As a Content Marketing Strategist, my clients often ask how many times a week they should post on social media.
“As often as you can!” is what I usually tell them.
“But what if we overwhelm people?” they inevitably ask.
“Trust me,” is my response. “Nobody on social media sees your content as much as you do.”
Of course, there are limitations to this. Especially when we’re promoting posts or using ads to reach a small audience and hitting them over and over and over. But as a general rule, marketers get sick of their messaging waaaaaaayyy before consumers do.
There’s a simple explanation for this: You’re looking for it. Everyone else is not.
Have you ever noticed that you always look at the clock when it’s 11:11? Does it seem like that happens to you way more than it statistically should?
Well, it doesn’t. The reality is you are also looking at the clock at 11:05 and 12:51 and 4:13 – but none of those times are significant enough to your brain to create a memory. However, since you consider 11:11 to be a “special” number, you remember it every single time you see it.
The same is true for your advertising. The content you create is special to you, so you get excited when you see it and it registers in your brain every time. You might even dream about it. You’ve also been looking at your content for weeks, months, sometimes even years before it ever gets published. The same cannot be said for your customers.
By the time that Facebook Ad pops up in your feed for the very first time, you’ve already spent who-knows-how-many hours perseverating over it. Everyone else on Facebook is seeing it for the first time – if it even registers, or shows up in their feed.
Now, this isn’t to say you shouldn’t change up your content over time. Especially in the digital space, it’s critical that you keep things fresh. But it doesn’t mean you need a new campaign every month.
A new execution? Great! New messaging? Nah.
Just because you’ve been talking about your commitment to green manufacturing or your upcoming summer sale for months doesn’t mean it sticks in everyone’s brain the same way that it does in yours. In fact, there’s an old advertising adage that says a person needs to see or hear something between three and seven times before it even registers in their brain. More modern studies suggest that number could be much higher in today’s cluttered content-verse. Psychologists also add that repeated exposure (which increases familiarity) actually increases people’s preference for brands, products, or messages. In other words, people actually like something more the more they see it. Psychologists say this effect is at its height around 10-to-20 exposures.
So the bottom is line is that you’re seeing your content and hearing your messages way more often than your audience is – not to mention the giant head start you have with being exposed to that content throughout the entire development (pre-publication) process. So, if you’re wondering whether your content is stale – the answer is probably not yet.
Still not convinced?
Take a look at the numbers. If engagement is strong, your content is resonating. No need to fix something that isn’t broken. If you’re starting to see diminishing returns, it might be time for some new creative.
Need a hand? We’re here to help however we can. Talk to a content marketing strategist today.
About VONT Performance Digital Marketing
At VONT we believe that change is the only constant in the digital world – and that excites us. When tools and environments are constantly changing, new opportunities to help our clients achieve success are constantly arising. Each new advertising technology, social platform, or design approach allows us to improve on the results we achieve for our clients.
We believe in this idea of continual fine-tuning so much that we named our company VONT, which means to achieve exponential improvement in incremental steps. It is our core belief, and the reason why we are not simply a web design company or simply a digital advertising agency, but rather a long-term, single source partner providing a comprehensive array of web development and digital marketing capabilities.
In short, we’re here so that our clients achieve success in the ever-changing digital world. If you’d like to learn more about VONT and the work we’ve done with our client partners, visit our Work page. Or, if you have a question, contact us. We’ll get right back to you!
