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Online content can take a lot of forms, from words to photos to videos. And content can live in a lot of different places: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, blogs, websites, etc. Regardless of the kind of content you create or where you post it, if engagement is low, you’re probably doing something wrong.

One of the questions that comes up over and over again in emails, comments, and messages to us is, “Why aren’t people interacting with my content?”

To answer that question, let’s look at three reasons people aren’t interacting with your content:

1. Your Content is All About Links

We see this on Facebook all the time: businesses, organizations, or nonprofits drop links into their Facebook feeds using Facebook’s auto-link feature. That feature is being downgraded in the Facebook algorithm, so you don’t want to keep “just posting links” there.

You also want to avoid spamming your audiences with links that aren’t relevant to your business. Putting a bunch of silly Buzzfeed-type nonsense out there bring you less success in the new Facebook algorithm than it did in the past. And it probably wasn’t bringing much return for you then.

Bottom line: If you’re posting a lot of lists, quizzes, and other spammy, link-driven contents on social media, you’re ensuring that people will ignore your content.

2. You Sell All the Time

Who likes following a business, organization, or non-profit who sells 24/7? Businesses, nonprofits, and organizations that are always selling on social media are forgetting one of the most important questions in content marketing: What’s in it for the customer/reader?

It’s easy to use social media to push sales all the time, but if you do, your engagement will most likely fall. Try using the 80/10/10 rule: 80{628954cb2bad821921117287c23504a7919be1893c483613421612ad8712cddb} of your content is educational, 10{628954cb2bad821921117287c23504a7919be1893c483613421612ad8712cddb} is informational, and 10{628954cb2bad821921117287c23504a7919be1893c483613421612ad8712cddb} is sales.

3. Your Content is Ugly

Whether it’s bad photos, bad graphics, or hard-to-read fonts, ugly content doesn’t get interaction. Even if you’ve got huge news to share, a killer offer to advertize, or something else of value — if your content looks ugly, people aren’t going to pay attention to it.

We wrote about three great online tools you can use to make your content more attractive in this post.

We all suffer from content suck sometimes. We’ve gone through times right here at The Rocket Group where our content was bad, and we lost followers. If your business, organization, or nonprofit is over-doing it on links, focusing too much on sales, or using ugly imagery, the good news is that it’s not too late to bounce back.

Sharing quality (not spammy) content, following the 80/10/10 rule, and making your content a little more attractive can help you drive increased content interaction. If you need a little more help, give us a shout! We’re always glad to help.

Tools We Use and Recommend:

PicMonkey

Canva

Getty Images

Facebook Advertising

Twitter Advertising

As I explain in the video above our creation, The Law of Uncle Ben, it is the responsibility of those of us with the experience, education, and success stories in modern communications – especially social media – to help those individuals, businesses, organizations, non-profits, who do not have the same experience, education, and success stories to succeed in modern communications.

To that goal, we announce The Month of Uncle Ben where I, personally, will offer thirty-one communications audits to those who sign up for the program throughout the month of January, 2015. The audit can cover your social media, your website, your email newsletter, your audiences, and your goals. These half-hour conversations will be conducted over the phone or Google hangout and be recorded for your later use and reference.

Did I mention they will be free?

Yep, a free thirty-minute communications audit with myself to help get you on the right path to launching your own success story in 2015.

We’re going to learn from you what is working and not working with your communications and offer constructive criticisms, powerful suggestions, and recommendations of tools – free and low cost – which will make your life easier and your success story easier to attain. We will use our experience to help you, there will not be any upsell of our products and services, and there will be no charge for these audits.

Let’s put the Law of Uncle Ben to work for you and your social media communications in 2015! Claim your thirty minute appointment with the link below.

PS  

Be sure to connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, and on our News page to get dozens of helpful updates about social media, marketing, and communications (and some fun stuff too!) which we post every week. Also, check out our daily “Proof of Life” #UncleBen-related posts which we rotate between Instagram and Facebook!

One of more frequent projects we undertake here at The Rocket Group is public speaking and training sessions. Whether these are in public venues or private sessions, we have worked with audiences across the Midwest to educate, inform, and entertain audiences about advocacy, public policy, marketing, and, of course, social media. 

Speaking (pun intended) personally, this video is from one of my own favorite recent presentations when a local Rotary Club here in Jefferson City, Missouri asked me to give a speech on any topic I wanted. I chose to talk about some best practices and tips when it comes to public speaking.

If you would be interested in having me in to talk with your group or business or at your event, feel free to contact me anytime.

Enjoy…and let me know what you thought in the comments below!

At a recent presentation on social media best practices with ACT Missouri, I discussed a frequently asked question regarding Hootsuite as a management tool for social conversations. The video of that conversation is embedded below.

First, a couple of points:

1. Full disclosure: As disclosed in my Twitter bio, I am a Hootsuite Ambassador (#HootAmb) but receive no monetary compensation for my endorsement of the program. As mentioned right off the bat in the video, I occasionally do get some goodies.
2. I would be overwhelmed by the noise of social media without Hootsuite there to guide the communications and listening for our clients channels and our own. It’s an incredibly powerful and affordable tool. 
3. Finally, this speech was given during the 2014 National League Championship Series featuring the St. Louis Cardinals. I was highly optimistic at this time. Maybe next year!

Check the programs out for yourself: 

Hootsuite Hootsuite PRO  A Comparison of the Two, well, Three Plans

Thanks to ACT for having me to work with your staff and for the good work you are doing. If you are interested in training sessions of your own – in real life, in a class or online – feel free to contact me anytime!

 On to the video!

It’s election time again – just like it is all the time these days – and mailboxes are filling up with mailers. These two tips on dimensions and scorched earth policies will help you be successful come election day.