It’s been a long time since I last wrote something in my marketing/social media series. As some of you know my educational background is in Marketing/Web/Social Media. I’m putting it out there into the universe that my goal is to start these series back up again. I hope these series will help my fellow bloggers, small business owners and those who are just curious with some of my tried, tested and true tips on how to best utilize social media marketing on different platforms.
5 Things All Bloggers Should Do On Twitter [SOCIAL MEDIA]
TWEET YOUR CONTENT This should be an obvious one. Tweet your content and do it on the regular. Twitter is a fast moving platform. So posting repeat tweets (spread them out) is okay to do. Especially since only a percentage of your Twitter followers will see your tweets since it goes down in peoples feeds so quickly.
TWEET YOUR VIDEOS Tweet your videos from snapchat, instagram stories or whatever. Videos get lots of attention and if you can start a conversation over one of your videos than you’re golden. For an example, I shared a short video of my plant that was growing in a not so normal way on Instagram Stories. I used that same video for a tweet to ask my followers what they thought was going on. What happened next was the natural conversation I was looking for. Also an answer because I genuinely wanted to know.
If you have more than one image then go ahead and use it in your tweet. You can add up to 4 images in your tweet and save those characters to tell your story instead of mentions (@humarakausar – is mentioning someone). You can tag the person/brand on the image instead.
I love using Twitter lists to organize groups of people. For an example, making a bloggers list of people on Twitter and then visiting that list to see only blogger tweets can be a lot more easier to engage and keep up with tweets that matter to you. Especially because they go by so quickly.
5. USE TWITTER CARDS
So I just recently learned about this one. You can create tweets with images that look great across different techs, i.e ios, android and desktop. Benefit, no more hours, days or months of no engagement on Twitter. You have no excuse if you have Twitter cards already set up. You can find this under Twitter Ads/Creatives/Cards.
Someone who creates conflict on sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and blogs by posting messages that are particularly controversial or inflammatory with the sole intent of provoking an emotional (read: angry) response from other users. – Google
These social media trolls are lurking everywhere on the web and most are full of anger and jonzing to discourage people from just about anything they love. So according to google’s translation of a social media troll, these trolls create conflict with messages, but the trolls have upgraded to trolling a few more ways.
[Tweet “What is a #socialmedia troll? Here’s how you can catch/deal with these trolls:”]
Types of Social media trolls:
Comment trolls – They leave negative unnecessary comments anywhere they see the option to comment.
Post trolls – These trolls probably have subscribed to your blog just so they can be the first to comment under your post with links to their own websites, viruses etc.
Stalker trolls – They stalk your social media accounts everyday but never like or comment on any of your posts.
How do you catch/deal with trolls?
Don’t feed the comment trolls. On Twitter if someone is being Negative+Sarcastic, then you can reply in a Sarcastic+Funny tone to make light of the situation. If it’s on Instagram just delete their comment (you don’t need to see that comment again) and then do your IG fam a favour and block them.
Why do you post your site links when most commenting platforms allow you to make your name link-able after you’ve commented? It won’t help your SEO situation, so stop. Set yourself up with a spam blocker and a commenting system that allows you to approve the comment before it goes live.
Your like or comment won’t make that person insta-famous. Collectively maybe.I’ll be honest. I’ve seen some blurry IG pics or where the image should have been rotated to be right side up, but I still liked it. But then again I go a little like crazy and go on liking sprees. If you really want to know your stalker trolls, you can try to catch them by putting your account on private and see who sends you a follow request. Chances are your stalker trolls don’t follow you and will now try too. For those who do follow you and don’t like, favourite, re-tweet etc…relax, they either didn’t see your post or it sucks and you need to re-think your approach. Trial and error my friends.
The digital age where social media has become a huge part of our generation, the opportunity curve is going through the roof for the guy/girl next door becoming famous overnight over an uploaded video, tweet or instagram post.
My Facebook feed had this one article that was being shared over and over again by different people and even made it to a few of my whatsapp group conversations. A YouTuber becomes famous and some of the videos have a word for word resemblance with another YouTubers videos. Some viewers feel cheated and have shown their outrage via YouTube comments, twitter and other social platforms. Everyone has their opinion on whether this is unethical or not. If you ask me, before judging someone online for copying another persons content and resorting to cyber bullying take these points into consideration:
If you believe someone has done something unethical, being unethical back (ex. cyber bulling) does not make things right
The person copying others online content may not be aware that this is even wrong (or not allowed) and may not know that they should be giving any kind of credit to the person they were inspired by or copying (if that’s the case)
Person may have seen creating the copy of the video as their own variation of it
[Tweet “Fame = many responsibilities & few understand these responsibilities right away..”]
