Tag: Social Media

Well, I Didn’t Know That! #14 – Social Media Marketing Strategies

In today’s Well, I Didn’t Know That! post, I’m sharing how I plan to up my social media marketing game. You can employ the tips I share in today’s post too, regardless of your niche! Over the course of this week, I’ve spent five hours working through a course and follow-on action points. In today’s post, I’ll summarise the key action points I learned to improve my social media marketing techniques. 

 

Background

I’ve only kept a light touch on social media before. If I’m honest, I don’t really like social media that much. Social media can be a wonderful power of good. However, in the wrong hands it can do a lot of harm. I’m glad I missed out on having a smartphone with social media access in my school years, put it that way!

I obviously want to do good! I can’t do much about folks misusing social media to spread harmful messages, but I can cultivate a positive space with my accounts. That’s what my target is.

I found a really useful video course over on Hubspot. Not only is the course broken down over several videos so you can watch what’s applicable, but there are a number of free resources to help you get started. I used their workbook to analyse my data and identify areas where I can improve my content. They also have a content calendar you can use to get organised!

If you want to check out the course for yourself, here is a link. Otherwise, let’s take a look at the tips and tricks I learned and will be implementing on my social media platforms in the near future!

 

Tips and Tricks

 

Start Social Listening and Monitoring

It may be something you’re already doing, but checking out what hashtags and popular audio on reels are and using them in a relevant way helps get you seen. Social listening is more than that – it refers to listening for what perception is on your brand too. But, most relevant to me (given my small profile size) is getting my name out there in the first place!

With what I’ve learned in mind, I’m going to try to post some more topical content. I’ve not been one to follow trends all that much before. I’m not going to change that too radically, so don’t panic! However, I may start to pick up more new or highly anticipated releases and talk about them so I have sought for content!

 

Complete a Content Audit to Work Out What Works on Each Channel

One of the bigger tasks I had to do after taking the course was to take a look at the content I’ve already shared and determine what performed best. The idea is to focus and develop what’s popular and try to build upon it. This can be different for each channel. For simplification, I’m only using Instagram as an example for this post. However, in real terms, I’ve performed the same analysis on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. 

For Instagram, there are a couple of very clear themes. Reels outperform photos in terms of reach and engagement. I also reach more accounts that don’t already follow me, which is great for growth. This is obviously as the algorithm is pushing more video content nowadays, but also ties in with one of the main messages in the course. People want to follow and engage with other people, not faceless brands. As a result, video is one of the most popular forms of content consumption right now. 

This also ties in with my second finding – Instagram photos with my mugshot in performed better on average than those that didn’t! It’s not very often that I include myself in these photos. So far, I have preferred to step back from the camera rather than put myself in it. However, it’s apparent that needs to change. Going forwards, I’ll have to bite the bullet and get in front of the camera. You’ll get to see a lot more of me, you lucky devils!

 

Change Up What Content Types You Share

Something I’ve never considered before, but really should have considering I engage with content regularly, it that there are different purposes of post.

Typically, my posts have an informative stance. However, there are different formats of content – entertainment and engagement posts. Whilst I don’t think I can bring myself to start filming funny lip sync videos to popular audio without dying of embarrassment just yet, there’s nothing stopping me from creating my own entertainment posts from scratch. It’s something I need to think about and have a play with. As the vast majority of entertainment content is viewed in video format nowadays, this is another reason I need to put my big girl pants on and get on camera! I’m sure it’ll get easier the more I do it!

Likewise, engagement posts should be pretty easy for me to incorporate into my posting schedule. Polls, Q&A’s and asking followers questions are all ways I can engage with an audience as opposed to posting what I think is interesting into a void. I’ve had to think (and look into) who my primary audience is, and I need to incorporate this into future post planning.

 

Partner Up With Other People and Brands

I’ve produced a lot of solo content for a while. I used to get involved with sharing guest posts on my blog years ago (and some of that is still my most viewed content to this day). Association with other individuals and brands can influence audience perception of you. So, I need to incorporate this back into my blog… and my social media.

One way I’ve thought of this is to duet with someone, or I believe you can go live with someone? I confess neither are things I know how to do, so I suppose the first step is to find out. So, my lovely readers, if anyone could give me some direction in the comments as to how I do this, that would be much appreciated!

 

Summary

I still have a lot to learn, and this is a process I’ll have to do repeatedly to make sure I’m on the right tracks and staying relevant. I won’t get it right 100% of the time, but it’s a continual, active process I need to embrace if I want to connect with more people.

