Vital means living, and if you invest in social media as a freelancer, or as a specialist for a business or brand, you want your content and audience alive.
Here are 5 strategies to keep the social media conversation going. Apply to any platform, from Twitter to Facebook. But use them daily, and switch them up.
1) Share Followers Quandaries
Don’t just share your ideas or solutions! Share your followers’ questions and problems with your whole audience. Involve the community. People love helping — and sharing one person’s problem gives you both a huge pool of potential solutions to use yourself, and engages your audience. This adds up to shares, traffic, and brand identification.
2) Post Inspirational Quotes
Pick something meaningful. Share. Social media currency is sharing. But, as Claire Mitchell, founder of The Girls Mean Business, says,”… it helps people, because when you’re sitting there in your house running this business and trying to juggle it with kids or other jobs, it’s a really lonely place to be sometimes […] people feel as though they’re not alone.”
3) Ask Questions
Whether it’s about your latest product, a relevant current affair, or your followers’ taste in music, ask questions. If you have a food-based business, ask for favorite event-day recipes. If you’re in the clothing business, ask about strategies followers’ have used to get a tailored-look without visiting a tailor — or flattering designs-for-all figures.
Ask questions.
4) Run a Caption Contest
Humor + Engagement = Perfect way to get your page out there, shared, commented on!
5) Have a Blog
You need a landing page for deeper content. Start a blog. Refer all social media back to your website and blog when possible, and tap into relevant content using tools like Feedly.com.
Finally, care about your audience. This is social media. Anthropologists watching the behavior of users and communication styles say we relate to our social media groups like a tribe. We’re not selling. When you take on a social media state, you’re supporting.
C.J. Williams 