When the entire nation was glued to their television and social media as rioters stormed the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., I saw businesses in some of my groups online asking: “Should I post now or wait until later?”
This is what I tell my clients, and I know this from pure experience and from experiencing first-hand what happens to a post when you post it during a big event that has the collective attention of the country: WAIT. (I talked about this on Facebook live last week, you can watch it here.)
Why should you wait to post, especially if what is happening does not directly affect you, your area, or your business or clients?
There are two reasons.
The first is because while the entire nation (possibly the world) is captivated by a certain event taking place in real time, your post, which is likely completely off-topic, could appear tone-deaf — as if you have no idea what’s going on in the world or worse, that you don’t care. We all know that not to be true; You probably do care, and even if you don’t, you wouldn’t say that out loud, but actions speak louder than words. What you do online affects your business directly and if you’re still posting about your product, service, or beautiful photos or videos during a tragic, dark day, that can be off-putting for customers.
The second reason is simply because your post will not get the engagement it deserves.
People are consuming the content of a different topic at that moment, which means that your beautiful masterpiece of content will simply not get the attention of the social platform because the social platform will surface more of what people are currently consuming. Your content will get buried. Not only would people not see it, but they won’t be in the mood for it.
For success on social media, it’s important for us to be able to understand the tone or the mood of people online through social listening, the art of understanding what people are talking about and either dialing it in or dialing it down with regard to your own content.
In the example of the Capitol Building being stormed, I myself unscheduled posts that were getting ready to post on my clients’ pages and the content I was going to post I put into drafts so it could be ready to go later when the mood lightens.
Posting it at that time would have been an extreme disservice to my clients.
And any clients who asked me about what to post, I advised them to wait.
When I managed the social pages of the TV station I worked for, as you could imagine we had dozens and hundreds of pieces of content to choose from, create, or post on any given day, and in between, it was imperative for me to know not only what was going on in the world but what the patterns and behaviors were of people consuming content.
When I covered the shooting at the Pulse Nightclub, for example, I can tell you that anything we posted other than information about that tragic day completely flopped – FOR A WEEK. Our audience wanted to know each step of the way what was happening and any other content we posted was of no interest to them whatsoever.
I understood that the mood was somber. Our audience was scared. Our audience was crying.
As a business or small business, you won’t always have to wait for days or weeks for the social mood to lighten. Obviously, different posts and timing works for different industries and audiences (and I can help you figure this out.)
When things calmed down later that day of the Capitol riots, I knew and saw that it was OK to go ahead and post again. But there was a solid period of five-six hours where that was not the case.
I personally waited until the next day to make sure that all the content I produced got maximum visibility, but I did see content being posted later that day and that was OK.
So, keep this handy or message me on Facebook or email me anytime at christie@christieo.com if you ever have a question about what to do and what the climate is. On a day of big events, like the inauguration, which could be a divisive topic among your clients or customers, have that conversation about what to post and when. Be deliberate. Listen.
My advice:
Read the room.
Always be aware of what you have scheduled and when.
Always be ready to unschedule it and save it for later.
Always be ready to pivot.