One of the more common questions we hear from small businesses and sales people that are managing their own marketing is “Should I re-use content for social media”?
At this panel hosted by One Southern Indiana, a member of the audience asked this very question. My response to this is little nuanced, but it makes perfect sense if you think about it. If you are sharing the same post repeatedly, it’s going to get fewer and fewer impressions, likes, clicks, comments, and overall interactions because social media platforms want fresh, original content. They will perceive this as an attempt to game the system. We all know that for several years now the organic reach of posts on platforms like Facebook have diminished. Facebook wants you to pay to boost those posts to reach your audience, even if they are fans of your page. So if your goal is to get a broader reach for your post then my recommendation is to promote it, but make sure you are using the correct targeted audience!
There are some exceptions to this rule, but they involve time. If you wait a few months you can often re-use some of the same content from the past. This is very popular with influencers on social media. They may share the same photo that happens to be one of their most popular photos, once every few months. Each time it will typically generate a lot of likes and comments, but this is often because they have a rabid fanbase and typically acquire new followers on a daily basis. This tends to be more popular on visual platforms like Instagram than it does on Facebook or LinkedIn.
Another idea is to refresh old content to make it more relevant and current. For example, I posted a blog previously about social media trends. Those trends change on a regular basis, so updating my old blog with refreshed content (which is clearly marked as revised) and then re-sharing it again on social media is not a terrible idea. I would argue that a better idea would be to rewrite the blog entirely and make it current and separate and then share that instead.
Regardless of how you choose proceed with managing your own social media, you should always exercise caution when re-using content. If the same person sees it enough they may actually unfollow or unsubscribe from your profile or feed.
If you need help generating leads and improving your brand on social media, give us a call. We help small businesses and enterprise customers grow their business using the power of social media. Our small business plans are very affordable and the results will be substantially better than if you try to do it yourself, have an intern do it, or don’t do anything at all!
