Love or hate it, social media is here to stay. The various social media platforms have evolved from their initial purpose of mere interaction and networking into viable marketplaces, information hubs, rallying points, advocacy platforms, search sites and even journals. People of different nationalities, age, economic class, religion and idiosyncrasies have found a common place where they are sure to find people who look, talk and think like them.
Many brands have realized that their survival is dependent on their ability to effectively use social media platforms to articulate what they do, project their brand identity and reach out to their target market. Brands have also found a way to put social media to good use, with many building a community and recruiting more loyal customers on the social media market. Many individuals have realized this and are positioning themselves to obtain their “share” in the market. For others, it has nothing to do with money but everything to do with passion and expression. Whichever category you fall, you can use this simple guide to make your social media game even better.
Build a Following
In the world of social media, following is currency. The more you have, the better. Besides the fact that the number of followers you have is a major consideration for many brands, many consider a good following an indication that you are doing something right – making them more likely to follow you. As a person starting out on your journey to social media stardom, you can even buy Instagram followers to give yourself the boost you need to gain more followers.
In doing this, it is key to ensure that the followers are active. Their engagement on your posts will make the Instagram algorithm recommend it to other people with similar interests.
Build a Brand
Being a jack of all trades isn’t the most effective way to build a social media brand. People like to compartmentalize their social media use experience, especially when it comes to Instagram and TikTok.
Creators make this easier by streamlining their posts to being about not more than three clear and usually related things. For example, an account dedicated to content on beauty might focus their content on skincare, fashion and makeup while a fitness influencer might focus on work out, diet and athleisure.
Determine what you want to be known for and stick to creating great quality content in your niche until you decide you want to do something else. This, however, does not imply that you cannot infuse content on your other areas of interest. You can weave in other things you enjoy into your social media page. The key is ensuring your page remains cohesive and what you want to be known for is clear.
Commit to Continuous Improvement
Social media is constantly evolving with new trends and editing styles and transition videos are becoming faster, crispier and more creative. Staying relevant and keeping your audience entertained requires that you become a trendsetter and/or evolve just as fast.
To stay ahead, you must think of ways to improve the quality of the content you create. Spend time watching and critiquing your content, while noting points of improvement. It also helps to get constructive feedback from your friends or audience.
Practice and perfect different photo and video creation and editing techniques as often as you can. There are several useful resources on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. There are also Twitter threads that are useful to learn these skills. Learn from other creators by watching tutorial videos.
While learning to improve the aesthetics of your content, you must not ignore substance. Learn and understand the ins and outs of your niche or the topics you are creating content on.
Be Consistent
Before you commit to upping your social media game, it’s crucial that you understand that it is a lot of work that requires time, discipline and a lot of effort to create and post content consistently.
No matter what stage you are up to in your social media journey, you must remain consistent in creating and putting out content. It’s easy to be forgotten when there are 4.6 billion pieces of content produced by others on a daily basis. Not many people would sit around waiting for you to post a picture or video once every three months.
What you could do is create a calendar on when to and what to post. This would guide you and keep you accountable to the goals you have set for yourselves.
Note, however, that it is unnecessary to put yourself under the pressure to create to the point that you begin to lose the fun in it. You can opt for content pieces that take less time to create such as photos, graphics and simple videos on days you don’t feel like spending hours shooting and editing videos. At the end of the day, it’s important to do what works for you!
Collaborate
This is an underrated point. Not many things expose you to a new audience and helps you learn new skills like collaborating with another social media creator does. Collaborative content are also usually well-received by followers who are usually excited to see their favorite creators work together.
Existing in isolation without engaging with or collaborating with other creators shuts you out of several opportunities. Take a bold step and reach out to a creator you would like to work with today!