Social Media Tips from an Expert!
One thing I’ve been trying to do is give you (my audience) helpful tips and resources as it relates to content use and branding. So I thought it would be helpful to get an expert here to talk about social media and some tips you can take with you to improve and better engage your following!
First, let me introduce Ashley Mason, owner of Dash of Social. Her firm provides social media management, marketing consulting, blogging services, content curation and SEO services. She is local to the Boston area and has been a great resource for many, many business owners. That is why I set out to ask her a few questions about content and how it relates in todays environment with social media.
So here are a few questions answered by Ashley, of Dash of Social:
1) Many of us have heard the term “quality content” but what does that mean to you? Loaded question I know!
“Quality content” really all comes down to finding ways to bring value to your audience. Whether it’s sharing a tip that people can use or talking about an experience you faced that others may be able to learn from, your content should always have an end goal of teaching some type of lesson to others.
2) Do you recommend posting everyday? Why or why not?
Definitely not - quality over quantity! It’s better to have 3 amazing posts than 7 mediocre posts. Plus, trying to post on every platform every single day is how you will become burnt out from marketing because it’s A LOT of work. View your analytics to determine the best posting days and times, and use that to plan your content.
Quality over quantity!
3) Is it true that showing more of myself will help my audience connect with my brand? Why is that?
If you’re a solo entrepreneur, yes. When you share more about who you are as a personality, people feel like they know you. Once they feel like they know you, they start to like you. And once they start to like you, they trust you. People do business with people that they know, like, and trust, so building that three-part factor is crucial.
People do business with people that they know, like, and trust,
4) Is there an ideal mix of content (both in copy and visuals) that you would recommend trying to achieve in an Instagram grid? I’ve heard many different theories including a rule that your content should be 80% value and 20% sales. Meaning we should be working on ways to provide value to our audience and only trying to sell our services the remaining 20%.
I think the visuals really depends on your industry. For my own Instagram, I switch between posting a photo of myself and a photo of something else. But for a few beauty industry clients I work with, we make sure that we’re not posting the same product, same hairstyle, or same type of outfit too many times in a row. I’ve tweaked the 80/20 rule to something I call the ⅓ rule - meaning ⅓ of your content should be promotional, ⅓ should drive engagement, and ⅓ should consist of content sharing (sharing articles, videos, etc. written by other people). Making sure to provide value is definitely important, but it’s just as important to not shy away from promoting yourself - or how else will people know what you offer?
Making sure to provide value is definitely important, but it’s just as important to not shy away from promoting yourself
5) What is one thing you’ve experienced in your OWN social media journey that has helped increase followers, engage your audience and converting those to clients/customers?
Just being myself! I’ve made a point to be open about my life, things I’ve faced, and who I am as a person. I don’t promote myself as often as I should, but revealing who I am as a person has led many people to finding me on social media and wanting to work with me. I’ve had so many people tell me that they don’t know what I offer but want to work with me just because they love my personality - and that’s a huge compliment to me!
So Ashley has provided some super helpful tips.For example, I’m pretty good about posting every day, but as Ashley mentioned we really need to think about the quality of our content, not necessarily how often to post. I also loved how she mentions the 1/3 rule. Again, we don’t want to be constantly pushing our product - we want to show value to our clients as she mentioned like sharing articles, videos, tips, etc. And then I love how she places importance of being herself on social media and how its helped her own journey. I can personally say I’ve stopped scrolling to read A LOT of her posts - so I guess she’s doing something right! That is certainly one thing I’m going to do more of - post more about my own journey and being myself.