80% engagement, 20% promotion on social media

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Susan Gunelius expands on the 7 P's Of Social Media Marketing That Drive Results, for example:

Consumers build brands, not companies. You must develop your brand reputation and persona, and you must consistently meet your audience’s expectations in order to create the right perceptions. Follow the Pareto Principle and make sure at least 80 percent of your social media content, conversations, and activities are useful and meaningful to your target audience while no more than 20 percent is self-promotional.

As an entrepreneur, I face the expected pressures of finding clients and developing business.  I knew that relationship-building was key, so I kept at this, while promoting my businesses directly with my target audience.

Five months ago, I paused, reflected, and realized that I was getting some responses from my efforts but that these were relatively far and few between.  I read a draft e-book on marketing professional services, written by Larry Easto, and arrived at a different algorithm:  relationships, before client relationships, before business development.

Practically speaking, I shifted the engagement-promotion balance from 50% - 50%, to 80% - 20% (Pareto Principle).  I am happy to say that I am forging those relationships quite well.  I am finding those sweet spots of engagement, and key colleagues are responding much more to my efforts than before.