This isn’t going to be one of those posts where I have all the answers cause trust me… I don’t! I feel like I muddle my way through this area like a horse with blinders on. You might ask then, why do a post on social media?
Well.. because I’m trying to sort it out and talking it through here means I have to do some research and just maybe one of two (I hope) things will happen.
- I’ll learn something that will be of value to me AND to my readers.
- Someone might find my post who knows what piece I am missing and will chime in.
NOW.. wouldn’t both of those outcomes be wonderful!?!?!
What do I know?
I know that having a social media presence is important.
I know that a social media presence can drive business to your site. It can open new doors to people you hadn’t considered talking with before. It’s often a two way street.
I know that sometimes when people look at their social media that they are surprised as to where their business is coming from. They might think twitter and discover it’s pinterest.
I know that trying to master all forms of social media all at once is not recommended.
What don’t I know?
I know that some forms of social media get a bad rap but I don’t know why.
I don’t know if it is wise to have two different social media sized images in one post. BUT I don’t know how to work around the different size requirements for different types of social media. I wonder why they have to make them different. I don’t know how important it is to follow those different size recommendations.
I wonder how people make it work when their blog theme likes a certain type of post image, but social media calls for a different size.
I am not sure what it means when a social media guru says “optimize all your social media to work together”. Does that mean have your blog post go out on all of them at the same time OR does it mean to make sure they all have your blog address, button, style etc to all be the same across the board?
What does it mean to curate a blog post? Does it mean to “sell” a blog post?
What have I learned?
It’s important to understand your audience. This is one of the reasons why people will often fragment their blogging. Doing one thing on a certain blog and doing another thing on a separate blog and so forth. I used to do that until I became convinced that I needed to join my blogging together. Might not be best for social media, but makes it easier for me as I blog and makes me feel less fractured and more accountable. But really, if you understand your audience it means you can write posts that appeal to them, and your readers can then more easily refer other readers to you.
Watching your trends can be helpful. I know from listening to people and reading blog posts that some bloggers use one social media platform the most for the bulk of the year, but at certain times they have learned to focus on another platform. They learned to do this by watching the numbers of what was retweeted, or how people found their way to their site and such like.
Not to rush in. The encouragement is to take your time doing the background knowledge stuff before you leap into your social media posts. To do one type at a time until you learn the ropes of it well, and then move on to the next.
To make use of a social media helper.. like Buffer, Tailwind, Social Bee… just helps you to keep putting your posts and comments to increase your outreach without making you crazy in the end. Trying to do it all, all the time will make you feel frazzled. 🙂 Therefore the encouragement is to get help where you can find it.
Content for social media includes more than blog posts. I’m really learning a lot about this through Social Bee where they encourage me to add quotes, guest posts, interesting content I find, as well as blog posts. There is one field I am not sure what it is for called “Curated content” and I am really not sure what that is all about. Other content you might use are good images, videos, company news, infographics and interviews.
Conclusion
I know I have lots to learn yet, perhaps you might be a person who knows the answers! 🙂 If so, leave me a comment, help me learn more eh?