Repeat, repeat, repeat

Isn't it irritating, when someone posts the same link to the same article over and over again to Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or elsewhere? Don't they have anything else to say, but to repeatedly push that one thing over and over again? Irritating or not, there's a very understandable reason for it.

With my recent rebranding I had to create a new page on Facebook. This is because Facebook limits certain changes to pages and I couldn't just switch the old page to correlate with the new thing that's going on. I had to ask those who have liked my previous page to firstly like my new page and secondly unlike the old one, so that I could in the future merge the two pages. I can merge them, if my new page has more likes than the old one. Some did this, many didn't. I asked again and again. I ended up paying to boost those posts, in which I ask for this switch. After all those I have managed to get about third of the likes to the new page. Thank you to those who have done what I asked. I truly appreciate it.

Why is it so difficult? Well, firstly not everyone sees of those posts, not even with the boost. Over at Facebook very limited amount of pages followers really see the updates. Of those who have "seen" them haven't actually actively seen them. It is very easy to skip some of the posts on your news feed, just ignore them. Especially when you are skimming through the feed and the update doesn't appear to be very extremely interesting to you at the moment. Obviously many couldn't care a less. I mean, it is a favour I'm asking, you have to click like on my new page and, if you really want to help me out, then click unlike at the old page. That is... Frankly, not that much of work, but any extra click online feels like a huge effort. Additionally time is a factor. Everyone is extra busy online, all the time. Perhaps you saw my plea, but didn't have time for it at that very moment.

The same thing happens everywhere. It's not just Facebook. The first time a handful of people engage with your message, the second time another handful and so on. Eventually those handfuls accumulate to an amount that is somehow useful to you, but before that you will have to annoy some of your fans and followers.

Repeating is the thing around different social media platforms. For all the different reasons your messages will get missed by many. Sometimes, like in the case of Facebook, it's the platforms fault. On Twitter the fault is in the amount of updates your followers are seeing. Not everyone is ready to go and read through the Tweets they missed while they were sleeping, eating or working. I usually skim through all the Tweets I missed, but even then I can miss something. Skimming is skimming. Repeating the message assures that more people will see, understand and digest it. Obviously this can become irritating to those who have already seen the same or the similar update before, but they are unfortunately rare cases. When you wish to get your message to as many people as possible, the rare cases aren't enough.

The best way not to become a broken record is to vary the message a little. When you are posting the same link again and again, try and give each post an individual description. Distinct people also respond to different messages in variable ways: The title or description which intrigues me may leave you completely cold and indifferent. Repeating the same message in variable ways also works as a way to test what works and what doesn't. You can find out so much about your fans and followers, and perhaps in the future reach them effortlessly. This makes repeating extra useful.

Thus there's a simple reason to repeat the same links and same messages multiple times: Repeat makes your message go further online.

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