Skip to main content

Essential social media...you can pare back in 2018

In the same way that a more effective workout yields better results in less time (think HIIT vs. easy elliptical), a more effective social media process yields better results in less time. 2018 may be the year you pare back and use your social media tools more effectively.   
Social media is a tempting drain of resources, time and energy if used incorrectly. Small business owners and entrepreneurs can be sucked into endless webinars, Facebook groups and chats about perfecting their social media strategy and getting the most likes and clicks. But, the bottom line is, are you doing what is essential for your business?

This year as you move forward in social media and content marketing, keep these three simple tenets in mind. 
  1. You don't need to be everywhere to be heard. Better to brand well and be social on one or two key platforms than have a diluted presence on many. How do you decide which platforms you should be on? Find your users, and go where they are. 
  2. The goal is not to be on social media but to be social. Curation is a vital part of the social media mix. Who do you love? Who do you want to recognize? What did you read that inspired you lately? Don't hesitate to share greatness and comment on others' hard work.  
  3. Tricks no longer work...authenticity and excellence do. You can't tag your way into your audience's attention. Who are you as a brand, as a CEO, as a company? Honestly represent that, with on point writing skills and creative imagery, and you're on the right path. 
A few other tips, courtesy of Larry KimVerified account


ore
8 Ways to Improve Your Social Media Presence 📥 Improve your inbound ✂ Trim your feed 👌 Make interesting content 💬 Curate others’ content 🎉 Throw a party 📝 Answer questions 👥 Start discussions and debates

Are you ready to get started this year? If you're going to begin somewhere, I'd start with Google My Business. What's your go to social media platform? And, are you using it to the full potential (calendaring, analytics, engagement)?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Social Media Starting Kit (Part 1): Establishing Your Brand

Businesses, the best businesses, are the response to a problem. And, the entrepreneur's encounter with this problem and creative response is the story. Problem: Children without shoes Response: Tom's  Problem: Unhealthy hair Response: Monat Problem: Children with a lacking education after public school term Response: Classical Conversations Your business tells a story. Its formation, website, branding, and sales style are all a part of that story. But, in a world of billions, how do you ensure that story is being heard? The answer is social media. And, when a story is spread on social media, you have magnified your audience and increased the likelihood of your business' success.  But, how do you engage in social media? A business owner does not have time for rabbit holes, education in social media best practices (which are constantly changing), or endless likes, follows and unfollows, tweets and moments.  Entrepreneur's Social Media St...

The Space between Social Media and Business Acumen

There was a space for an entrepreneur to offer quality and business acumen in social media to other entrepreneurs and small businesses. SDS took it. A Passion for the Written Word There are thousands out there. We're the people who notice a Q without a U, a misplaced apostrophe, and a false word ("conversate"). We strive for meticulosity. We are logophiles and linguaphiles, and we often suffer from infobesity . In the modern business world, we find our niche in the conversation of the day--social media. This passion for the written word is the beginning of the SDS story, but the inception was forced by a frustration with dishonesty and a love of the hustle. A Frustration with the Status Quo Too many are paying too much for too little. This truth is apparent to every business owner who has hired a social media agency and received a smattering of disconnected posts that amount to nothing. However, this is not the way it should be. A social media professional, at h...

The Social Media Starting Kit (Part 3): Calendars and Management

You've got a profile, you've got ideas for a few posts and images, and now it's time to begin posting. But, how do you bring strategy in? When do you post? Where do you post? How do you keep from becoming a slave to your social media? That's where the next two crucial elements of social media management come in: calendars and management. First off, each social media platform has different needs, and each audience within the platform has different expectations. The average consumer expects a response from a corporation in Twitter, and 72 percent of people who complain on Twitter expect a response within an hour, per the HubSpot blog . Otherwise there are standard best practices for when to post and how often to post on each network. Image courtesy of Fast Company SproutSocial posted earlier this year about the best times to post on each social media network for engagement . It is an incredibly thorough post, and I would recommend reading it to begin charting ...