Top Three Thursday: Social Media News You Can Use

Top Three Thursday- Social Media News You Can Use

Top Three Thursday- Social Media News You Can UseWelcome to my Thursday feature. Here’s where I link three useful and interesting articles from excellent information sources that deal with social media and marketing subjects.

As you know, changes are always happening in the world of social media. We have a lot to keep up with!

Visual content is where online marketing and social media is headed. An article by Sprout Social compares the viability of two giant, visual content apps – Instagram vs. Snapchat: Who Rules the Visual Content World? Check out all the interesting statistics about these two companies.

Since the innovation of Twitter, hashtags have pretty much been a free-for-all. Throw a pound sign in front of it and use it. Now corporations are beginning to trademark their own hashtags. MarketWatch covers the phenomenon in Here’s One More Way the Corporate World is Trying to Infiltrate Social Media.

Have you been doing social media the same way for a while now? Does everything you do work? Do you have some Social Media Marketing Habits You Should Break NOW? The Top Rank Marketing Blog has developed a list of seven habits you need to break right away.

See you next week with another edition of Top Three Thursday: Social News You Can Use.

Melody Jones is your social media aspirin. She helps take the pain out of social media for you! Check out her services and see which one can reduce your social media pain the most.

Social Media for Authors: Do Some Spring Cleaning

Spring Cleaning Your Social Media

Spring Cleaning Your Social Media

 

Social media is an integral part of your author platform. If you’ve been using it awhile, it’s time to do a little spring cleaning!

You can make small but meaningful changes in your social media strategy to support and increase your success as an author.

 

 

  • Reset your mindset. Social media is simply another tool in your author toolbox. If you can’t love it, then learn to accept it. Most people don’t want to do laundry, but we accept it as a task to be done on a regular basis. Except for some college guys. You know what I mean.
  • Update your social media profiles and bios. Make changes on each social media network you use, if only by deleting and adding a few different words. Remember that the most effective bios tell a story; don’t make them read like a resume (yawn). Add a more recent profile photo. Consider using a good quality, relaxed I’m-a-regular-person picture rather than a very formal pose. I’ll let you be the judge of the kind of photo you should not post.
  • Make social media appointments with yourself. Get your calendar out Make an appointment with social mediaright now and schedule time, daily or weekly, to create and post social media content. The more networks you use, the more often you’ll need to do this. Prioritize this like you would taking a shower: make time no matter what. I haven’t figured out how to do this IN the shower, but if you do, let me know.
  • Engage with people, not platforms. Add this task to your planning calendar. On a regular basis, reach out to your fans and colleagues personally. Perhaps every Tuesday and Thursday, you say hello to three specific people, comment on a post they made, or make an observation about their profile (I love New York City. How long have you lived there?). If you’re on Twitter, for example, retweet someone else’s tweet with your own comment.
  • Be personable. Fans love it when authors talk a bit about their own lives, post photos of their travels or give updates on writing efforts. One author I know posts a photo of herself at every Denver Broncos football game. She always gets comments. Non-Broncos fans seem to “forgive” her.

Doing a little spring cleaning of your social media will not only improve your author platform, you’ll begin fostering true connections that can lead to things you hadn’t envisioned.

I was recruited to speak at three different conferences simply because I connected, in real time and authentically, with people on social media. You can do that too. I hear you can also meet Mr. or Ms. Right through social media and get coupons for free ice cream. Whatever floats your boat.

What would you add to this social media spring cleaning list?

 

Melody Jones | Social Media Management Services
Melody Jones

Melody Jones is your social media aspirin! If you suffer from Facebook fever, hashtag headaches, or insta irritations, Melody can alleviate your pain. She can manage your social media for you, coach you on how to do it for yourself, customize workshops for your group or come speak to your audience. Take a look at her services.

 

 

Second image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Top Three Thursday: Social Media News You Can Use

Top Three Thursday- Social Media News You Can Use

Top Three Thursday- Social Media News You Can UseWelcome to my Thursday feature. Here’s where I link three useful and interesting articles from excellent information sources that deal with social media and marketing subjects.

As you know, changes are always happening in the world of social media. We have a lot to keep up with!

Having a tough time keeping up with all the changes in social media? Even those of us who work in social every day sometimes experience whiplash due to the astonishing rate of change that goes along with this industry. Jeff Bullas has put together an interesting group of stats in his 79 Social Media Facts That Reveal How Our World Is Changing.

We’ve been getting hints about Facebook’s new article publishing platform. Sounds like this social media giant is ready to open up Instant Articles to the public. Here is a Digital Trends article on Facebook Instant Articles is Finally Going Wide.

Twitter keeps looking like it’s going to make some massive changes soon. While we wait to see how it unfolds, the site has announced that Twitter is adding a dedicated GIF button to make your timeline and DMs more animated. Check out this article at TNW News to find out more about this new feature.

See you next week with another edition of Top Three Thursday: Social News You Can Use.

Melody Jones is your social media aspirin. She helps take the pain out of social media for you! Check out her services and see which one can reduce your social media pain the most.