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Too Many Professional Service Social Media Posts are Self-centered

Are your followers and fans asking: “What’s in it for me?”

Social media experts stress that at least 75 percent of posts a company makes on its social media platforms should be something that its audience finds valuable. The problem is, what the company thinks is valuable and what the audience thinks is valuable often don’t match.

Most professional service posts focus on the firm … and its services, job openings, conferences and related topics. It’s all important stuff, but if it’s always about YOU without appealing to your audience’s own interests, you risk losing your audience.

Our Social Media Use by Professional Services (SMUPS) study of 25 top Detroit professional service firms (as ranked by Crain’s Detroit Business) showed that 79 percent to 88 percent of posts (depending on platform) focus on what your firm deems important and not what your audience deems important.

A quick and easy fix to help connect your content to your audience’s interests is linking your news to bigger trends and issues. It’s easy, really. One simple way is linking your post to industry or social events, a major sporting event (World Cup, World Series, Olympics) or entertainment (Academy Awards).

Here are six additional ideas to create more audience-friendly posts:
1. Offer thanks, kudos or pat-on-the back shout-outs to customers, suppliers or business partners;
2. Spotlight one of your firm’s charity partners … or better yet, your client’s charity partners;
3. Pose a question, conduct a survey or spark a conversation about a topic that resonates with your audience;
4. Offer humor in a way that is consistent with your brand – everyone needs a chuckle;
5. Convey inspirational or motivational quotes that align with your firm’s (or brand’s) values; and
6. Share (or retweet on Twitter) posts, articles and news from other sources that will interest your audience.

Bonus tip: When you do post news on your firm, lead with a comment that shows the audience how this news affects them.

To boost engagement, strive to post three updates that are targeted to your audience’s interests for every one update that’s about your company.