If you’re scheduling and producing social media for your own business and brand and you’re NOT familiar with the 5-3-2 rule, it’s time to get acquainted!
There are few rules when it comes to social media marketing – the obvious rules apply with almost every form of marketing, don’t be offensive, be inclusive etc but when it comes to the more unspoken rules of how you should conduct your social media marketing, this one often flies under the radar for many businesses. You can often come across brands on social media who are all sell, sell, sell, all take and giving nothing back – don’t be that guy.
The 5-3-2 rule outlines your posting schedules in terms of content. It also makes it a lot easier to collate content for your platforms!
It’s easy – for every 10 social media posts, you should be thinking about this breakdown:
Five posts should be curated content – this is content that you’ve gathered from other sources that will be relevant for your audience. A good way of doing this is setting up Google Alerts for key words (or if you’re really clever – your competitors names – check out what the competition is up to!) – this filters relevant news stories through to your inbox. If you’re looking for something a little more tailored to your needs and more specific – try something like Feedly (it’s FREE!), this allows you to follow relevant publications, gather and “pin” relevant articles for sharing which can save you time and get you better content.
Three posts should be created by you, still relevant to your audience but not directly selling your products or services, for example, these could be blogs or infographics or even videos, whatever the content of these posts, avoid the hard sell – that has all the makings of seeing your follower list take a sharp decline.
Two posts out of your ten should be personal (no, not too personal! Know your limits!), something non work related which can help to humanise you and your brand. It’s a known fact, people buy from people, so add a little more you into your marketing.
The whole point of outlining the 5-3-2 rule is that the key is to focus more on your audience and giving something back rather than just ramming whatever it is that you’re selling down their throat. All of these elements can bring your brand to life.
The important thing to remember here is that you have to make your marketing as much about your audience (and potential customers!) as possible. Strike a balance with your content and give your audience something that is enjoyable and opens up the possibility of interaction.
If you’re struggling with or (more likely!) bored of content creation and social media scheduling, we’d love to help! Get in touch with us at www.tartanotter.com