Have you learned any social media marketing tips and tricks from today’s post? What are your most effective social media marketing strategies?

 

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Well I Didn’t Know That! #13

In reality, today’s Well, I Didn’t Know That! post would be better named Well, I Don’t Know That… but that wouldn’t be in keeping with the series. You see, I have a bit of a dilemma about Twitter and my continued use of it.

Don’t worry – I’m not going to do anything drastic. But, I wanted to take this opportunity to talk through my feelings on the already established and upcoming changes to the website and why I have doubts about it.

Pros

On the one hand, I don’t want to lose the community I’m already a part of, or the followers that access my content through the website. The biggest proportion of my following comes from Twitter. Making the decision to not continue using it would be quite substantial.

When it comes to social media, I am not the most proactive. To be honest, I try to avoid getting sucked into it. It doesn’t always work. Especially knowing they are designed to keep your attention, I don’t like to spend too much time on them. If I let myself, I could waste a lot of time! I already have a full-time job, a house to look after, and this blog to maintain. I don’t really have the time. Ethically speaking, I’m also not a fan of being manipulated in that way in order to make the networks more money.

I’ve taken a long way round to get into what I’m trying to say, but my point here is that I’m not sure I would be able to rebuild my following on another site very quickly. I don’t really have the motivation to do it as I don’t like using social media. It’s also very difficult rebuilding yourself from the ground up. I may try to divert some of my following two other social media like Threads via my blog and existing platforms as a compromise (wink wink, nudge nudge).

Already many people in the community have already started doing the same thing. Even if they haven’t left Twitter yet, they are certainly preparing for the possibility. It’s a shame, because the once unified community is now becoming fractured across many alternative platforms.

 

Cons

As someone who only uses Twitter to have a flick through content in the bookish community and post my blog links, I’m not remotely interested in any of the changes that are looking to be made on the site. I don’t want an ‘everything’ app. I don’t want an app where I can shop, listen to a podcast, or link my financial information to. HonestIy, wouldn’t want this on a personal account, and my Twitter account isn’t even that. It’s supposed to end up so fundamentally different from the site I signed up to in 2017, and I’m not onboard with the changes.

Whilst I’m being honest, I’m also really not a fan of the rebranding that Musk is doing. I have seen a number of comments along the lines of the new branding making the app look more like an x-rated site… and I’m sure you’ll agree! As the saying goes, if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it! Twitter is an iconic brand. Even if the changes to take and the site changes, it will always be Twitter. 

 

Thoughts?

The upshot of this post is that I haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet. I’m not going to be making any changes in the near future, but it is on my mind. Whilst Twitter (X) still largely resembles a social network and not an ‘everything app’, I will continue to use it. However, I suspect in the coming months I will be trying to build up my following on an alternative platform as I will eventually stop using it.

Those are my ramblings for today’s Well, I Didn’t Know That! post. 

What are your thoughts on the changes that have been made with Twitter so far? Are you onboard, or on the fence like me?

 

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Blogging and Social Media

Social media is a huge element of blogging. Regardless of the content of your blog, you need to put yourself out there to get your content noticed. Which platforms you use is entirely up to you, and maybe dependent on the content of your blog. Sounds easy, right?

In some respects, yes. With a few simple settings, new posts I publish are automatically shared to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. All I have to do is write a brief description/summary I want to accompany the link and away it goes. I don’t even have to think about it.

It’s not all automatic though. There is a degree of effort you have to put in to maintain a presence online. Ultimately, readers are connecting with the person behind a blog, not just the content itself. A feed of links to own content can be a bit boring. Here is where I will admit that I fall down. I am not that good when it comes to proactively using social media. My feeds are pretty much as I have described above – links to my own blog.

I try to interact as and when I can, but I can honestly say I don’t really have the compulsion to use social media that much. On a personal level, I use Facebook to keep up to date with what is going on with friends and family, news and such and that is it. I am one of those ghost friends that hardly ever post. My blog has given me some purpose to post more in recent months, but it isn’t natural to me.

Even my ‘blog’ accounts aren’t all that up to scratch. I’m not at all consistent with my use of Instagram. Remembering to take pictures and create a visual medium for my blog is a conscious effort, but it’s one I am not conscious of all the time and so I lapse. I just don’t take that many photos. I change my Facebook profile picture maybe once every six months in a good year, and only when there is a change to the way I look really. Call me lazy, but I just can’t be bothered and I doubt anyone is really all that bothered about it – myself included.

Do you have any tips for me to get better with my use of social media? Which platforms do you find easiest to use and why? I’ll take all comments on board at this point!

 

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