How do you treat content that doesn’t take off? (+ My rules)
Ten years ago, if a Facebook post didn’t receive enough reactions, I would delete it immediately.
Yep, 18-year-old Nika was terrified that people would notice her “failure.” Reality check: when a post flops, almost nobody sees it anyway. The only person who actually suffers from the low engagement is the original poster.
My current guidelines are clear:
Never delete content that doesn’t take off.
Because:
It’s practice – every post levels up your skill.
You instantly see what doesn’t work.
It still earns a few impressions and keeps your daily posting streak alive.
Some “flops” randomly blow up weeks or even months later.
What about you?
How do you handle content that doesn’t perform?
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Replies
Scade.pro
great rules, Nika!
I am for repurposing content. I prefer posting one piece on different platforms. And it performs differently on them.
I write articles mainly I perfectly know that an article may not get thousands of views, but it can still bring you a huge b2b deal (or a couple of them). So I never underestimate a content that didn't go viral.
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@nastassia_k Which platforms are you active on and which bring you the best results?
I usually either optimize the content after analysing the impressions, clicks, avg position and ctr, or do a full update by filtering out the content gap, checking SERPs and LLMs for what can be improved, test and experiment with probably images, alt tags and other elements.
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@tania_j I also tag people, but do not do alt texts. Do you see any positive results with that?
OMG, I used to do the same in 2021, when I started creating content on LinkedIn.
Any post that used to tank would give me this subtle embarrassment, thinking my friends would see it and laugh… and I would delete it. But later, I did one thing, I blocked my friends on LinkedIn. And after that, I never feared low engagement, because who cares? If I look back now, I laugh at my silly actions, but I feel blocking my friends in the initial stage gave me a kind of freedom.
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@rashiaroraofficial But what if your friends supported you? But this is true... the people I know – I am more embarrassed to show them my work.
@busmark_w_nika Maybe. But I feel, friends know our old versions showing them your work feels like exposing a new self.
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@rashiaroraofficial and maybe it is progress over time ;)
TinyCommand
Honestly, I relate to this a lot.
Earlier, low engagement felt personal, like the post said something about me, not the idea. Over time, I realised most “flops” aren’t failures, they’re just… timing mismatches.
Some posts I almost deleted actually helped me later, not because they went viral, but because they showed me what worked and what didn’t. Which lines made sense. Which ones didn’t land.
Now I treat low-performing content like a note to self:
Don’t overreact
Don’t romanticise numbers
Just keep shipping
The irony is, once you stop obsessing over performance, your content actually gets better.
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@anushkahode Which platform did you experiment with the most?
TinyCommand
@busmark_w_nika LinkedIn. It’s been my main experiment lately, especially learning to not judge a post too quickly just by early engagement.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@anushkahode are we connected there? I cannot recall :D
minimalist phone: creating folders
@george_esther Do you do these things only for LinkedIn? Or are you also on other platforms?