What are the Most Effective Posts on Social Media?

You’ve heard that social media is not just a toy, but can be an effective way to promote your business. However, it’s very possible that the last time you were on Twitter you saw a tweet from a friend talking about eating a PB & J sandwich for lunch. Or maybe your last venture on Facebook showed a post saying, “I know only my true friends will repost this in their status….are you a true friend? If so, repost: space aliens from the star year 2267 were seen walking the streets in Benton, IL, plotting to abduct native Bentonians. I know less than 3% of my followers are true friends who will repost this.”

Obviously, posts like these are not beneficial for your business!…So, what kind of posts should you be making on social media?

In a nutshell: strategic, specific, informative and useful.

But to get even more explicit. Roost, a technology company in San Francisco, CA, is committed to helping small businesses go social. In September of 2011, they conducted a study by analyzing Facebook and Twitter posts created on the Roost platform by over 8,000 small businesses across more than 50 industries. Their findings were not surprising:  photos rule on Facebook, while quotes rule on Twitter.

“These results are telling for the small business community and provide direct guidance on how to achieve the highest level of engagement with their Facebook fans and Twitter followers,” said Alex Chang, CEO of Roost. He added, “Facebook is inherently visual, so it follows that photos would ignite more activity here, while twitter began, and largely remains text-driven, the home of the pithy soundbite, so it makes sense that quotes create the most engagement on that network.”

This confirms what we say about social media strategy – right audience, right message, and right time.

Published on: October 4, 2011