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By: Alex Fernandez
Internet Marketing Strategist

Okay, bear with me. The title has some big words, but trust me – I’m going somewhere with this…

Figuring out the “right” mix and frequency in for your brand’s social media posts can be a tricky business. The word “right” is in quotes, because it’s such a subjective term. My definition of “right” is when you find consistent engagement levels along with a consistent rate of growth in engagement levels, month after month.

Engagement, in the most basic terms, means that people are liking, commenting and otherwise interacting with your brand when you’re posting. If you’re hearing crickets chirp after your social media posts – it would be wise to put some thought into what you’re sharing.

In economics, the equilibrium point, or “Market Equilibrium,” is the point where market forces meet. It is the point where the supply and demand curves intersect. Perhaps you’ve seen a common supply and demand model:

Supply and Demand

The basic idea is that supply and demand are inversely related.

A common example is with a commodity, such as apples, for example. If the supply of apples decreases (moving the supply curve left) then the demand for apples increases, raising the equilibrium point (or market price).

  • Supply UP = Demand DOWN, Price DOWN
  • Supply DOWN = Demand UP, Price UP
  • And vice versa…

In social media, post activity and post visibility are inversely related. If you seldom post, you have a good chance of users noticing your posts in their social accounts (whether it be a Facebook news feed, Twitter stream, etc). If you post too often, users will either tune your posts out or opt-out from your brand (un-follow or hide posts). In the case of Facebook, the social network will actually cut your visibility for the user if your posts are published too frequently.

Thus, the supply and demand model can actually be adapted to describe this relationship. As illustrated below, post activity replaces “Supply,” and post visibility replaces “Demand.”

Engagement Equilibrium

ENTER: Engagement!

Social media isn’t as two dimensional as the law of supply and demand. The bell shape curve in the visual represents engagement. Engagement is a bell shaped curve it’s non-linear. It’s very sensitive to extremes; if you do too much OR too little, it actually tapers off.

There’s a “sweet spot” with social media engagement that you have to hit just right.

Post too infrequently, and you’ll lose your audience. Sure, your posts will be visible, but no one will care what you have to say,  because you’ll have no rapport with them.

Post too often, and you’ll over load your audience, not giving them enough time to enjoy your wonderful posts. They will either miss most of what you send out or get sick of you, very quickly.

Post at the right frequency, with the right kind of content, and you’ll hit the sweet spot, the Engagement Equilibrium.

I’d like to know what you all think. Crazy talk? Some substance to all of this? What I like about merging these two worlds, is that economics and social media marketing are both applied sciences. Both would be nothing if it weren’t for the masses and how they react to things. Please leave a comment below with your thoughts!

Should you need an Engagement Equilibrium for your social media presence, email us at info(at) getpushing.com or give us a call at 239.221.2858.

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