Social media gets a bad rap--for good reason sometimes, too. Between the negativity, the constant changing of platforms, and the general essence of navigating social media in the marketing scheme, it's all A LOT.
Social media platforms and tools can be tricky to learn. Even once you learn them, you still need an audience to receive your messaging, otherwise, what's the point? Worst of all, there will always be the people out there who simply don’t care – and they’ll tell you so, right under the post you worked so hard to put together.
So, where do you start?
Making the product is the easy part. Figuring out how to promote that product to an audience who wants to consume it is another story entirely. Like anything, success on social media is a skill to be learned. Here to give you some tips and tricks to get that learning process started for you.
1. Engage
Social media is all but useless unless you have people to interact with your social media posts. You can’t make people engage with your posts, but you can make your posts worth engaging with. One of the best (and easiest) ways to do this is to pose a question to your followers. This will cause people to pause and think about your post and (hopefully) give them a reason to respond and/or interact with it in some way.
Another way to create engagement is to take the reins into your own hands and respond to and interact with other social media accounts. Even if they don’t follow you or haven’t interacted with your content yet, it could be the catalyst that gets them onto your page, checking out your content. Engagement is something you should always be focused on, no matter the size of your social media following.
2. Stick to your brand
Whether you’re a business or an individual, and whether you know it or not, you have a specific brand. Sticking to that brand is critical for clarity, and ultimately your success. There are few things worse in the social media world than hopping onto someone’s page and having no clue what they stand for, provide, or represent. Knowing your brand and identity is something you should have figured out before you ever make your first post. Once you've set that, use similar language throughout your posts. Use similar structures in your posts (in both wording and visuals). The goal is for someone to see your post and know who it’s coming from before even seeing the account name – that’s when you know you’ve done a good job branding yourself.
This is also where logos and taglines are extremely important. Your logo should be somewhere on every single visual post you make. If you have a fun tagline or hashtag, use that in posts as often as you can. People will notice and, if they like what they see, may start to use it too when talking about your brand.
3. Post consistently
Don’t leave people wondering where you’ve been. If you leave them alone for long enough, they might just tune out and never tune back in.
I recommend having a posting plan literally written out. Figure out what you want to post, and what days and times you’re going to post it. This will keep you on a set schedule and keep you responsible for posting when you planned. Eventually that level of responsibility will increase as people start to expect posts at certain times and dates and you won’t want to let them down by missing out on a post. It will help build trust between you and your audience, which has incredible value.
Life does happen though, don’t forget that. You’ll have days where you forget to post or will hit delays or technical issues. A variety of issues could arise. The best solution to this problem is to alert your audience of the delay if you know it’s upcoming, or apologize after the fact if it was an unexpected delay. Your audience will appreciate the transparency. After all, they’re human, too (except for the internet bots, those are everywhere and don’t care when you post and when you don’t. But don’t mind them.)
4. Have fun
Doesn’t the best advice always end with this? It's true though. The minute something starts to feel like a chore is when there’s a greater chance of interest being lost from both you and your audience. Social media is no different. Be creative and have fun and let the personality of your brand and yourself shine through. Your audience will appreciate it, and you’ll likely be more excited to post and interact with with people on social media.
It’s easy to blend in in the social media world. But it’s equally easy to stand out with the right tools and the dedication to get it done. I gave you some tools but don’t have a way to give you the dedication. I’m hoping you already have that somewhere because if you do you’re off to a good start. And, if you don’t, well, better get moving.