Getting the Most Out of your Social Media

There are many ways you can use social media from business to personal accounts, to following your favorite celebrity or favorite CEO. How can you get the most out of your social media outlets though? 

Don’t be a Fly-on-the-Wall. You need to dive into social media, don’t just read other tweets and not tweet yourself. Especially when it comes to Twitter, you have to be interactive. Even on Facebook and Pinterest, “like” other users’ work and posts (only if you truly like them) and comment.  People use social media outlets to share, to learn and to be heard.   

If you blog, go around and comment on other similar-interest blogs. The term “If you build it, they will come” does not apply to social media of any type (unless you’re famous).

Tip: make sure you retweet relevant content that you like and reply when people ask you a question or comment on something you said. 

Have a Personality. Similar to the previous tip, people want to follow those who show their personality through their social media outlets.
Tip: You can be sarcastic, but try to keep your language clean. It’s a huge turn-off for followers when they continuously see explicit content on their feed.

Avoid Automation at All Cost.  I despise automated messages when I start following someone one Twitter. It shows they don’t have the time to go out of their way and say hello. If you don’t have time, don’t say anything at all.  If I begin following someone and I receive an automated message saying “Thanks for following. Please “like” me on Facebook”... no thank you, I will unfollow you. You need to earn “likes” on Facebook.  My view is that I’m already following you on Twitter, if I enjoy your tweets, I will find you on Facebook as well.
Tip: If you have a few followers and want to communicate somehow, just send out a tweet saying “Thanks to all of my new followers….” And mention them using “@” in the tweets. 

These are just three tips I wanted to share with you in order for you to reach your full social media potential. What do you avoid using on social media platforms?

What questions do you have about social media?