2013-02-28

When it comes to communicating online, what you say, as well as where and how you say it is essential to making your social media strategy effective. Want to make the most out of your Facebook posts, tweets, and pins? By following the four W’s of social media, you’ll be able to gain more followers, increase your “likes”, and enhance the overall quality of your personal and professional social media.

WHEN: Timing

Timing is one of the most critical components to having effective engagement. If you are posting when no one is online, your content will either be irrelevant to your intended audience once they do see it or go completely unnoticed.

Did you know Monday and Wednesday afternoons yield the most clicks during the week? Having information like this will enable you to put your best content out in front of the largest possible audience. You should share regularly, but save your best stuff for these prime days and hours. The ideal time to post is 1pm to 4pm and the worst time to post is 8pm to 8am. To check when your tweets get maximum exposure go to www.tweriod.com.

To minimize chaos and eliminate mistakes, try creating a calendar that lays out exactly what you are going to post and when you are going to post it. Make sure your content is relevant to people’s lives such as the time of day or the time of year. Most importantly, aim to be consistent in your posts.

WHAT: Content

Voice: Think of your social media as a brand. You want your brand to stay consistent across all your social media platforms and you should never contradict yourself. This doesn’t mean your posts have to be generic and lifeless though! By giving your different social media platforms a personality, you are able to better connect with your audience and share a unique point of view for them to enjoy.

Media: You should always be thinking of ways to utilize photos, links, and videos to attract attention to your posts. A great graphic can convey a stronger story or message with a lot more power than just words could. Using photos and graphics also increase the opportunities for people to share your content on their own pages. As they say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

Key Words: When you use words like “RT,” “LIKE,” or “COMMENT” in your posts, you will motivate your followers to take actions. This call to action will generate a larger audience as well as increased engagement. Posting questions are also a great way to engage people, either through polls or trivia.

Length: 11-15 words is the ideal length for people to read your tweets. Followers appreciate short and sweet, but any shorter and the message may not provide enough information to draw them in. It may take time to find the perfect balance that is right for your audience, so experiment with different types of posts and keep track of the results.

Encourage your followers to join the conversation! By tagging people, groups, and events into your posts, you are inviting others to be a part of your social media. Also, by answering follower’s questions or posting exclusive content, you are creating a more personal relationship between your brand and your followers. Building this type of relationship will prove beneficial for years to come.

WHERE: Channel

Just having one great message is not enough. You also must communicate it through the right channels. It can be tempting to just focus your efforts on the big three – Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, but expanding your social media reach might reveal a whole new audience base you never knew existed!

The popular graphic, Social Media Explained, illustrates the different approaches to sharing utilized by various social media channels through donuts.

By utilizing a variety of social media channels you can share your message in unique ways that meet the needs of your different audience groups.

WHY: Connect

The point of social media is to connect with people, share your ideas, voice your opinions and provide hours of entertainment.

Take a closer look into your social media mirror. Have you looked at your last 20 tweets? Have you read your Facebook posts from last week? Go through the pins of your most recent Pinterest board. When looking at these social media platforms together, you can see what kinds of messages you are sending and determine if those threads support your personal social media “brand” or not.

Do you know how influential your social media is? It’s easier to find out than you might think. Klout (www.klout.com) is a website that gives you a score (1-100) on how influential you are online. Knowing this information will help you when deciding what kind of content to post and understanding the impact your content has.

“Realize that the social media success equation isn’t the big moves on the chess board, it’s the little moves made every day that eventually add up to a major shift.” –Jay Baer

Sources: http://mashable.com/2011/01/10/social-content-strategy/