Does the 80/20 rule still apply to social media content?
If you use social media for your small business, you’ve probably heard of the 80/20 rule at some point. What is it, and does it matter?
The 80/20 rule states that 80% of your content should educate, entertain, or be useful to your audience in some way, while only 20% should directly promote your business.
Not to channel Captain Barbosa here, but this is more of a guideline than an actual rule. However, it is a good guideline.
The idea behind it is that you don’t want to be too salesy. Personally, I like feeling helped or supported, (and content that makes me smile never goes amiss) but when I feel like I’m being sold to—it’s annoying. You’re probably the same way, and your audience probably is too.
The reason I say that this is a guideline rather than a rule is that there’s really no need to get caught up in the math. Rather than stress about how much of your content fits into each category (useful/entertaining/educational or promotional) or going the opposite extreme and not worrying about it at all, just focus on your audience rather than yourself. What do they want to know? What would be helpful for them? What would they find fun or entertaining?
This reason for the rule (focus more on your audience than on yourself) is easy to follow and will stand you in good stead whether you’re writing a blog post, creating social media content, or dreaming about starting a podcast. Stay focused on your audience and what they need and want, rather than yourself and what you’d like people to do (comment, buy, schedule, like, etc.). As long as you do that, you’ll be following the spirit of the 80/20 rule no matter what the math looks like.
