Greater than 3 minutes, my friend!
My 5 Social Media Top Tips If I am learning anything from my journey through social media, it is this: social media is a minefield, tread carefully... but not too carefully.
OK, picture the scenario, you’ve set up your brand spanking new and shiny profiles on various social media sites. Now what? Do you sit back and hope that someone appreciates your artistic talent or witty repartee? Do you blindly bombard those networks with content in the hope that eventually someone will listen? Read on for my top tips on making social media work for you.
1. ENGAGE AND BE ENGAGED
This is my absolute top tip! Social media can feel very much like a one-sided conversation hoping someone else will join in. But here’s the thing, you can help them to do so! Your followers, fans and people in general are looking for a way to engage with you so give them just that! Ask questions, invite comments. Be social. In turn, comment on and like their posts. Trust me, it will pay dividends.
2. FOLLOW BACK
This is a controversial one. Opinions are very much divided on whether or not it is a good plan to follow/like back. My view: I am very happy to connect with you unless there is a specific reason why I shouldn’t. Certainly in the beginning, it can help. At that point, try to post content that appeals to a wider audience, not just your own niche, that way you will see more engagement. Lists, groups and circles can be used to manage your relevant following later on. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t engage with all your followers/fans however. At least once a day make a point of checking in and joining in with the conversation wherever you can. Later, once you have built your following or fan base you can be more selective.
3. THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX
It is all too easy to target your content at the followers you already have. Most likely though, these are your friends. family and colleagues. Keep in mind that the ultimate goal is to get your name or business out there to a wider audience. How? Post content that might appeal to a general audience or, better still, to your target market. That doesn’t mean you should stop posting in your own niche, try a healthy combination of the two for optimum results.
4. HASHTAGS
Do not underestimate the power of the humble hashtag. Use wisely and keep them relevant to the post in question. Avoid the tempation to #talkinhastagsuntilitmakesnosenseandirritatesthebejesusoutofpeople! Hashtags work across almost every social network and allow users to find others with similar interests (in other words, people likely to engage with your content). Just to illustrate, I have had a personal Pinterest account for over a year and I have a measly 35 or so followers in spite of pinning relentlessly almost every day – don’t judge, I have 3 children to entertain and feed, it takes planning and inspiration! My business Pinterest account, on the other hand, has almost 90 followers after just a couple of months. Some of that is down to my use of hashtags.
5. GROW A THICK SKIN
This tip is twofold: firstly, if you monitor your following (as I do, via Crowdfire), try not to spend hours agonising over why that particular person in your niche might have unfollowed/unliked you. Why? What did I do wrong? Forget it and move on. Keep posting and eventually you will find an audience that responds to and engages with the particular type of content you post.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, especially at this time of year, recognise that the world will not stop spinning if you have not posted to your social media this minute/hour/day or week. You have a life outside of work that includes family and friends. Don’t miss it because you’re glued to a screen.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, especially at this time of year, recognise that the world will not stop spinning if you have not posted to your social media this minute/hour/day or week. You have a life outside of work that includes family and friends. Don’t miss it because you’re glued to a screen.
Have you had success with different social media strategies? I would love to hear your comments, what works for you?
Thomas Lespes-Muñoz 
Olesya Zaytseva 
Fadwa Mohammed 
I have to learn to do better at all of them, but especially #4 and #5!! I really enjoy following your tweets and blogposts, Fiona! (I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for your post encouraging me 😉 Thank you for sharing your tried-and-tested tips!
Thank you for the lovely comment Kozue. I’ve tried to reply earlier but couldn’t for some reason. You should not need any encouragement, you are doing a great job!
Lovely post, Fiona and congrats on publishing your first Open Mic story! It’s very exciting! 🙂
Great tips, especially the one about having the life outside of social media. I’ve had the same problem before, where I was feeling anxious because I didn’t post something on social media or missed my content marketing schedule.
It is also to important to let you personality shine both in your content and on social media. This is in my opinion the best way to connect with your audience, by speaking and writing in human language and talking about the things that matter to you.
