It’s not uncommon for a Gaggle Manager to ask at some point in scaling their program “what if the entire company shares the same thing at the same time?” While that is a valid concern, as are questions about all employees sharing the same content, you might be surprised to see how little your Member's individual audiences overlap.
Let’s take a close look at some of the reasons this is less of a concern when you pull back and look at social media platforms as a whole.
Network Variations Impact Who Sees Your Social Posts
No one social media network is identical to another social media network, even when you work for the same company.
We all come from different backgrounds — different career paths, locations, education, and even job titles. Yes, you and your coworkers have all intersected at the same company, and yes you are all sharing the same content, but the chances people see the same content is strongly concentrated with your shared contacts at the same company.
Let’s look at an example here at GaggleAMP. Glenn Gaudet is our CEO and Michelle Brammer is our Director of Marketing. Before forming GaggleAMP, Glenn was in the marketing space; Michelle was a former GaggleAMP client before working here. It is quite likely that their LinkedIn networks could, and should, overlap.
Michelle has approximately a network of just over 1,450 1st-degree connections. Glenn also has a strong network but is over double in size at just over 3,200.
But, Glenn and Michelle only have 81 mutual connections. That is less than 6% of Michelle’s 1st-degree connections and only 2.5% of Glenn’s network.
Of those 81 connections, 20 are current or former employees. 12 are vendors they have a mutual relationship with. 17 are or have been Gaggle Managers or Members. That leaves only 32 people, out of 4,650 that might possibly see both of our social posts, assuming we share them at exactly the same time — there is less than a 1% chance of overlap.
Feed Algorithms Rarely Show the Same Post
Not everyone is on social media all the time and no one person will have the exact identical experience as someone else.
Continuing to compare Glenn and Michelle, Glenn is based in the Boston metropolitan area; Michelle is based outside Phoenix. There are 2-3 hours between them on any given day. Even if they both were to check their social media feeds first thing in the morning — let’s call that 5 AM — their feeds will be different. 5 AM Glenn’s time just has the east coast starting to wake up; for Michelle, it’s still the middle of the night.
Plus, their networks will show different posts and engagements. While their first-party network barely overlaps, they have next to no overlap in their secondary network. Plus, they both have different likes and interests so even their advertising rarely overlaps.
And that is all assuming that Glenn and Michelle both share content at exactly the same time, which is also highly unlikely. And even if they did, if Glenn got more comments on his post than Michelle, LinkedIn will favor that post over Michelle’s.
LinkedIn favors comments over a high volume of reactions or just quick comments. Comments are a currency in social media.
So, while it is common for people at the same company to see the same posts from each other, it is not common for that to occur widely outside of the organization. And even if someone outside of the company sees a similar post shared by a couple of employees, it’s more likely perceived as a positive (think about the increased share of voice, cohesive messaging, etc.) than a negative.
The Value in Editing a Post
When you are creating content for the Gaggle, it is not uncommon to ask multiple people in your company to engage or share the same content.
You might have noticed that many of our activities contain a message field in which the GaggleAMP Manager curates a message here. When that is shared on social media, it is shared exactly as it was written by the Gaggle Manager.
But, you do have the option to allow your Members to edit this content and give their own perspectives. This can be done by selecting ‘allow editing’ on activities that allow for it.
Encourage employees to provide their own perspective, spin, or thoughts on the content being shared. Of course, this takes some trust and possibly training for your employees, but can also result in a really effective employee advocacy program. Your employees will get comfortable with how to curate and generate their own content in their own voice. Likewise, it likely will resonate better with their audience, and engagement comes more authentically.