#AwesomeConsistency – Frequency of Posts to Stay Top of Mind
Keeping up with social media posts can be a tricky thing – if you are posting too much, your audience tends to tune you out. Posting too little can lead to a dropping off of followers. So what is the secret? Consistency. Consistency gives your readers and followers a predictable flow of information from you and keeps them coming back for more.
Consistency in Tone
The tone and voice used in your posts should reflect your company and its culture. Are you laid back and willing to take a lighter tone or are you more professional and serious? Take a look at the tone you want to represent your brand and stick with it – your tone should reflect the audience you are trying to attract. Once you have set that tone, stick to it. Be consistent, not only with the writing style and tone, but also with the content. Every time you put a post on a social media outlet, you are releasing your brand voice to the public. To make your brand more recognizable to new and old followers, consistency is the key. Changing your tone or brand strategy too much can lead to consumer confusion.
Consistency Across Platforms
Your brand voice is your identity, and your identity should be consistent no matter the social media platform. If you want your customers to know your brand as relaxed and witty, then it should reflect that across all social platforms. Followers will be disappointed or confused and your brand voice will lose credibility without this consistency. Focusing on keeping your tone and brand voice consistent will resonate with customers across all social media platforms.
Consistent Timing
Not everyone can post every day and that is ok. Whatever your schedule and preference, the key is to be consistent. If you are posting every single day on Facebook but only twice a day on Twitter, don’t switch schedules. What if you post every single day on Facebook for a year and then something happens that cuts into your time? You have a couple of options – inform your followers that there will be a change coming in your posting frequency, or hire someone that does your posting for you. The key is consistency – if your customers have to guess when they will see the next post from you, you could fall from top of mind and the audience may move on to the multiple other options available. However, over inundating social media platforms with your brand voice can lead to content fatigue. Pick a schedule, according to when your audience is most active online, and be consistent!
Consistently Relevant
Relevance goes hand in hand with consistency. If you are updating your social media consistently with relevant posts, your followers will stay engaged. An engaged follower is more likely to talk up your brand and bring in more followers. It is important to not only be consistent with your brand voice and timing, but also with the relevancy of the topics you are covering. Part of creating a brand that stands out on social media is maintaining consistency on relevant topics that are in the interest of your company and your followers. In fact, according to the Sprout Social Q3 2016 Index, 41% of consumers admitted to unfollowing brands who don’t share relevant information.
Consistency is important in so many aspects of your small business, but it can make or break your social media presence. To keep your followers happy and to gain a stronger brand voice and a strong reputation, be consistent in voice, timing, and relevancy across all social media platforms.
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Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and the tools to manage them.
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