Here's for helpful tips for making sure you are effective in your social media program:
1- Establish your identity
you can't be effective at social media if you don't know who you are. Establish a strong identity early on that will help guide you in everything you do. If you are representing a company, have a solid understanding of the brand and The company mission. If you are just posting for yourself, be sure to have a good understanding of who you want to be in the social media landscape. This will help guide the content you post, the comments you make, and what you are willing to share. Remember that your identity will change over time, solidifying and forming as you create, post, share, and comment.
2- Content is king
You can't expect to create a profile and have people follow you without giving them something to look at read or share. The phrase "content is King" is used a lot in social media, and refers to how important it is to have something great to say. Maybe you want to have a blog where you can editorialize your opinion. Perhaps you want to share your images on Instagram, or create videos for YouTube. If you create interesting content people will want to read it, comment on it, and best of all, share it!
3- Understand the strengths and weaknesses of each social channel.
Every social media channel is different, and allows you to express yourself in a different way. Here are some basic guidelines for most of the major ones:
Facebook
Pros: almost everyone you know, even your babysitter from when you were too, is on Facebook. It's very versatile and you can post pictures, videos, text, almost anything.
Cons: depending on the size of your friends list, you may have dozens (if not hundreds) of new posts appearing throughout the day. Facebook is also a closed network, limited by the fact that you have to be "friends" or "like the page" in order to see the updates.
Twitter
Pros: Great spot for finding out what's happening right now. If it's important, people are tweeting about it. If it's interesting, people are sharing it. And if it's popular, it's probably trending. Getting on the forefront of a trend can really help launch your influence.
Cons: you have to looking at your feed all the time in order to be successful. You can also kill your following with over posting or making inappropriate comments
Instagram
Pros: The filters and options for photos can make almost anyone look like a professional photographer. It's one of the hotter social media channels right now so having a good following can really help your influence.
Cons: almost exclusively photo based, it's difficult to share non-photographic content. When you create a post and share to Facebook, twitter, and other channels they often cannot see the content you make and have to open a web browser to see your Instagram page.
Flickr
Pros: amazing spot for photos, lots of storage space, and lots of customization and tagging.
Cons: uses a slightly different user experience so it might take a little bit of time to learn it and get good.
YouTube
Pros: Best place to find videos on the web. Easy to share, easy to customize, as well as embed in your website with simple, customizable embed code.
Cons: not everyone has video content, or the means to make great video content. For every good video there is at least thousand awful ones, so sifting through hundreds and hundreds of videos to find that gem can be time-consuming.
LinkedIn
Pros: The best place for business level social networking. Looking for a job? LinkedIn is where you can find it. Want to share what your company is up to? Let other companies know what you're doing by posting an update.
Cons: almost strictly business related, people rarely use it for personal posting
Pinterest
Pros: Best place for crafty do-it-yourselfers looking for ideas. Image-based, so looking for things is very simple, and the search function is very good. When you find something you like you can commit to one of your own boards and create a following.
Cons: A lot of re-pins means you may be looking through the same 50 pictures over and over again. People may re-pin your posts but never follow you or even make comments.
gigg
Pros: ability to add music clips to photos, videos, and slideshows. Search through the music database to find the perfect song to add to your social media post. You can also post directly to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Cons: No free text, required to express yourself using only music lyrics.
5- Focus on interaction.
Once you've decided which social networks you want to participate in, spend your time interacting with other users. Make comments, reply to posts, and try to start up conversations. Be genuine in your comments, anything more than that is transparent and will not gain a response. Humor is key, as well as positivity, though a strong negative opinion can garner a lot of attention as well. As you focus on interacting with others they will have a desire to follow you, and through this slow, careful seeding process you will create a "following" that is loyal to your brand or your personality. Be careful that you do not use your social media as an advertising platform, but more a way to express yourself to like-minded people. This doesn't mean that your interactions can't be recommendations of products or services, but those interactions need to be genuine, positioned the same as you would with a good friend or neighbor
6- The unwritten rule of reciprocity
When you like someone's post they are more likely to return the favor when you create a post of your own. If you make a comment, they are not only more likely to "like your post" but are more likely to reply. The more you interact with people the more they will feel obligated to interact with you. This unwritten rule is the same in person-to-person relationships, improving your social network is the same as creating a bunch of friends in real life. Be friendly, be a leader, and give more than you expect to take.
No comments:
Post a Comment