You may have heard the phrase, “quality trumps quantity.” And while that’s true, you shouldn’t confuse quality with perfection. In fact, a post’s imperfection can add to its quality.
Let’s look at three ways imperfection can help your small business’s social media posts.
1. Imperfection can give you the freedom to post more often
Focusing on perfection (meaning, something you deem to be perfect) could tempt you to post less frequently than you should.
Here’s how I determine how often my clients should post:
- Look at the social media channels of your top three competitors
- For each channel, post at least as often as two out of three of your competitors
This keeps your posting frequency in lock-step with the competition. When I first start working with a client, I give them this number to kick us off the ground. If they want to up their frequency over time, we talk about that.
Others will tell you to post at least once a day, every day. But I think this isn’t always necessary for small businesses. If you’re like many small business owners, you don’t have the time or the money to invest in this kind of frequency.
2. Imperfection can lend itself to authenticity
Authenticity is a hallmark for small businesses who want to present themselves as more than a faceless organization. A quality social media post is authentic to your brand.
For example, you may want to take a picture of your messy office to bring people into your workspace.
This post, which will be featured on social media channels, includes a picture of my messy office. It doesn’t present me in a perfect light, but it’s authentic.
If I were to make the photo “perfect,” I’d clean up my office space and hire a professional photographer to take it. But I want you to get to know me and my company, so I’m presenting my office as it typically looks.
Speaking of messy, while you should try to adhere to basic grammatical and spelling rules, feel free to break a few. This is especially true if doing so helps you communicate a message in an easy-to-read way.
3. Imperfection can give you the confidence to post
Remember that you’re not posting literature that will be read for ages to come. The average person stores short-term information for approximately 20 to 30 seconds. So, for most social media posts, the reader isn’t likely to remember it longer than half a minute.
I’m not saying you should rush to post something. Take your time crafting each post, but know that it doesn’t have to be perfect.
