5 Social Media Tips You Need to Follow in 2016

If you’re in business online, you have a lot to take care of on a daily basis. And while you might have a solid understanding of the importance of social media, you might not have a full grasp on what you need to be doing to make full use of it. That’s why we’ve put together these 5 top tips that you absolutely 100% need to follow in 2016 and beyond. Hopefully you find them helpful and can apply them to your social media marketing campaign:

Listen to Conversations

One of the best ways to do social media right is to pay attention to what people are saying online. Now, we don’t just mean setting up filters for specific #hashtags on Twitter or doing periodic searches for related keywords on Facebook (though that certainly helps). Instead, we mean taking a look at what your followers are saying. What questions do they have? What are their complaints? How do they prefer to interact? Paying attention and really listening in on the social media conversations in your target demographic can give you:

• Insights into what your target audience wants and/or needs
• What information would be most helpful
• What type of content would be the most appealing

Following this simple step can give you enough info to build a complete social marketing plan.

Talk to People

That is, don’t talk at them. People hate that, including you! When you’re on social media, you probably really don’t like it when someone posts an obvious ad or tries to pull a hard sell after exchanging one tweet with you. Instead, just engage with followers as a regular person. Your presence on social media as a representative for your brand is enough to generate interest.

Curate Content

Sharing the content that other people create is called content curation and it’s an essential component of any social media strategy for 2016. You shouldn’t be sharing your own content over and over again. Rather, you should be sharing other people’s content and establishing yourself as a thought leader. Get the reputation as an industry expert and you’ll have a platform all ready to go when you actually do want to sell something. 

Share Your Content 

So yes, content curation is important but you need to share your stuff too. Industry experts are also content creators and you need to have a consistent stockpile of the stuff to keep people interested and coming back for more. Create a bunch of valuable content in advance, setup an editorial calendar, or just do what you have to do to make sure new content is ready to go on a consistent schedule. Remember: not just any old content will do. It needs to be high quality and valuable to your target demographic. Worthless fluff isn’t going to cut it. 

Keep it Real 

In your content and in your social posts, always strive to maintain an air of authenticity. Don’t try to imitate someone else’s style or speak in a voice that isn’t your own. Not only is it not genuine, it’s also very hard to keep that up. Instead, talk how you normally talk and say things you would normally say on social media. You’ll find that you’ll get a much more positive response by coming across as a real person rather than a 24/7 shill machine. 

By following these five social media tips you should see increased engagement and an overall improved performance of your social campaigns this year. We wish you the best of luck!

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