5 Principles for Social Media
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Periscope, Beme, you name it...
Today’s society is obsessed with social media and online communication in general. The problem is that so many people use social media in really bad ways and most of the time end up looking pretty dumb. We’ve all done it, me included. We will share that really cool article or headline without actually reading the whole thing, and it turns out it’s fake, or from a bad source, or a satirical site. If this hasn’t happened to you then you are either lying, or you are a very very lucky person.
This all being said, here are five tips to conquer social media and use it to its fullest potential.
1.) it's the middle of the night
Timing is very important. If you want people to read what you are posting, then you have to make sure that you are posting at times appropriate for your audience. There are lots of articles that will tell you the proper times to post media. What’s even better than a quick google search is looking at your own statistics. Most blogs, or social media accounts will have a way of looking at the most popular posts and the most popular times that people are reading and engaging with your content. I use Square Space for my blog as you may know, and they have an amazing metrics section for every site. It is really convenient, and tells me things like what pages they visit after my post, what time they are reading my posts, and the total number of engagements on a post. Find out what your social sites offer, and use those tools. For a good reference of when is the best time to post, try out this info-graphic from Fast Company. Also check out this cool video from Buffer that shows some good ways to find the best posting times based on what you are doing and what platform you are on.
2.) Be Passionate
If you are passionate about what you are posting then your content is going to be better. There is a certain quality that people will notice if you really care. If you are talking about something you enjoy, or something you are interested in, or something that you have done for a while, people are going to get excited. They are going to get excited, because they can tell that you are excited. Reader’s want to be able to connect with the author. They want to feel like they are being talked to, not that they are just reading another boring post on their feed. This applies to things like Twitter and Instagram as well. (Side note: the use of hashtags) Just because you only have 140 characters, or you only have short description for a picture, does not mean that you can’t show passion. Chase Jarvis is one of my favorite people on the internet (he mostly connects with videos) and one of the reasons that I find myself liking his stuff again and again is because I can relate to him. He talks to his audience and he really loves to do what he does. I love watching his stuff because it gets me excited to see somebody else so excited to do what they do.
3.) Do your research.
Please. Please. Please do your research. I’m not going to say that I have never done this, but it is very very annoying. If you are going to post something or are going to share something, know what you are saying and know what you are sharing. Right and wrong is not the same thing as smart and dumb. You can share whatever opinion you want, that's your choice. But if you are going to take a side in a conversation you have to be able to back it up. If you are just stating your opinion on something all that is going to do is cause backlash and arguments. You always want to start a conversation, not an argument. Conversations can be backed up with facts, and can be supported. Arguments just mean that one person or all parties involved just took a stance and don’t care about any other facts or opinions.
4.) Be you.
This is a pretty big one, and a problem I see all the time. People see trends and articles and shares and think that they have to do that too. You don’t. Don’t try to share things that you have no clue about or don't care about. Done try to write something to please people that have the appearance of being important. Everyone has a unique audience. You should be catering to to them, not to an audience that has no interest in you. If you are a fashion person, there is no reason for you to be talking about the NHL Playoffs. Likewise, if you are a very athletically minded person, you should use that. Don’t try to be somebody you aren’t. Your audience will emerge themselves, and they will enjoy the things that you post and share. There is no need to try to be 10 different people at one time.
5.) Go for it.
There is really no reason to not be on social media. It is not something to be afraid of. Sure, there is a lot of stupid stuff that happens on social media, and you are probably going to get frustrated from time to time, but it is all worth it. We live in such a world that we can communicate with anybody who has access to the internet. All you have to do is try. And hey, if it doesn't work out then at least you tried and you can either try harder to succeed, or you can cut your losses and move onto something you think might serve you better.