Most small business accounts on social media have the same problem: nearly every post is an offer. New stock, festival discount, "DM to order", repeat. Followers tune out, reach drops, and the owner decides social media doesn't work.
Content-mix rules exist to fix exactly that. The best known is the 5:3:2 rule, and you'll often see the 70/20/10, 50/30/20 and 5-3-1 rules mentioned alongside it. None of them is a law. They're rules of thumb, but they make useful guardrails. Below we explain what each one means, how to apply it to a real small business, and how to choose between them.
What is the 5:3:2 rule for social media?
The 5:3:2 rule says that out of every 10 posts:
- 5 should be content from others that's relevant to your audience: useful articles, tips from experts, posts from partners, customer content you have permission to share.
- 3 should be your own content that's relevant to your audience but isn't a sales pitch: how-tos, tips, behind-the-scenes, answers to common questions.
- 2 should be personal, showing the people behind the brand so the account feels human.
The aim is balance. Sharing other people's content shows you follow your industry and are generous with attention. Your own useful posts build expertise. Personal posts build trust. And look at what's missing: there's no slot labelled "promotion". In the original idea, selling happens inside your own content, such as a how-to that uses your product or a behind-the-scenes look at an order being packed.
A worked example: a home bakery in Pune
Say a home bakery posts five times a week. Over two weeks (10 posts), 5:3:2 might look like this:
- Others' content (5): a customer's photo of their birthday cake (shared with permission and credited), a local food blogger's post about a café you supply, a tip from a baking educator about storing cakes in humid weather, a neighbourhood event you're attending, a supplier's post about this season's fresh fruit.
- Your own content (3): a 30-second reel on choosing a cake size for the number of guests, a carousel answering "eggless vs regular: what changes?", and a behind-the-scenes clip of a wedding order being assembled.
- Personal (2): the founder's story of how the bakery started, and a team photo after a busy Diwali week.
Not one of those posts is a hard sell, yet most of them still sell. The cake-size reel ends with "order link in bio", and the wedding clip shows people what you're capable of making without saying so.
Why content-mix rules work
People follow accounts that are useful, interesting or personal. They rarely follow accounts that only sell. Platforms also tend to show more people the posts that get comments, saves and shares, and promotional posts usually earn fewer of those than helpful or human ones. A rule like 5:3:2 forces variety. Variety keeps followers engaged, and engaged followers mean your posts still reach people when you do have an offer to share.
There's a practical benefit too: a rule makes planning faster. Instead of asking "what should I post?" every morning, you're filling slots you already know about. Our guide on content pillars takes the same idea further.
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Start free →The 70/20/10 rule
The 70/20/10 rule splits content like this:
- 70% value: content that informs, educates or entertains your audience, such as tips, guides, stories and useful reels.
- 20% shared: content from others, such as industry news, partners, customers and people you admire.
- 10% promotional: direct posts about your products, offers and calls to action.
Of all these rules it caps selling most clearly, at one outright pitch in every ten posts. It suits businesses whose customers need educating before they buy, like coaches, consultants, clinics and B2B services.
The 50/30/20 rule
You'll see a few versions of the 50/30/20 rule. The most common is:
- 50% engaging content that entertains or educates and invites people to respond.
- 30% shared or curated content from other sources.
- 20% promotional content about your business.
Some versions swap the categories around, so treat it as "mostly engaging, some shared, a fifth promotional". Compared with 70/20/10 it allows twice as much selling, which suits retail, food and ecommerce brands that have frequent offers and new products.
The 5-3-1 rule
The 5-3-1 rule is a smaller version of the same idea, and definitions vary. It's usually described like this: for every nine posts, share five from others, three of your own, and one personal or promotional post. If you post less often, it's a handy way to keep the balance over a short cycle.
Two more you'll hear about
- The rule of thirds: one third promoting your business, one third sharing ideas from others in your industry, and one third personal interaction and conversation.
- The 80/20 rule: 80% of posts inform, educate or entertain, and 20% promote. It's the simplest of the lot, and a good default if you only want to remember one number.
Which rule should you use?
They all say the same thing in different proportions: give far more than you ask for. Pick the one that matches how your customers buy.
- Local shops, cafés and D2C brands with regular offers: 50/30/20 or 80/20. Your followers expect to hear about new products and sales.
- Coaches, consultants, clinics and B2B services: 70/20/10. Trust and expertise do the selling, and offers come second.
- Personal brands and founders: 5:3:2. The personal slot is your biggest asset.
- Accounts that post less than three times a week: 5-3-1 or the rule of thirds, so the mix evens out over a few weeks.
Whichever you choose, track results for two or three months and then adjust. If your helpful posts bring in more enquiries than your offers do, lean further into them. Our guide on social media analytics covers which numbers to watch.
Adapting "others' content" for a small business
The curated slot is the one small businesses find hardest. There's no need to share news articles if your audience doesn't care about them. For a local or niche business, content from others can be:
- Photos and reviews from customers, shared with permission and credited. Our guide to user-generated content explains how.
- Posts from businesses you work with: suppliers, venues, other local brands.
- Useful tips from respected people in your field, with credit.
- Local events and news your followers would care about.
Always credit the original creator, and ask before reposting someone's photo or video.
How to put a content mix into your calendar
A rule only helps if you can see whether you're following it. Here's a simple way to do that:
- Decide your mix and how many posts a week you can keep up.
- Before the month starts, mark each calendar slot with its type: curated, own, personal or promo.
- Fill the slots in one batching session. Our content batching guide shows how.
- Label each post with its type so you can count them later.
- At the end of the month, compare engagement by type and adjust the mix.
In Skyfliq you can do this with colour-coded tags in Launch Pad. Create tags such as "Curated", "Own", "Personal" and "Promo", add one to every post, and check the month's balance on the content calendar before anything is published. The Sent view then shows reach and engagement for each post, so you can see which type is pulling its weight. If you're new to scheduling, our social media post scheduler page shows how it works.
Mistakes to avoid
- Treating the ratio as exact. Seven promotional posts in a festival week is fine if the rest of the month balances it out.
- Curating content your audience doesn't care about. A shared post should be something your followers would thank you for.
- Reposting without credit or permission. It damages trust and can get posts taken down.
- Forgetting the call to action. A non-promotional post can still have a next step, so a how-to can end by telling people where to order.
- Never reviewing. The best ratio for your account is the one your own numbers point to.
Choosing your mix and testing it for three months
The 5:3:2 rule (five shared, three of your own, two personal) is a simple way to stop your feed turning into a wall of ads. The 70/20/10, 50/30/20 and 5-3-1 rules make the same point with different proportions. Pick the one that suits how your customers buy, plan it into your calendar, and let three months of results tell you how to adjust it. For the Pune bakery above, that might mean noticing the cake-size reels bring in more orders than the discount posts, and shifting one promo slot a fortnight into another how-to.