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“…Engagement rates are 70% higher when there are less than 4 posts per week. If you post more than 3 posts per day you will find your engagement rate fall by 40%…”
These statements come from one of the many studies on Social Media Marketing available on the Internet.
You may agree or not, or say: this works only on Facebook or Twitter or… But it doesn’t matter, now. What this tells us is simply that the world hasn’t changed its very basics, after all. Despite the “Social Revolution”, that is breaking down borders all over the world, and the “Mobile Approach” to our everyday life that is sweeping away Kant’s categories of place and time.
Recall Esopo’s fairytale of the boy who cried wolf. Or google for proverbs around the world about the negative results of talking too much. (One is: “Brevity is the soul of wit”; “La brevità è l'essenza dell'ingegno”; “In der Kürze liegt die Würze”; “La brevedad es el alma del ingenio”; “La brièveté est sœur du talent”…)
From press though television to Social Media, the number of people accessing and producing information has gradually increased and, then as now, quality has ever been in inverse proportion to quantity. In the huge amount of information now available it is easy to get lost, regardless which side you are on: trying to find or be found, despite the advanced search filters you can set or tick.
What shall we do, then? How can one make his message stand out?
Firstly, a little paradox: the less the presence, the grater the engagement. But this is nothing new: “Enough is enough”; “Il toppo stroppia”; “Allzu viel ist ungesund”; “El exceso daña”; “Trop; c'est trop”...
Secondly, engagement depends on the quality of what is posted, not on the quantity. As an example: there’s no way to make a post go viral just by over pushing it. “Content is king” stated Bill Gates recovering the 50+ y.o. McCarthy’s 4 Ps Marketingmix Model which featured first P for Product. Communication is much more than a mere matter of numbers (impressions or clicks) and money (budget allocated)… Don’t let it all in a Marketing Manager’s hands! Nor it’s only where we communicate, despite McLuhan’s “The Medium is the Message” theory. As it appeals to humans and calls for engagement, communication needs to involve emotions, and not patience or endurance. Peter (of the wolf)’s lesson is clear: exceeding the exposure fatally makes the catching effect fade out.
So, finally. Good is better than more, and smart is better than rich. This makes it all more challenging and a great fun!
