While social media has created more channels for your messages to pass through, the same basic rule of marketing still applies:

No matter how great your content is, if nobody knows about it, it’s useless.

Fortunately, the folks at MicroArts have compiled some best practices for sharing links on Facebook and Twitter, including some analysis on optimal dates and times to share  from social media scientist Dan Zarrella.

But while these insights are helpful, they’re also fairly broad.  A “one size fits all” approach may help your messages get seen by large numbers of people, but if you want to ensure maximum connectivity, you need to drill even deeper into what your audience’s habits are telling you.

Optimizing Your Outreach Strategy

Once you’ve developed a reliable social media strategy, it’s time to start analyzing the results.  For example:

  • On which days are your messages most often read & shared by others?
  • At what time of day are your links most often clicked on?
  • By whom are your messages most often read & shared?
  • Do those results differ among Twitter, Facebook, blog readers, etc.?
  • Do those results differ among topics or talking points?
  • Do your results improve by messaging more often? Or less often?
  • Do certain members of your team craft more effective messages than others?

How do different calls to action (i.e., “watch this”, “learn more”, “find out”) play out on different channels, at different times of day, etc.?

Do you regularly reach out to bloggers, podcasters and other journalists?  If so, do you keep track of who actually shares the information you provide to them, and which leads are dead ends (whom you may actually be annoying)?

While you don’t want to become paralyzed by strategy, you do want results.  And the more you know about how your messages are being processed, and by whom, the better you’ll be able to craft messages that work.

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