Chatbots, AR story filters, and Instagram Explore! – The three social media hot and trending topics I am NOT going to talk about in this week’s blog. Let me tell you why. It’s time for you to stop chasing trendy social media squirrels.
When you’re looking to find a marketing lever that will multiply your visibility and sales by two, five or ten-fold, you can easily get caught up in searching for the next BIG thing. You might even be thinking that if you hop on the roller coaster early, you can ride that new trendy social media car up, up, up…into the profit-sphere of your dreams.
But after a decade of working in the social media space, I’ve learned real social media marketing growth, influence, and leadership (which brings in your ideal client) is more like taking the stairs. It’s a lot more work but keeps your momentum moving forward without a significant spike and fall.
In protest of the Top 3-Trendy Social Media suggestions to follow in 2019 here are my suggestions:
Top 3-Evergreen Social Media Things to Do in 2019 & Beyond…
#1 Stop Counting Friends, Followers, and Connections
In the age of the influencer, more is not always more. You can artificially inflate the number of people who are connected to you on social media, but that doesn’t mean anything if you can’t forge solid connections.
Choose to have a smaller network and focus on cultivating relationships by being present and adding value. When you inflate your network fast, and you don’t take time to get to know your community, it’s virtually worthless.
Authentic influence happens over time; from making consistent investments in the relationships, you have with others. You can’t form real and lasting relationships if all you’re interested in is growing the number of people you’re connected to. Focus on quality over quantity instead and plan to dedicate some time to meaningful engagement.
#2 Choose Conversations Over Broadcasting
Social media is supposed to be “Social.” That means focusing on connection over broadcasting a message and hoping someone will hear it.
Social media algorithms have changed, and more and more engagement is happening inside of closed groups, and via private messenger. While showing up, sharing content, and commenting on other people’s content is still important and valuable, the real relationship building (and lead generation opportunities) are happening off of the newsfeed.
Real relationship building is happening outside the newsfeed. #trendysocialmedia Click To Tweet#3 Create Content Consistently
Your potential clients are going to creep you before they reach out to you. In fact, recent sales data shows that 75% of the buying process has already occurred before a potential client ever speaks to you, the business owner.
That means that your potential buyers are looking at your social media accounts. They’re browsing your posts, and reading your blog deciding if they want to buy from you… OR maybe they’ve fallen into the void where your content should be. And straight into the arms of your competitor whose website and social media platforms are full of valuable, useful content!
In this day and age, you’ve got to be good at creating high-quality content consistently, and you have to know your audience if you want that content to resonate with them and add value. There is NO shortcut to honing your content writing skills. The only way to get good at crafting content that speaks directly to your audience is practice.
Write, write, write until you get it right.
It’s hard to believe social media is only 13 years old. And just like any other teenager, it changes its tastes and trends daily. That doesn’t mean you have to follow its every zig or zag or up or down.
Stay the course, focus on developing real connections, having meaningful one on one conversations in your online community, and creating amazing content for your present and future clients. Let go of the trendy social media suggestions and work on the ones that help you build community.
What trendy piece of social media marketing advice is getting on your nerves these days?
