I have nothing to write about. My brain will not produce a topic worthy of a blog post. You see, while I extol the virtues of taking a pro-active approach to content planning (with room to be re-active), my writing is often based on an ‘in the moment’ thought, or a shot of inspiration that comes from left-field. Right now, I am unable to conjure such inspiration. But that isn’t the end of the world. In fact it got me thinking, perhaps everybody should just be silent from time to time. Many people over-share via their personal social media profiles, but it also applies to brands, businesses etc that use social media…

When there’s nothing good to say, why say anything at all?

Having a presence for your brand on social media doesn’t mean you have to be constantly updating. Yes, you need to maintain a certain momentum, however, why bother unless you’re offering something interesting or of value? We all like to be polite, but do we really need to see a brand wish us ‘good morning’ everyday? If that then leads to a number of interesting updates throughout the day, then fine. But these pointless little updates are often used a filler to ensure something is being said. It’s kind of like forcing a conversation with somebody at a party – awkward and often leads to nothing valuable happening for either participant.

People don’t have time to read these fillers

Take Twitter as the basis here – it moves so fast, that if a person has made the decision to follow a brand and dips into their timeline for a couple of minutes while standing in a line for coffee, do they really want to waste their retinas looking at ‘good morning?’. Tweets fly by so fast that if they don’t immediately grab the users attention, then they will be lost in the stream. Look at Facebook, does an individual really want to see ‘lunchtime, what you having?’ coming from a brand, mixed in with the updates from their friends and family? I think not.

Don’t fear silence

I would urge any business using social media to not be scared to say nothing. Silence really can be golden. Your followers etc are unlikely to desert you if they haven’t heard anything from you for a while. In fact, they’re more likely to turn their backs on you if you make noise for noise sake. Have value at the front of your mind at all times.

I’m off to have a cheese sandwich. Good afternoon.

Am I wrong? Do these updates tickle your social media fancy? Do they have their place in some instances? Perhaps a ‘good morning’ tweet is a sensible way to let people know you are there? Do tell.

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Mike McGrail

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Image used under CC via tinfoilraccoon on Flickr.