When is it Too Many Posts

Word of mouth marketing and your social media strategy

While Facebook is undoubtedly a fantastic way for a business of any size to promote itself for free, it can actually get to a point where using the site too much can start to have a negative impact instead. It is, therefore, important to strike the perfect balance between keeping in contact with your friends list and not bugging them. You will then see that when it comes to interacting on social media, less can indeed be more.

The problem is that people do eventually get to the point where they become fed up of being given updates on things that have been posted. It is even worse now that Facebook is accessed via smartphones so there is little to no escape for them. The only solution they will have left if you continually post updates is deleting the friendship, unliking your page or hiding you posts – all of which of course means you as a business will lose out.

Limit and they will read

This problem has been highlighted in a recent report by Inc. and the conclusion was that if you want to get more value out of your posts, limit them to once a day and you will find that your friends are far more likely to read what you post. 

The report did, however, also throw up a number of other interesting statistics that businesses should take heed of in regard to their marketing on Facebook. One of the more shocking statistics is that only approximately 30% of businesses respond to feedback by clients on Facebook and this in itself can be a major error. Whether you work in a main city or the far flung corners of Texas, word-of-mouth marketing works both in a positive and negative way. So if you ignore feedback from clients, they will tell their friends that you do not care. In this case, you are advised to use the time that you would have spent posting more things on Facebook to dealing with feedback instead as it will benefit your business in the long run.

Shutting down your wall

The only thing you can do worse in social media than ignoring feedback is not allowing it to be done at all. The report by Inc. states that 25% of businesses actually block contact from fans. This puts across the impression that your business does not listen nor care what their customers think.  In any social interaction, offline and online, you must make sure that people see you as being warm, open and welcoming. Do not even consider blocking people and when they contact you, respond accordingly even if it is a negative comment as you can still do something to turn it around. (And, all we lurkers are watching your every move!)

This means to continue to use Facebook as part of your word-of-mouth marketing, you must be very strategic about how, when and how often you post Saying “hi” and “asking for feedback or more information from their feedback that’s posted” is ideal, but do not plague them with posts several times a day. Instead, be professional and use it to let them know what is going on in your business and if someone comments, then respond as quickly as possible as this will speak volumes about you and about your business. 

Word-of-mouth marketing is very much a part of Facebook .  Post when you have something valuable to say and also reply to fans who give you feedback. Do not ignore your fans and engage with them as best you can so that you can give the impression that you are a business that cares about its customers. With that kind of reputation, you’ll not only be likeable – you’ll be shareable.