Social Advertising: Say It Again and Again, but Say It Differently

When it comes to getting your message across in advertising, we know we need multiple touch points. Your prospective customer/client needs to hear your message over and over. But when it comes to social media, your message needs to be different. And I’m not referring to your various blog posts.

I’m thinking specifically about the message you use in the various social media channels to get readers to click and read your posts.

You need multiple touch points, but it is important in social media to change the message you use to interest readers. Why? Because unlike in television or radio, you have an audience in each social media channel that has chosen to follow you already, and repeating your message over and over subjects them to your multiple, repetitious posts.

What do they think when they see you post, “3 reasons to read my article…” over and over and over again? They think you’re trying to advertise to them, and that’s the moment when they tune you out. And while posting the same message may find new readers every time you publish, you are losing current readers by boring them with the same message over and over and over again.

I was attending a sales training recently, and one of the take-away’s was that you need to create three ways to say the same thing for each point you to make about your product or service. That way when the point comes up in a conversation (or in multiple conversations) you won’t simply be repeating the same thing over and over and over again.

The same rule applies here in social media. If you have a great post you want to promote, by all means go promote it. But instead of repeating the content in the subsequent posts you publish to draw interest, write a different message about the topic. It keeps your followers looking at different material, and can potentially interest a reader or two that didn’t bite on the initial version of your post.

Also, if you are posting your message in multiple groups within LinkedIn, keep in mind that some potential readers may see your message in more than one group. Try, instead, posting a different message in each group to promote your post. That way, readers won’t see someone desperately posting everywhere they can to get readers to click.

While this approach surely takes more time and effort, keep in mind you are also creating an opportunity to test and experiment with the types of headlines, questions and content you use to generate interest. In the process, you may just find a new, and better formula to attract new readers.