We’ve all heard the phrase ‘think before you speak’ and it works as a pretty good life rule. However, how many times have you heard ‘think before you post?’ In the world of online marketing, it’s always worth giving it that final thought before you click post! In this article, we’re going to look at 5 questions you should ask yourself before sharing content with your followers.

1. What is the aim of the post?

One of the main things you want to think about before posting something is what you hope to achieve by doing so. There could be any number of reasons e.g.

• To gain likes, followers and subscribers
• To generate leads or sales
• To keep your customers in the loop
• To highlight your human side
• To generate a conversation

Regardless of the answer, your post should always be focussed on targetting your goals head-on. Therefore, you should make your intentions clear without seeming desperate.

One of the easiest ways to highlight your aims to your audience is to include clear ‘Calls To Action (CTAs). CTAs are the key to success in marketing as they allow you to directly influence your customers’ interactions.

If you want people to like your posts, then tell them, by writing something in the description like ‘Don’t forget to like this post and follow us for more great tips and tricks!’

It’s one of those little details that’s really easy to forget, but remembering can help you to reach your goals much more quickly and efficiently.

2. Have you properly targeted your audience?

You might be a creative genius but, if you’re putting your content in front of the wrong people, all that talent will be wasted and you’ll be left burning a hole in your wallet.

When starting out, the easiest way to determine who your content strikes the right chord with is to use split A/B testing. If you run the same ad and change the targeting settings to see which demographic interacts the most, then you’ll be able to develop a better understanding of your ideal customer. Knowing this is the only way to ensure that your campaigns are successful.

If you come out with a wildly different target audience than you were expecting, you can do one of 2 things. Either sell to the people you’ve discovered have an interest, or reformat your content until it works with your chosen demographic.

Another option is to run the campaign you have to the new audience and milk it while you have the chance. After all, no publicity is bad publicity and if you’ve found something that works, don’t let it go to waste.

3. When was the last time you posted something?

Too much of a good thing is not a good thing! And constantly updating your followers about every minute detail of your business can be overkill. But how much content should you publish?

As a general rule of thumb, you should only speak when you’ve got something to say, otherwise, it’s just noise. However, if people don’t hear from you for a while they will start wondering where you’ve gone.

In order to find the right balance, start off slowly by trying to drive audience engagement and conversation. If you can get a steady number of people interacting with your posts then you’re probably

4. Are you using too much text in your pictures?

As a rule, Facebook recommends using less than 20% text in your pictures. Well, it’s less a case of recommendation and more a case that they will penalise you if you use more. Facebook’s rules are a bit funny at the best of times but it’s definitely something to keep in mind, especially if you’re spending money.

It’s best not to push Facebook too far as, putting it mildly, they are a bit temperamental but you should still use your own judgement. Sometimes you need to use more than 20% text, and if you can get away with that and still engage with people, then go for it.

For more information on text and images on Facebook, check out our previous article on How Using Images With Less Text Can Boost Your Conversions

Or jump straight to Facebook’s own guide here: https://www.facebook.com/ads/tools/text_overlay

5. Would You Click On It?

The last thing to ask yourself is would you click on it? If the answer is no then it probably isn’t worth posting. One of the things to remember with any kind of creative pursuit is that you are not unique or special, no matter what your mum might tell you.

If you like something, you can guarantee that other people out there will too. This means that ultimately, you are your own best judge, and you should use that fact to your advantage!