The Facebook Five: Sentiment

Part two of five breaking down the five key items to successful Facebook strategy.

Of the Facebook Five, Sentiment seems obvious, but it is oblivious to far too many.  On a social platform, we want to share.  Many of us overshare.

When I speak of making sure there is sentiment in your post, try to discover something that connects with people, something that can evoke emotion.  It's one thing to post that photo from the event that documents it, but if you can, try to shoot from an angle or with a point of view that provides a hook for emotional connection.  If not, you need to make sure the text along with it can amplify the image and provide the connection.

Case in point today.  I fixed up an old table that belonged to my grandmother.  A friend did the sanding and some of the staining.  I did the repair -- a gap, a loose top, a broken setter board on the bottom -- and we worked to reseal it and put it back into use.

Once I finished it, I was pretty proud and decided to put the picture on my personal Facebook.  OK, old antique table.  It was my tag line that did the trick.

I was surprised how many of my friends liked on this picture -- I think I had taken much more stunning shots over the previous week of really gorgeous flowers and trees around Natchitoches -- but what gave this picture top reaction compared to the previous two weeks on my personal feed was grandma.

See, everyone loves grandma.  They love that it's grandma's heirloom.

That's the sentiment you need to discover.

The day Ray Bradbury passed away I was fortunate to have one of our former journalism teachers, Tom Whitehead, email me a scan of an envelope that Ray had sent Tom after speaking at NSU in the 1970s.  Ray drew a cartoon of an orange and purple striped tie that he was enamored with from the trip to Natchitoches on the outside of the letter.  I posted that as a bit of lagniappe for the day on our feed -- it connected NSU to a national event, it showed a personal side of Bradbury and it was unique.

Tomorrow -- The Facebook Five continues with Visual.