Consuming a ton of industry related content (videos, articles, info graphics) and deciding which you think is most engaging and relevant to your followers is an easy way to start sharing content. But to really make a dent in your social media engagement, capture people’s real thoughts and opinions about that industry content and share that with your subscribers.
How to Find Great Social Media Content
Google will return the best blogs that cover your products and services. These results will have the most traffic and domain authority because popularity is built into Google’s algorithm. You know you’re getting the best results.
Subscribe to these blogs with your email address so new content/articles go right to your inbox. Search can play a huge role in finding the best content makers and news breakers in your industry. Use Twitter search and type in the same keywords. Do the same for YouTube and Facebook search.
Using this strategy the past year was incredibly successful for me and even lead to guest blogs. You can not only curate their cool content but find their contact info and collaborate on a campaign.
What to Post on Social Media
Over time you’ll find websites, online magazines, industry leaders and blogs that report on new trends, industry news, case studies, exciting new statistics, market research, etc.
Shoot for a 70/30 split between engaging content (fun, exciting, crazy) and relevant content (news, stats, strategy). Without engagement, you won’t get any RTs, shares, etc., and your brand won’t go as viral. If it’s not interesting or fun, don’t share it. With social media, the saying quality of quantity is for real.
Note: Different social media platforms do better with photos – Facebook and Twitter in particular. If you’re interested in creating your own info graphics, here are the top 14 image creation tools via Huffington Post. Make sure photos are a big part of your social media strategy.
When to Post on Social Media
Different social media platforms get more engagement depending on the day and time. This study done by Social Times is amazing. If you follow the rules given to you based on these clocks, you’ll have a big advantage over your competitors. Since social media is something you do every day or every other day, knowing the right times to post can have a huge impact on your engagement over the course of a month or year.
Being Clever on Social Media
Not too long ago I was the owner of AmericasComedy.com. My biggest regret was not using that incredible freedom to go nuts on Twitter. We should have been live tweeting Oscar jokes, Super Bowl jokes and making fun of huge news stories like the Daily Show does. Mostly I just sent out my articles and tried to get RT’s from the comedians we wrote about, thinking clicks were better than being funny.
But being funny was what would have given us a bigger following, which in the long run is more important. A big following will be there when I need the clicks, and the amount of impressions on my content would be exponentially higher if I stuck to the strategy of telling jokes. Lesson: Don’t try to build your web traffic and sales with social media right away. Just be cool! Like my man James Dean here.
If you can be witty or show some personality, that helps a ton. Try to find your voice. Be bold and clear about your opinions and excitement when you share new content.
As always, email me, Cort Tafoya, at corttafoya@gmail.com if you have any questions. Check out the rest of my SEO Shrugged blog to get the latest articles on inbound marketing, SEO and more.
One comment on “What, When and Where to Post on Social Media”
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