How To Get The Most Out Of Your Social Media Strategy

Dhariana Lozano — January 20, 2017 Follow @DhariLo

Social media is more of a marathon than a sprint. If you feel like your social media strategy and growth have been slacking, you may just need small tweaks to get it back on track. In this post I’ll review a few “secrets” to getting the most our of your social media strategy.

Get Inspired

New year, new ideas. Take a look at the kind of content you’ve been creating. You can create content types that you lack (for example all photos and no videos). You can also take a look at your current content and think of a few ways you can take that content to the next level. For example, one of my restaurant clients launches a new special every week, so we decided that we’d like to start using Facebook Live Video and Instagram Stories to give more context to each special. This means using the videos to walk through the recipes and give our followers a behind the scenes look at the new item. Think of the content you’ve been putting out, what initiatives you have coming up, and how you can express yourself in a way in which you may have before.

Another way to get inspired is to take a look at the competition and what seems to be working on their channels. See if you can adapt a few techniques to your own social media plan.

Getting the most out of your social media strategy means being willing to put time and effort into the content you are attracting followers with.

Produce Original Content

Using stock images can ensure the quality of your photos, but original content is the best kind of content. Why? Because sometimes stock images (especially free ones) get used over and over again – making potential followers visually tune out. Try to create original photos and videos for your brand or business so that you can stand out from the crowd while relating back to your brand. Creating your own content lets you customize and refine the look and feel you want to put out there – creating a full experience for your audience.

I use stock images myself but my goal this year is to try to create more of my own “stock” images of desk scenes etc. When using stock images I try to keep a consistent look from each one. I also try to personalize the image as much as I can. Make sure your images are labeled for reuse and modification if you go down this route.

Get Organized

Getting organized will be a huge time saver and may keep you from pulling all your hairs out. This may also be the most important part of getting the most out of your social media strategy. Plan out hashtags, create a basic content schedule, and keep all other initiatives, events and important dates handy. Having all these elements organized will help clarify the way you can use all these elements together, clarify strong and weak points, and will help you create and curate content. Pre-scheduling all that you can also leaves room for spontaneous posts, live interacting and community building/management. One last benefit is that planning everything out will give you time to really think about ways to expand your content, drive traffic, and incorporate extra campaigns. For help getting organized and planning your strategy download my 8 Step To Social Media Strategy Success Checklist here.

Work on the networks that work best for you.

When you’re starting on social media, being on every single network can be overwhelming and a waste of time and efforts. I suggest to start on the “Big 3” – Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and choose 1 or two other networks like Medium (for writers, bloggers), Bloglovin’, LinkedIn, Snapchat or any other network that caters to your niche. Remember to not bite off more than you can chew 0 and if a network isn’t pulling results, dump it. Part of getting the most out of your social media strategy is spending time developing more of the things that do work, and less of what doesn’t.

Measure

Analytics are life – and measuring your performance is the only way you can improve your social media strategy. Keeping track of follower numbers, hashtag impressions, reach, and engagement are keys to re-creating and amplifying good social media campaigns and results. These findings can also help you decide what kind of content to create or how to launch a new product to get the most social media impact.

Get Social

Its called social media – so get out there and interact! At my agency we find we get the best results when we set time aside to do some genuine interaction from our client accounts. I wrote about new ways to gain followers in 2017 – and in the post I suggest you choose 5-10 accounts to interact with every week. Make it a mix of influencers, competitors, and people that fall within your target audience. Leave 3 genuine comments on their most recent photos, and interact with their content – you can even get involved in a few friendly conversations.

Getting social also means getting more interactive with your own audience. Ask questions, create polls, initiate and get involved in the conversations happening within your community.

Recycle Evergreen Content

Evergreen content will be another time saver for you. Fill in content gaps, and drive traffic to your site using evergreen content. You can take content that remains true no matter how long it has been (certain facts, quotes, or articles) and use it more than once across your social media accounts. Re-work it, or just re-post it, but don’t let evergreen content go to waste! Use it to drive engagement and traffic.

Try Social Ads

Increase the reach of posts that perform well with a little bit of a budget. You should also try social ads in general to drive traffic, or awareness.

Try Something New

My last tip for getting the most out of your social media strategy is to experiment with all the new features on the networks you’re active on. They may not always work out for you in the long run, but give them a shot and have some fun. Using the new features will show you’re audience you keep up with trends (which is a great reason to follow you), and can add an element of surprise and delight. plus, everyone can use a little fun. Why not try a live video of the office or behind the scenes at your next event? To get started with live video read: 4 Ways to Use Live Video on Instagram Twitter and Facebook

I hope these “secrets” can you help you get the most out of your social media strategy for 2017! What are some of the ways you’re planning to refresh and re-energize your social media strategy? Let me know in a comment below 🙂

This article was originally published here.

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