Social Media Engagement – Do Kids & Puppies Rule?
As an active social media participant and contributor, we are always interested in seeing what our fans and followers respond to when we post and share new content.
To shake things up a bit from our usual marketing and small business related posts, we recently shared some content about one of our employees getting married. A few days later we posted about our employee’s kids who were visiting the office for National Take Your Daughters & Sons to Work Day. The next day, our new puppy visited the office and we posted his picture on our Facebook page. What happened? Take a look at the responses below…
Lo and behold these posts had more social engagement (measured via likes and comments) than the rest of the content we posted all week! What does this mean? Should we ditch relevant content in favor of cute pics of kids and puppies? Nah. What this tells us is that relevancy still rules, but from time to time it is definitely OK and totally acceptable to share something a little unexpected and fun with your followers. Giving them a sneak peek into your offices, or sharing some happy employee news, is a great way to show that there are actually people behind your company (and remember, people buy from people). It’s called social media for a reason, right? And sharing some unexpected content gives you a chance to show the personal side of your company and let the personality shine through.
What posts have gotten you the best social media engagement? I’d love to hear!
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Thanks all for your comments. It’s great to hear about others’ experience when sharing different types of content on Facebook. Like anything else we have to try different things to see what works best, but these stories serve as a great reminder that social media is really about maintaining a personal connection with our fans.
Our business posts stay mostly on topic as well. One of the posts that received the most responses however was when I posted that my father had just died. Had debated about revealing something so personal but pulled in a deep breath & hit the enter button. To my surprise far more people responded than ever before. With such lovely words of sympathy I was truly touched by their caring.
I work for a summer camp, and by far our best responses on Faceobook come when I post old pictures from Camp. People love to reminisce and be able to relate to the picture, even though it’s time long gone by.
I have received good feedback from quotes and also when I post photos from trips I have taken. I am always out hiking so I like to post photos of the desert.
Great article and reminder. Our clients and prospects are PEOPLE and they want to know us as PEOPLE.
As a speaking coach I remind clients of the need and benefit to be personal – to talk a bit about themselves and their passions outside of their work. It provides a fuller view of who they are and increases their credibility.
You are right – I should post a bit more personal stuff in my social media. It is a balance though – I get really tired of hearing about vacations, meals, shopping, kids – blah blah blah – but that is only when it is a steady stream.
Thanks for the reminder. I have a super cute pooch, 5 baby chickens and a hive of bees. Oh yeah, a couple very cool teenagers as well. I think I have a bit of material.