I recently attended Social Media Examiner’s Social Media Success Summit 2013 and learned some GREAT social media tips. Before I go into my favorite tip, I want to preface this post with a little reminder that in the field of social media, like many others I’m sure, you simply have no choice but to keep learning. Social media changes so frequently, that to stop learning is not an option if you want to be successful.
Now with that being said, I want to highlight one thing in particular that stood out to me during SME’s webinar series. I believe it was Mari Smith who said it so eloquently: Content is king, but engagement is queen, and she rules the house!
So what does this mean to me? Well, it’s something I always try to emphasize in my own trainings – it is easy to become so focused on broadcasting our own updates on social media, that we forget the very point of social media: to be SOCIAL. Social media is an amazing tool that allows us to network and build connections regardless of physical location. It provides the potential for our messages to go viral, making them visible to people we may never have reached though traditional marketing such as press releases or print ads. And, at the very least, it gives us a way to break the ice at public events where we see people we know, but haven’t actually met… Hey, we’re friends on Facebook!
OK, OK. I’m sure by now you already know that you should be on social media, so I’ll get back to the point of this post: engagement.
The big question: How do we set aside enough time to engage, when it’s hard enough to find time to just post?
Here are a few tips for social media:
- Create a content calendar. Yes, this will take an initial chunk of time, but planning in advance will save time in the long run.
- Take advantage of scheduling tools. Facebook has a built in scheduling function and there are several third party tools that make this even easier. We use Sprout Social.
- Dedicate just a few minutes. Every time you log on to post something, spend a few minutes connecting with others, liking posts, sharing/retweeting and commenting. If you’ve taken my advice in step 2 and scheduled posts in advance, you should have more free time for engagement. Try dedicating just 5 minutes a day to engaging with others.
For the sake of keeping this blog short, I will leave you with just those tips for now. Stay tuned for more details on how to set up a social media content calendar!
P.S. If you want to boost the amount of people who engage with your posts, post a picture of an animal – seriously – preferably a Dachshund.
