In our current sales culture, every business needs a consistent social media presence to succeed. No matter how great your posts are, you won’t ever reach an audience if you’re only posting once a month. If your business is not prioritizing consistency for your social media, here are 3 reasons why that should change:
Mirror Exposure Effect
Social media is where most people go to get information, recommendations and online content. 90% of those consumers reach out to a brand online, and follow a brand online. If you want to be a brand that audiences interact with, you need to go through the process of know, like and trust.
First, you need to be known, which requires getting your business out there. Consistency is essential so people are aware of your existence. Coke is such a popular brand because people are familiar with it. It’s an easy choice for consumers because they know exactly what to expect. Many people don’t know how to feel about brands at first. The more people see a brand, they more they prefer it. This is called the mirror exposure effect; knowing a brand leads to liking it, which leads to trusting it.
Social platforms like consistency
The importance of consistency is that social media platforms will recognize it. Every platform has an algorithm, and the best way to succeed is to hack that algorithm. Start by being as social as possible. The more social you are, the more people will see you. This boosts engagement for your brand and the platform your brand is on. The platform will then boost you because that engagement is helping them.
Keep in mind that the opposite is true as well. If you splurge through a large amount of posts and then suddenly stop, the platform will remove your reach because that inconsistency does not help them. While it’s essential to post a lot, consistency is what’s most important. Look at your schedule and see how consistent posts will work for you (once a day, twice a day, etc.). This will prevent any crash and burn that could harm your consistency.
Quantity over quality
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “quality over quantity”, and in many cases that is true. But when it comes to social media, quantity should be prioritized. People move quickly through their social media feeds, and fixating on one perfect post will harm your brand if it reduces the quantity of your posts.
Quality does matter of course, but only to an extent. Getting paralyzed by perfectionism will prevent the consistency your brand needs to succeed. It is possible to have too much quantity, but your metrics can tell you if that happens. When in doubt, focus on stories because they only exist temporarily.
Note: This article was created from a speech given by Sherri Barna, at a LevelUp conference held over Zoom.
Sherri Barna has 10 years of experience in social media. She first worked for an international charity organization, then started her own social media consulting business, Purple Bean Media.
