As marketers we need to focus on the big picture. We must communicate the right message to the right audience, and we need to do it at the right time. With Facebook there are so many tools to help you do this. But have you ever wondered if your posts could be seen as Spam?
Marketers have their work cut out for them when it comes to connecting with their followers without scaring them away. To state the obvious – no one likes spam and I too want to run away when it’s happening for the 10th time that day. We get spam on all platforms of social media, phone calls, text messages, you name it.
Bait
As a consumer I want my Facebook time to be my catch-up time. I don’t want to be bombarded by companies trying to sell me something. But what is spam? The word “unwanted” is used in the Cambridge English dictionary, but as a marketer, Facebook spam for me is “like this page if you like chocolates” and the “follow us if you are happy” kind of posts. To be honest it’s bait, not just spam. That’s not how you increase your followers. As marketers we need to be informative and not annoying. So, no, posting all day long is not the way to get the most engagement.
How to avoid spam posts
Make it relevant
To ensure that your readers are not considering your posts as spam, make it relevant. Do your research to establish the time your follower is active and schedule your post to be seen when they are online.
Time your posts
In terms of how many times you should post is up to you. However, the amount of times you post should be calculated by the life cycle of the post. The average post on Facebook has a life cycle of 90 minutes and will reach 75% of it’s potential in the first 5 hours. Therefore, my suggestion is, give your post time to do its work. Get the most out of each post by posting less.
Followers
Something you should also keep in mind is your follower count. We must keep to the rule of thumb which is posting twice a day should you have 10 000 followers. For companies with less followers, focus on quality and not quantity. As mentioned above, we need to post relevant posts and content. To bind the two together, a quality post is relevant, so do your homework on your followers to ensure you have an audience you are talking to.
Be consistent
In my opinion, if you are a small business you are still safe to post three times a week. The most important thing to keep in mind here is to be consistent. Have a posting schedule for the week or a month with your campaign running and don’t just post for the love of it.
Be accurate
Posting the wrong information could very well be the worst thing to do for your brand than posting too little.
In the end, be true to your brand identity and share valuable information with your followers. The results will sock you compared to posting whatever and whenever you want and not following your campaign plan.
