The question of social media content, and the best ways towards meaningful social media engagement, came up in a client meeting last week - and it was an interesting point I thought worth sharing.
Whilst running through elements of scheduling social media content with my client, he used the phrase 'set & forget' to highlight the automation of social media engagement he's seeing some businesses use.
Great phrase and a good point - if you 'set & forget' your social media content, there's a high chance your meaningful engagement levels will be correspondingly low. Which makes perfect sense.
Not that there's anything wrong, of course, with a percentage of 'set & forget' content scheduling on social media - I prefer to use Hootsuite to schedule my content. The interesting links, the researched items I think will be of value to my social networks, and the odd item I find along the way as a social media editor.
This takes time, and I'm not able to be online all of the time researching useful things to give away for free - hence, targeted periods of research, then a daily time set aside for 'set & forget' social media content works well.
But - and this is a crucial point - alongside the 'set & forget' needs to be a mix of what I call 'show & grow' social media content.
Real-time, engaged, direct contact and conversation streams on social media platforms which build relationships with potential clients and start the process of highlighting to them what you do, how well you do it, and also the fact you're a real, sociable human being rather than a disinterested, scheduled automaton who is simply pushing out content on social media platforms.
Harsh? I'd say not.
The right mix of 'grow & show' with 'set & forget' provides, I think, a good balance of real, genuine, authentic social media content with commercially-led, targeted, engagement - as well as helping to drive traffic back to your main presence online.
So, is your social media 'show & grow' or 'set & forget'? Try mixing both methods for enhanced results.