I’m going to make this our #PostOfTheDay on all of our social media accounts 🙂
Enjoy your weekend!
Thank you so much Dmitry, I think you are doing great things here and inspiring a great many of us.
Thanks, Fiona! It’s not easy, but I’m doing my best. More to come in 2016, so say tuned for news and updates 🙂
I think that by working together we can build an absolutely unique community of dedicated professionals who love what they do, and in my humble opinion we really need such community. There aren’t that many communities on the web with such a great design and engagement. Plus it’s free for everyone. 🙂
2016 will be absolutely amazing! Enjoy your holidays!
Thank you for the article Fiona! Very helpful and inspiring! I need to get myself to spreading the word and being persistent in that 🙂
Well, I gotta tell, Dmitry, you’ve done a pretty good job with your recent post. 😉 It has been crushing it on The Open Mic this week. Over 300 views! Pretty good for a first post, so keep going, you’re off to a good start!
Thanks for the comment Dmitry. It gets easier, keep going!
Good points, Fiona! Thanks for the post. : )
Thank you Ana!
Thank you, Fiona. You inspire me because I’m not very good at using social media. I’m trying to improve but it’s not easy as I’m quite an introvert. So your advice no. 5 – Grow thick skin – is the most useful for me.
Hi Alena, thanks for commenting, I’m glad my ramblings are of use to someone. A thick skin is most definitely necessary, it’s very easy to imagine all kinds of negativity. Don’t let it hold you back. That’s what I’m working on too.
Thanks, Fiona. Do you use tools such as Buffer for scheduling your posts? If so, what do you think of it? If not, is there a reason why? Seems like it might be a good way to organize posting and discipline one’s exposure to too much social media, but, since I haven’t used it yet, I’d love to hear your take.
Hi Catherine, I’m a big fan of Buffer. I’ve tried a few scheduling tools and Buffer is by far my favourite. I only tend to schedule ahead by a day or so though to keep my content relevant. I can then add things as I see them. I try to schedule ahead a bit more for the weekend when I can’t be on as much. Definitely, wholeheartedly recommend it. The free version only allows you to schedule 10 posts ahead though, I’m not sure how that compares to the free version of other tools. That might be something to consider. Hootsuite seems to be another favourite. I find it confusing personally, Buffer seems much simpler. Let me know how you get on if you decide to give it a try!
I can vouch for Buffer too! What a fantastic and user friendly tool that is! I love it when people care about their customers and the design of their product. I even pitched them my translation and localization services, but they’re still developing new features and haven’t though about localization yet 🙂
Anyway the best way to use Buffer is when you have a decent content marketing strategy. You need to be able to understand what kind of content gets the most traction among your audience on Twitter, Facebook and other social network.
A blog is the most valuable piece of content in our industry. It’ always get the most number of views/shares, that’s why I’ve build The Open Mic, so that more people without any web-design skills could share their stories and build their online visibility from ground up.
I’m on paid Awesome plan with Buffer now, I haven’t used it to the full potential yet, as I’m still working on my content marketing strategy, but I’ve been using the free plan for other a year and I can definitely recommend Buffer to anyone. Great design, passionate people behind it – what else do you need? 🙂
Try different things first, see what other people share on Twitter and other social networks to see what might work and start building your online presence. Just remember to add your personal thoughts to everything you share, don’t be one of those folks who share an endless amount of links without even reading the stuff they share – that’s a very bad tactic that pushes people away.
Wow, thanks, Fiona and Dmitry, for such useful feedback! Those are stellar endorsements if I ever saw any.
Fiona, I like your idea of using Buffer only a day or so ahead of time so that posts are fresh and reflective of the most up-to-date developments. And I wholeheartedly agree with your statement, Dmitry, that one should add personal comments to anything shared (or posted, for that matter). It’s ironic that, in some ways, social media overwhelm is leading to less social interaction; Facebook “likes,” for instance, are replacing comments and discussion. That’s why I’m glad you didn’t install “like” buttons in Open Mic — they’re just too easy and invite people to be lazy. The discussions that are occurring in Open Mic are among its greatest assets.