Social Media & The 3 Main Messages to be Posting

A marketer doesn’t spend all their time creating graphics and designs, carefully putting together enticing captions and maintaining a rigorous social media schedule for no one to pay attention to their social media posts. But how do you ensure your social media posts don’t go unnoticed? It comes down to the types of messages you are consciously or unconsciously putting out there. So how do we know what we want to say and what we shouldn’t say to achieve our social media goals?

Marketers have a model for everything, and there is no exception here, it’s called the 3M model. The 3M model classifies three main marketing messages and the pros and cons of using each of the three messages.

The first ‘M’ is for megaphone. A megaphone message focuses on broadcasting the company; it is all about the brand and its products. Toni and Guy is a well-known brand for its quality hair products however, looking at their Facebook page, their posts are mainly megaphone messages such as the one here. It highlights their new heat protection mist but doesn’t encourage any customer engagement, it is simply information.

Megaphone posts are a very commonly used strategic message. About 95% of brands use social media for such posts. While megaphone posts are great for building brand awareness and informing consumers about your brand and products, they don’t particularly make way for a two-way conversation with your audience. It's said that megaphone messages focus on pushing your message onto people rather than pulling them into connection with you.

The second ‘M’ is for magnet. A magnet post is designed to invite consumer engagement, quite the opposite of the megaphone message. These posts encourage consumers to like, comment, share and tag other people in your post.

As you would imagine, the more consumers engage with your social media posts the more likely your content is going to reach a greater audience. However, since these posts are consumer-focused, not brand-focused, the greater audience that you reach with these magnet posts may not associate your brand with the content at all. Mac Cosmetics is a global make-up brand with over 500 independent stores and consumer engagement is still an important goal of theirs. Out of all their recent posts, this one here has the most comments, likes and views compared to their megaphone posts. Their simple caption encourages a response from consumers while their video catches their audience's eye.

The third and last ‘M’ is for monitor. Monitor posts are focused on showing your audience that you are listening. This may be as simple as responding to consumers’ comments. Did you know that only 2% of brands consistently respond to customer’s posts, why not take advantage of this opportunity and be known as a brand that listens?

Sand and Sky is an Australian Skincare brand using pure Australian Botanicals in its skincare products. Just scrolling through their Instagram page (see here) and checking out their posts (see this one in particular), you can see that they are meticulous at responding to each comment, whether it is a full response or a simple emoji, each consumer receives some special treatment through their response.

The beauty of the 3M model is that no message is wrong or better than the other they all come together to promote your brand, connect with consumers, and position your brand as a listener. Finding the right time to post a megaphone, magnet or monitor post ultimately depends on the type of audience and industry you are in, but as you evaluate what you want from your social media and the goals you have in mind, the timing of these posts will become clear. If you want to promote your brand and products, then a megaphone post is appropriate, if you'd like to simply engage with your audience then a magnet post is your go-to, and if you just want to position your brand as one that cares and listens, then monitor posts are the messages you want to put out there. However, as you'd imagine, a combination of these posts is best to grow your social media following.

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