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Media
If youve been to any of Buffers social media accounts recently (take Twitter, for instance), you may have
noticed that the lions share of stories we share come from us. We tweet our own stuf. We toot our own
horn.
It would certainly seem that we are in the minority with this strategy. There seems to be a a fine line
between sharing enough of your own stuf and sharing too much. Most people would rather err on the
side of just enough (or even less) in their social media strategy.
We all want to see our content read and shared widely, but no one wants to look like an attention
hog. How much self-promotion is too much self-promotion? Its a great question. Herere
some thoughts.
5-3-2
Introduced by TA McCann from Gist.com, the 5-3-2 rule of social media sharing aims for a blend of
your content, otherss content, and personal updates. Note that the 5-3-2 is not a daily quota but rather a
ratio for any group of 10 updates you post over any timeframe (same goes for the rest of these ratios, too).
4-1-1
Much like the 5-3-2 rule, the 4-1-1 Rule seeks a good ratio of content from others, content from you, and
reshares. Popularized by Andrew Davis of Tippingpoint Labs and Joe Pulizzi of Content
Marketing Institute, the 4-1-1 looks like this in practice:
555+
Shai Coggins of Vervely has a somewhat unique approach to a balanced sharing schedule. The 555+
Guideline seeks to add some variety to a timeline and to keep your social media profile from looking like
a pulpit.
5 responses/replies
Rule of Thirds
Mentioned on the Hootsuite blog by Sam Milbrath, the Rule of Thirds is a perfectly balanced way to
split up your social media posts. It works like this:
1/3 of your updates are for sharing content from others and surfacing ideas
1/3 of your updates are based on personal interactions that build your brand
30 percent owned
60 percent curated
10 percent promotional
Take Sunday, for instance. Here is a breakdown of a group of 10 updates we posted to our Twitter account.
Green check marks are our own content. The orange exclamation point is content from others.
This selection of updates has a 90:10 ratio of our content compared to otherss content. Had I grabbed 10
updates from Monday, all 10 might have been Buffer content.
Clearly, we lean heavily toward sharing our own stuff.
Though were in the minority with our sharing ratio, were not alone. Some of the worlds best players in
content share nearly exclusively from their own archives, blog, and marketing. Looking at the most recent
10 posts from Moz on Twitter, all 10 of them are Moz content. The most recent 10 posts from Brain
Pickings are all links back to the Brain Pickings blog.
So what is it about us outliers? What do we see that others dont?
Tell good stories is akin to sharing outstanding content. Open up your cabinet of curiosities and
share something small every day equate to the notion of transparency, camaraderie, and community.
At Buffer, we feel that sharing our own content on social media is a way to reveal more about us, to show
and share our work. Much of our content has a lets learn this together feel, and were never shy
about sharing our process, warts and all.
The third reason we feel comfortable with our 90/10 split for content sharing is that sharing content is
only a piece of our social media strategy. We are also on social media to engage.
Sharing content is a broadcast; engaging the community is a conversation. Weve found that having both
parts to our social presence makes self-promotion all the more powerful. We can share our own content,
and our followers know we are still there listening, replying, and engaging.
Our Happiness Heroes reply to nearly every tweet that comes our way, including the conversations that
happen with our self-promotion/broadcast content. Heres a recent reply thread from something we
shared.
Also, weve started up a weekly series of Twitter chats (the next one is Wednesday, if youd like to
join). These #bufferchats give us yet another opportunity to engage directly with followers and fans.
Weve found that engagement and sharing go hand-in-hand in a smart automation strategy, evenor
maybe especiallya strategy that is as self-promotional as ours.
Recap
A recent customer survey found that pushing a sale through self-promotion candrop consumer trust
by nearly 50 percent. Stats like this are one reason why folks are scared to try self-promotion.
But can you spot the key phrase in that stat? Pushing a sale. Not all self-promotion needs to be salesoriented. The best kinds are quite the opposite.
From our perspective, it feels that the problem most of the time isnt self-promotion, its self-promotion of
content that isnt adding value. If your content is intriguing and useful, chances are it will be welcomed by
readersno matter your sharing ratio.
Its about showing your work. Its about adding value. And in the midst of sharing your own content, stay
engaged with those youre there to serve.
What is your take on the idea of self-promotion on social media? What ratio do
you aim for with your social sharing? Itd be awesome to hear from you in the
comments.