Whether you’re using social media for your business or you’re creating a personal brand – posting as yourself and for your connections, making your social presence more appealing is an ongoing process. I recently wrote an article in the Huffington Post on ways to improve your Instagram account. But here, let’s get down to the basics: Let’s say years ago, you set up a LinkedIn profile and a Facebook profile, but you’ve haven’t ever updated your profile photo or haven’t included a header image….social media platforms change all the time – and staying on top of those changes is essential. How about the case of a social media account where you post things/information about yourself or your business, but you neglect to engage and promote other small businesses or individuals? A purely promotional social media account is due for a bit of an overhaul. No matter what your social media goals might be, here are a few things you can do to make your social media presence more appealing.
5 Ways to Make Your Social Media Presence More Appealing
1. Keep your profile photo up-to-date. No matter who is connected with you or following you on social media, they want to see the today you – the one they’d recognize walking down the street. Of course there are times for hosting a throwback photo or something funny and fun, but for the simple day-to-day, keep it relevant and fresh.
2. Keep your content consistently updated and active. When it comes down to it, there’s nothing worse than a social media account that sits dormant, letting time go by with no updates. In some scenarios, especially when it comes to business, a dormant account is worse than no account at all. If you only have time to update one social media platform – stick with that one and delete the others rather than bringing attention to the fact that you don’t have enough time (or content) to maintain accounts.
3. Take a good look at your audience and tailor your content to what they want. If you notice that certain posts have a better response than others, you can start to get a pretty good sense of what type of content your audience is looking for. Perhaps sharing relevant articles from other sources is a good place to start or maybe your audience loves video. Whatever it is, provide the type of content that they respond to most and best.
4. Engage. Engage. Engage. Always remember that first and foremost, social media is a space to drive social interactions and spark conversation. It’s an ongoing digital networking space – meaning interaction is the key to driving more well-established relationships and audience growth. Remember to share content from like-minded people and businesses, comment on the successes of others and even interact with your audience. If they have a question, do your best to answer it rather than ignore it.
5. Don’t hesitate to start a conversation. As you know in real life, sometimes the best way to spark a conversation is to ask a probing question – you know, to get people talking. So why not make that part of your social media routine? Ask questions that will get people sharing their own personal experiences, opinions and will encourage them to get others to chime in too.
Want more tips on making your social media really pop? Read my latest article in the Huffington Post!
