LinkedIn Challenge: 22 Posts in One Month
Are Reach & Frequency Really More Important than Quality?
As a marketer and as an individual, I’ve struggled with one key concept in the Ehrenberg-Bass 95-5 Rule research. (Read more about that here.) While I whole-heartedly agree with the overall premise that gaining mental availability now is the way to win customers in the future, the fact that reach is the most important thing hasn’t felt intuitive. And that a pre-cursor to reach is frequency feels even more anathema. But in truth, it’s more important than repetition in advertising. More crucial than quality.
More crucial than quality? But how can that be? The old idiom plays in my head: Don’t say anything unless you have something nice to say. My writer’s brain screams out here to stop the train. I’d rather share one lustrous pearl than scatter handfuls of flimsy sequins. Honestly, I’ve sat on this thorny fact for months. It hurts me. But lately, I’m seeing this truth in a new light.
It isn’t that quality isn’t important. It’s just that showing up authentically is more important than mic-drop-worthy wisdom. It’s why journaling has been so powerful for me. The only requirement there is repeatedly showing up on the page in a spirit of openness and reflection. The impact compounds over time, page by imperfect and messy page.
This concept shows up again in personal finance. Warren Buffett didn’t start out with one brilliant move. His efforts compounded over decades, starting at age 10. In fact, $81.5 billion of Warren Buffett’s $84.5 billion net worth came after his 65th birthday. Little efforts started stacking up over time, then reached a point of exponential growth.
You also see this in geology. Did you know we had five separate ice ages? They didn’t come about dramatically with some apocalyptic blizzard. One summer it just didn’t get cold enough to melt all the snow and ice from that winter. Then the next year, more snow fell and it didn’t all melt, either. On and on for hundreds of years until it reached a literal snowball effect.
To grow a brand, you need to connect with people who aren’t in the market now, so that when they do enter the market your brand is familiar. And, that they mentally associate your brand with the need or buying situation that brought them into the market (the pain point they need to solve). That way, you increase buyers’ purchase propensity. And if you can do that across enough buyers, your market share will grow.
Practice Feels Different than Theory
Theoretically, of course, I know this. But in practice it feels different. That’s why I’m challenging myself to test out this concept using myself as a guinea pig. Every workday in March, I have committed to posting on LinkedIn. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to be earth-shatteringly insightful. It has to be authentically me, and done thoughtfully. Over this month, I’m tracking some key metrics on both LinkedIn and Pink Pineapple Post. My hypothesis is that all of these metrics will improve, including gaining new subscribers to my newsletter.
This all dovetails with moving the newsletter to its new home on Substack, where I hope some of the momentum from this month-long tiny experiment will result in growth, exponential or otherwise. I’ll take either.
👋 Hey, there! If you don’t know me by now, I’m Jessica. Marketing strategist, storyteller, reader, writer & framework builder. I help brands connect with customers through authentic content that clicks. If that sounds sweet to you, subscribe to my newsletter: Pink Pineapple Post. If you’re already a regular reader, thanks! Consider sharing my tasty tidbits with a friend.
