 2019.

At the same time, content overload is a very real problem that must be addressed. Quantity shouldn’t be seen as a substitute for quality, as personalized, engaging content is what your audience wants to read. By posting less frequently, but spending more time on each post, you help to drive real conversations and your posts will be shared more widely.

Remember to keep it snappy

Short and sweet is also the order of the day for effective social media engagement in 2019. In a world where your audience is bombarded with social media updates, your content needs to be concise and to the point in order to stand out.

Drafting the perfect social media post isn't easy, but research by Quintly shows that when text length is minimized to under 50 characters, this drives the greatest level of engagement among readers.

What's more, utilizing visual content like video and graphics means you can convey far more information than via reams of text. Quintly's analysis of more than 12 million posts revealed how today's audience have far more interaction with video than with any other form of content, so adding this type of posting to your social media strategy can pay dividends.

Consistency drives demand

Finally, while reducing the amount of posts you put out on social media will help ensure what you create is more readily noticed by your followers, it's equally important to keep up a regular conversation.

This means ensuring you’re posting consistently each day and tailoring your posts to be read at the optimal time. Creating a consistent social media presence will mean your readers are able to check back regularly and know there will always be something for them.

It also means you’re able to improve your credibility and drive engagement, as focusing on trending topics and supporting an engaging conversation around each one shows your organization is on the pulse of what’s happening in the wider world and knows what resonates with your target audience.