Weekend Reading – Less is More, Data From Shortened Links and a Golden Success Story

Looking for a way to pass the time this weekend? We’ve scanned the web and created a list of some of our most interesting content finds. Today we’ll look at how BBC News uses Instagram, what you can learn from a shortened link and a hockey social media success story. Let’s roll!

Less is Sometimes More

I’m fortunate to do a lot of speaking and teaching with Strong Coffee. The social media question I get the most relates to post frequency.

“How often should I post on ________?”

Short answer – I have no idea. Each profile and audience demands something different. I tell people that I’d rather be relevant and informational than a posting madman. I came across this cool article talking about how BBC News finds that less is sometimes more when it comes to social media posting…

Read #1 – How BBC News Manages Instagram

There’s a lot of good stuff in this article. It’s very apparent that BBC News understands their audience and works very hard to ensure their content is relevant. The Instagram Stories quiz bit at the end of the article is interesting too. Cool stuff!

What Can You Learn From a Shortened Link?

Shortened links are pretty common online. Link shorteners like bit.ly and goo.gl allow you to create more visually appealing links to share on social media. They also let you collect analytics on the clicks that you generate. We’ve used bit.ly here at Strong Coffee for a number of years.

Read #2 – Learn About Your Competitors Through Their Social Media Links

This article contains some good nuggets of information. The one that is most interesting and relevant to me is the idea that adding a “+” after a bit.ly link will display the associated analytics. This is a cool way to take a sneak peek at the amount of traffic that your competitors are generating through their links. It’s also a reminder that a lot of this data isn’t private… so be sure you’re reporting the right numbers to a client!

New Team Making Waves in the NHL

I can’t say that we have any die-hard Las Vegas Golden Knights fans in our office, but it’s safe to say that we all admire their social media. It’s refreshing to see a brand put some real personality into their social media. It can be a scary proposition for a lot of companies… they prefer to keep things professional (often too professional) and their communications can get a bit dull.

Read #3 – Dan Marrazza: More Than a Twitter Character

The first thing to note – a few weeks after this article was published, Dan left the Las Vegas Golden Knights. Regardless, it gives us some good insights into the person behind a successful brand. It also details a few key traits of a good social media manager – knowledge of the brand and knowledge of the world. It’s vital that your social media manager knows everything that there is to know about the brand. It’s also important that they have access to all areas of the business. They’re attempting to tell your brand story, and you don’t want to handcuff them with restrictions. A general understanding of the world around the brand is important too. Being able to come up with timely content, jokes, pop culture references and relevant information is something that can’t be taught. I find that those who have a good understanding of a wide variety of “things” tend to do well as social media managers.

Bonus Reading

This is one of the more random stories I’ve seen, and the headline is incredible…

Lifetime Ban Lifted 17 Years After Seagulls Trash Hotel Room Over Suitcase of Pepperoni

There you have it… some light reading for the weekend! Enjoy!