6 TIPS TO START YOUR OWN SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

Like it or not, the world is on social media these days. Whether you’re a small business owner, freelancer or a giant corporation, you need presence on social media where you can ‘engage’ with your customers and followers. Today we will give you the six definitive tips to building your social media strategy.

1.Choose your platform
The biggest mistake you can make – unless you have unlimited time or funds at your disposal – is to choose the wrong platform for your brand. For instance, does it make sense for a photographer to be blogging in text posts while he could be displaying his work on Instagram of Pinterest? If you’re a novelist, what good will being on Twitter do to you, when most of your prospective customers are wedded to long-form content? Each social media platform is built for certain types of content. Be everywhere if you can, but in the more likely case that you cannot, make sure that you’re in the right place for your brand and character.
2.Be consistent
You don’t have to be prolific – though that can’t be a bad thing – but you need to be consistent in your content posting. Prepare a schedule and stick to it no matter what, so that your audience becomes accustomed to seeing you at a certain time every day (or week). Over time, this will build interest. Just make sure that you don’t commit to too ambitious a schedule. Stick to something that is workable and long-term. Social media is a marathon, not a sprint.
3.Be original
This does not mean that you cannot share content that is already present on the web elsewhere, but always ask yourself what you’re adding to the conversation. Remember to leave your audience with a little bit of ‘you’ in everything you say and post. What your readers and followers want is snippets and glimpses of your character entwined with a relevant, discussion-worthy topic. Give them both each time, every time.
4.Be engaging
Interact with your readers when they post comments or when they retweet something you said. Remember the ‘social’ part of social media – you don’t exist in a vacuum, so you cannot expect to ‘let your work speak for yourself’ and be absent from the comments section of your blog. The more you engage with your audience, the more they feel appreciated, and the more excited they will be to return.

5.Be patient
Relax. Even if you do everything right, you will most likely not become an overnight celebrity. Building an online following takes time and concerted effort. Most blogs do not get ‘discovered’ well into their third year of operations. So dig in for the long haul and expect things to go slow.
6.Build contacts
Build contacts not just with your readers and followers, but also with other social media personalities. Guest blogs, mentions, retweets and favourites are all good ways to build relationships online, and then leverage their support to get to the next level.