Member Avatar for MktgRob

I have seen in some threads on this site and others the question come up as to how much of your social network marketing should be geared towards sales generation. As you are trying to build a community by being seen as a source of info and knowledge and leaving your regular website for sales-related activities, the ratio by which you mix the two in your social networks could possible alienate community members.

I suggest to my clients to use a ratio of 10-12 informative posts to 1 sales-related post (talking about sales wins or how you helped a customer with your products and services) as a good mix. What is your strategy?

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Good points from and . Instead of treating the balance as a fixed ratio, treat it as a manageable process: map content to what your audience needs, design promotional touches that add clear utility, and measure reactions so you can adjust without guessing.

Map and pair content by intent. Create content that teaches, invites conversation, or solves a problem first. When you publish something promotional, make it useful by pairing it with a how-to, a real question-and-answer, or a context piece so the promo feels like the next logical step rather than an interruption. Use “micro-asks” (newsletter signups, short demos, free templates) rather than hard pushes, and keep promotional language factual and benefit-focused.

Measure everything and treat promos as experiments. Track engagement signals and negative signals side by side:

  • engagement (comments, shares) and click-throughs
  • conversion from the specific promo (tracked links)
  • follower change and complaint/unfollow spikes
  • sentiment in replies and mentions

Operationalize the practice. Assign a community owner and an analytics owner, maintain a simple editorial calendar that pairs value posts with promotional items, and set response SLAs so the community sees real people, not just queued posts. Use scheduled tools for distribution but keep automation limited to routing and triage; live replies build trust.

A final caution: industries with compliance rules need review steps baked into the workflow. The points raised by about resources and by about over-promotion are complementary — the right process keeps the community engaged while still driving measurable business outcomes.

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Member Avatar for InsightsDigital

I actually agree with you. From a personal perspective, I am actually turned off from blogs or communities that are too self promoting and not really providing any real value to the visitor. I stopped following certain accounts on Twitter whom the account holder only self-plugged. I wonder how many other people out there are turned off by this as well. Do share.

Member Avatar for MktgRob

There is a great article in The Partner Channel magazine this month about blogs and how you need to avoid turning them into sales sites. If I can find the link I will post it up. I share your opinion of the ultra-sales oriented blogs and twitter feeds. It seems these people have forgotten web 2.0 is about a conversation, not a sales presentation.

Member Avatar for InsightsDigital

It is the conversation engaging element that is the glue of success on twitter and other social media tactics. It is very obvious on many Twitter accounts that someone is paid just to add links one hour a day and have no real multi-way conversations.

Member Avatar for MktgRob

Companies who are going to actively work the social media marketplace as a major part of their marketing plan need to dedicate resources (i.e., staff) to monitor the channels at all times. The only ones who do not have to are the companies who are using the social media channels as a complimentary activity to their marketing plans or if they do not have to actively market because of the verticals they target, the products they sell, and the regs that govern the way they do business (defense contractors, niche service providers targeting specific industries, etc.)

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