You can learn from making mistakes and either correct or continue to do the same and ignore all negative feedback from your fans and only take the good. Although if you ask me, any kind of criticism, especially bad, can be really good for you if you take it with a grain of salt and use it to build your online image into something even better. After all, if you win all of your fans hearts, it only feeds into your popularity even more. It can even be inspiring to other content makers and they may even follow suit.
Here are some guidelines to follow when sharing or creating content on social media platforms:
Twitter
On Twitter when you share someone’s tweet it’s called a Re-Tweet. Click on the Re-Tweet button under the Tweet.
You can also start a new tweet and start the copied tweet with ‘RT’ which is short form for Re-Tweet. When you tweet this way don’t forget to also add the person’s Twitter name. Should look something like this:
This is a great way to give the other person credit on Twitter and also you’re engaging with the user. That user might even appreciate you giving them credit and mentioning them in the tweet that they may even Re-Tweet your tweet. Especially if you added your own comments to the tweet.
Facebook
We are able to easily ‘share’ a post on Facebook by clicking on the share button. When you share a post, viewers of the post can see where that post derived from. (Facebook page, Facebook user, outside Facebook source)
Instagram
There are a lot of ways you can give credit to Instagram users you’ve either been inspired by or just want to copy the exact image and post it on your account.
Download a reposting instagram app (Ex. App called Repost for Instagram on Androids) Apps like this will automatically add a side bar with the repost symbol along with the original content creators name.
You can tag the person in the image before posting when in edit mode
You can also mention the original image post-er in the edit mode: #regram @piperlime
Vine
Vine has a one button share option or just like Instagram you can use a hashtag like #revine.
Tumblr
This microblogging platform and social networking website also allows you to press a button to share or use hashtag #reblog.
YouTube
On YouTube it’s a bit more tricky because there are no share buttons and most YouTubers videos are not their own original content. YouTube doesn’t have the processes in place like other social platforms to encourage users to give credit. It’s kind of like a free for all. Built up of so many videos that tell the same story by different people/characters. It’s evident in beauty channels with similar looks being created by different beauty experts, comedians with the same punch lines, tutorials teaching the same technique and more. It really comes down to the YouTuber. Do you want to give credit to the content that was created by another that inspired you to re-create? Or would you rather just create the video and put it out there because it’s different enough that you’re in it? How about the fact that the video you created is different in your eyes because you had a different approach, a slight change in the story, different technique…innovative?
Plagiarism is the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own.
With a platform that doesn’t give you the option to tag, share or promote to give shout outs to those who inspired you to create your content, it’s no wonder why there are so many copy cats. Not everyone has come to accept YouTube for what it is. Some viewers demand and criticize YouTubers to admit or share who they copied or were inspired by. However you will rarely read or see a YouTuber mention where they got their content from or who they were inspired by. Everyone wants to be an original, some with little to no effort. To each their own.
If you’re new to Social Media, first thing you should do is get on Twitter and Facebook. To start with, at least.
There are a lot more platforms out there for you to experience, learn and possibly one day manage for your employer.
Watch some tutorials on how to use these platforms. You will be surprised at how much knowledge there is out there on the web. Once you have gone past the beginner phase of learning the in’s and out’s of each platform, search for programs that help you optimize their use as a social media professional. Such as Tweetdeck, Hootsuite and understanding Facebook page analytics.
At this point, you should also start looking at companies that are doing amazing work with their social media. Companies that have compelling marketing strategies and have a massive following. One of my favourites is Oreo.
When you’re applying to some companies make sure you ask lots of questions during the interview process or dig deep into their job descriptions for hints on what their expectations are. Some companies that don’t really understand the benefits of social media may not have a team or budget in place. This means you will be doing everything from managing their platforms, community, graphics, videos, promotions and more! Their expectations might be high for the type of following they want to see upon hiring you. It will be your job to explain the benefits of promoted tweets, boosting posts and ad’s to gain likes. Especially if people who are looking for your company can’t find their website or even a blog.
Check out the below infographic to getting a job in Social Media. There are some roles missing and the salary may be off for some.
