The myth of over-communicating

Ben Marshall Dec. 16, 2018

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It still amazes me that I can send an email about an upcoming event, post a social media graphic, text and send a second email, only to have someone ask about the details I already communicated. 

This can be frustrating. Have you experienced this?

Every day, we are bombarded with so many messages that we have to be selective about what we actually pay attention to and store in our memory. We only have the capacity to receive so much, then the rest becomes background noise.

That being said, I've come to realize that you can't over-communicate.

Consider your own social media feeds: Whether Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, the sheer volume of information and messages and images that pass through your feed on a given day is more than you can keep up with. The same is true for those following your business or ministry pages. They have so many messages scrolling by, yours could get lost in the shuffle.

I don't think you can over-communicate on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, because the messages are only there for a few minutes before the volume of other messages pushes them so far down in someone's feed they will never see it. 

Instagram can be different because the profile page tells a story. With that in mind, don’t post the same thing repeatedly. Post images with people, text, use the Story function and even consider using the IGTV function.

For email communications and other social media platforms: Send and post repeatedly.

However, don't send or post the same graphic or text every time. Get creative. Use different images and different text. Subscribe to something like Buffer or Hootsuite to schedule your posts and make it easier to ramp-up communication.

Just when you think you've over-communicated, you may have under-communicated, and hardly anyone saw your emails or posts.

Communicate, communicate and communicate again. 

Photo source: istock 

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Ben Marshall is a Pastor at Pathway Church in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. He works with teenagers and young adults. He is passionate about leadership and raising up the next generation of biblical leaders. He is a blogger, guitar player and sports enthusiast. Ben currently resides in Beaver Falls with his wife Connie and their two daughters, Aliya and Sophie Learn More »

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