From the start, social media offer us – social media marketers – so much. And yet, we struggle to get to the right people or to make them engage with our brands.
Could it be that the old technique of posting often and a lot fails us?
Today, we’re answering three questions: can social media minimalism get you ahead of your competitors? If so, how to get it right and how often to post on social media?
Social platforms are a noisy place. So noisy that without the help of paid ads, it’s often impossible to get noticed. To overcome this evident issue, many social media managers adopt the approach of quantity: post often and at different times to reach as many people as you can.
In fact, Social Media Today points out that after the 2018 changes of Facebook algorithm, posting more often could be a way to overcome the reach restrictions that hit business profiles.
“It used to be that all your Page followers would see all of your posts, so posting too often would risk flooding them with your content, and turning them off, but via the algorithm, that pretty much can’t happen, so posting more often is less of a concern.”
Andrew Hutchinson on Social Media Today.
The algorithms changes are one of the biggest concerns of social media marketers. So if the increased quantity could help with this issue, is social media minimalism even a thing?
It actually is and we’re about to cover it all, from all the whys and hows to the benefits of it.
What’s up with minimalism in the first place?
These days, minimalism is a thing. People all over the world praise the cleanliness, tidiness, organization and keeping things to the bare minimum.
The reason behind it is that we’ve gotten tired of the overload that carried on for several past decades: overload of goods and information alike. Not only do we collect things we don’t need, but we’re also bombarded with information that exhausts our brains.
As a result, we jump on the minimalism hype train.
But while disposing of items from our lives, we hardly think of introducing the minimal approach in our work. We still want to reach everybody. We want to be everywhere and send out every promotional message. We want to buy less but we want to sell more and more.
It would appear that minimalism doesn’t apply to business strategies but we’re about to disprove this claim.
How to become a minimalist social media manager?
If you want to cut out the clutter and noise from your channel, you’ve got to change two things: what to post and how often to post on social media.
Here are some starter tips to get you rolling.
Post less but higher quality
You’ve probably heard that a thousand times over already. This is every social media marketer’s favorite tip. But besides upping the levels of your content quality, posting less also contributes to limiting the clutter on your social channels.
Of course, you’ve got to consider the post lifespan on each platform – compare the fast-paced Twitter with slow-paced Facebook, for example. The first step to keeping your social profiles minimal is to post less often but to make sure each released piece is stellar.
But here comes the real problem: how often to post on social media so it’s nor too little nor too often?
It’s important to realize that there’s no one-size-fits-all. Each platform has its own nuances and preferences. Azure Collier on Constant Contact blog points out that what’s too much for Facebook is too little for Twitter.
Here’s another example of how often to post on social media: Louise Myers shares her own posting frequency which she stands by in her day-to-day social activities.
Narrow down your goals
Some time ago, we’ve talked about the important elements of social media strategies (click & read to get inspired by real-life examples). Some of them were brand awareness, lead generation, and customer education. Naturally, we’re always tempted to reach every possible goal but let’s face it: it’s not going to happen.
The fewer goals you’ve set ahead of yourself, the more time, energy and focus you can devote to them. So even if you’d like to achieve everything, don’t try to. Pick those goals which are your absolute priority and stick to them.
Get picky with your messages
The internet is full of ideas of what to post on your social media profiles. Comics, memes, high-authority articles from your industry, product videos, promotional banners… We’d like to share it all. But there’s no point in doing so.
Cutting out elements from your social channels make them neat and minimal. It sets a theme that gets quickly associated with you.
Curate the content if you’d like to educate your customers and be known for high-quality pieces you select. Or, entertain your fanbase with funny videos and comics. Whatever you pick, make sure you set a theme and limit the types of content you share with your audience.
Limit your social media presence
Yes, we mean exactly what you think we mean: quit some channels. You don’t have to be everywhere.
But my reach, my audience!, we hear you shouting. Yes, you might miss out on some people. But are you sure you benefit from a presence on every social platform?
Answer these questions:
- Do you have proof that a large number of your ideal customers is there or is it just your guess?
- How much effort does it take to upkeep your platform presence in comparison to the number of acquired leads?
- Do you manage to reach people that you expect to reach there?
Sometimes it happens that we don’t want to ditch channels because we already have a bunch of followers there. But if the ratio of effort and result is heavily imbalanced in favor of the former, it’s time to pack up and leave.
Keep your messages clean and well-written
People rarely go to social media to browse brain-heavy stuff. They’re far more likely to consume items that balance value and lightness of form.
To meet this requirement, cut down excessive visual elements from your posts and be brief in content. No fluff, no long intros. Go straight to the point. Fall in love with listicles and bullet points. Keep everything painfully readable for maximum minimalism.
People scroll more often than they stop to read, so you better minimize the clutter and bring the most important element of your message to the front.
Why is social media minimalism worth it?
If the idea of clean, themed and well-structured social presence isn’t enough to get you hooked on social media minimalism, here are some additional points to consider.
Clarity of strategy
The less you focus on, the clearer your goals and strategy is. It’s easier to measure and analyze your progress when you concentrate on just a few things. Spreading your attention thin around many goals and strategic elements can dilute your efforts quite a lot. With minimal goals comes maximum attention.
More brand awareness
When you limit the elements on your channels and consolidate your messages, people eventually start to associate you with that or another theme, topic or vision. And the next time they think about any of them, your brand will automatically come to their mind.
Easier focus on quality, not quantity
It’s simple – when you don’t stress about the number of messages that you need to send out, you have more time to focus on creating quality content for your audience. The time you previously spent dishing out mediocre pieces can now be devoted to coming up with better ideas and delivering more value.
Free up your schedule
If you spend less time creating messages for your social media, you’ll gain more time for other activities – such as social listening or social selling. Think about all the lead generation opportunities you can get if you devote less time to creating an overload of messages that get lost in the feed anyway. If you pair it with social media automation tools, you’ll get even more time that you can spend on whatever you deem valuable.
Over to you
Now jump in the comment section and tell us what you think. Do you believe that minimalism has a place among social media marketers? Do you stand by quantity or quality? Or maybe you believe that no channel should ever be left out? Let us know your thoughts below!
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