How Much is too Much?

One of the questions we were asked during our webinar on developing a content strategy was how to avoid bombarding people with content and how much third-party content is OK to share. This is a great question and it’s an important part of kick-starting your content strategy. Evaluation of any PR or marketing activity needs to start before you hit the ‘go’ button. Understanding how much content you need will help you streamline the process. It will also allow you to focus your time, effort and budget on what will work best for you and your business.

So, let’s look at how much is too much? Is there such a thing such as sharing too much content?

Understand your audience

A great way to understand how much content you should be sharing is understanding how your audience is consuming content and their attitude towards it. Take as an example some of the most popular Instagram fashion influencers, they constantly bombard their followers with images, videos, live broadcasts, yet their audience seems to love this outpouring of content. This is because those particular audiences expect fast, short and relevant content. You can research what your audience is doing by monitoring social media channels, websites and newsletters of other companies in your industry who have different approaches. How is their audience reacting? You can also monitor comment sections on digital media or even ask your immediate network about the type of content they prefer and how they’re accessing it. This should give you a good idea of how much and what type of content you should be sharing. In some industries, sharing three to four updates on social media every day is the norm while others engage better through a blog on a trade publication. It all comes down to who you’re trying to reach.

Spread your content

What companies don’t realise sometimes is that content should be produced and published on multiple platforms. Think about all the channels you have at your disposal and adopt a multi-platform approach. For example, when it comes to social media, if you have an update to share you don’t have to constantly plug it through your business Facebook or LinkedIn pages. You can get a network whose audience will find it interesting to share it on their channels or you can seed it in a group whose members will find the information relevant. Think about the different ways your content can work, can your social media post be fleshed out as a blog post which will sit on your site? Or can you offer to author an article for a local network’s business newsletter. The message can be the same but content type and channels need to change on a regular basis. One of the most best results of any public relations content strategy is getting your audience to like you and trust you. Infiltrate as many content channels as you can so your audiences see, hear and read about your brand in different ways and different perspectives.

Sharing third party content

Sharing content that is created by someone else can be a great way to foster relationships on social media.  After all it’s called social for a reason. Sharing other voices shows people that you’re keeping an eye on the wider environment you operate in and have opinions on what is going on around you. There’s no particular rule on how much third-party content is right or wrong. It depends on the topic and on the industry. For example, if you’re spending a day commenting on The Budget and its effect on your industry then you will probably spend most of the day sharing third party content along with your comments on it, also over the coming weeks you might feel that digital articles being published are also relevant to share. When it comes to third party content, it needs to have a purpose. What you should avoid doing is only sharing third party content or not communicating the intent behind sharing it.

Efficacy over quantity

It can be tempting to think that your audience will remember and trust you because you’re constantly sharing content, however if that content is not what they’re looking for, the chances are they will ignore it. Don’t get me wrong, you do need to engage with your audience on a regular basis so once a month probably won’t do the trick, but it also needs to be effective content that will be relatable and worth the audience’s time.

Keep testing 

Testing your content and reviewing the way your audience interacts with it should be an ongoing process. There’s no point in constantly churning out content if it’s not working in the hope that it will catch on. Take a step back and take an honest look at what you’ve been doing and how people have reacted to it. It’s a constant process of trial and error, you just have to keep at it!

If you’d like some help with developing a content strategy for your business, do get in touch with us. We’re happy to chat with you and see what we can do to help.

Photo by Luis Villasmil on Unsplash