You're Teaching Social Media What Your Business Is About!

Every time you publish something on your Facebook Business Page, Instagram account, or another social media platform, you're doing more than simply sharing a post.

You're providing information that can help social media platforms understand what your business is about and who might be interested in your content.

And that's something I think far too many business owners overlook.

Let's Say Your Business Sells Staples

Imagine you own a business that sells staples, staplers, and other office supplies.

You create a Facebook Business Page because you want to attract customers, promote your products, and hopefully increase sales.

But instead of regularly posting about office supplies, workplace organization, business productivity, or other related subjects, you start sharing pictures of cute puppies.

Why?

Because everybody loves puppies!

And sure enough, your puppy pictures start getting likes, comments, and shares.

Sounds great, right?

Well, maybe not.

What Are You Teaching Facebook About Your Business?

Social media platforms use numerous signals to understand the content people publish and determine who might be interested in seeing it.

These signals can include the words in your posts, the subjects of your pictures and videos, the people who interact with your content, and how those people respond.

Now imagine you've spent the last several months posting pictures of puppies.

People who enjoy puppy pictures start interacting with your posts. Some might even follow your business page.

You're getting engagement, but you're also attracting an audience that may have little or no interest in office supplies.

You're building an audience around puppies when you should be building an audience around your business.

Now, this doesn't mean Facebook automatically decides your office supply company is actually a pet store.

The algorithms are much more complicated than that.

But the content you consistently publish, along with the people who engage with it, can influence how your posts are understood and distributed.

And that's where things can get interesting.

What Happens When You Finally Post About Staples?

After months of sharing puppy pictures, you decide to post about a special sale on office supplies.

You're excited because your Facebook Page has been getting plenty of engagement.

But what happens?

The people who loved your puppy pictures might scroll right past your office supply promotion.

Why?

Because they followed or interacted with your page for the puppies, not the staples.

And if the people who initially see your new post aren't interested in it, you may have a harder time generating the kind of engagement that helps your content reach additional people.

Facebook doesn't show every post to every follower, and it evaluates many different signals when deciding what to recommend.

Still, attracting the wrong audience can make it more difficult to reach the people who actually matter to your business.

A thousand followers who love puppies aren't necessarily as valuable to your office supply business as a hundred followers who regularly purchase office supplies.

Give Social Media a Clearer Picture of Your Business

Now imagine taking a different approach.

Instead of filling your page with unrelated content, you regularly publish posts about office organization, workplace productivity, supplies for teachers, home office ideas, and the products you sell.

You might share helpful tips, interesting photos, short videos, customer questions, and even a little humor.

Over time, your content provides a more consistent picture of your business and the people you're trying to reach.

You're also giving potential customers more reasons to interact with your page.

Someone interested in organizing a home office might appreciate your tips.

A teacher preparing for a new school year might find your products useful.

A small business owner might discover an office supply item they didn't even know existed.

Those are the kinds of people you probably want following your business.

And when you eventually post about a sale on staples, there's a better chance that at least some of your audience will actually be interested.

That Doesn't Mean You Can't Have Fun!

I'm certainly not suggesting that every post needs to be a sales pitch.

And I'm not saying you should never share something funny, personal, or entertaining.

In fact, those kinds of posts can help people connect with your business.

But whenever possible, try to make the content relevant to your business or the people you're trying to reach.

If you sell office supplies, share a funny video about someone struggling with a stapler.

If you own a restaurant, share a behind-the-scenes moment from the kitchen.

If you're a real estate agent, share something interesting about the neighborhoods where you sell homes.

You can still have personality. You can still entertain people.

Just remember why you created your business page in the first place.

Remember, You're Building More Than a Facebook Page

You're building an audience.

You're establishing your business's identity.

You're helping potential customers understand what you do.

And through the content you consistently publish, you're also providing signals that social media platforms can use to better understand your posts and the people who might enjoy them.

That doesn't guarantee more reach, more followers, or more sales.

But it gives you a more purposeful foundation than simply posting whatever happens to catch your attention.

So before you publish your next post, think about the message you're sending.

Not just to the people who might see it, but also to the systems that help determine who sees your content.

Because whether you realize it or not, every time you post, you're helping teach social media what your business is about.

By Joey O'Connor

HelpWithSocialMedia.com - Free Social Media Tips, Advice, and Personal Help.