Saturday, 18 January 2014

Social Media Basics

1. You have to be authentic. Be yourself. Everybody is being marketed at all the time, but now with so many choices, people look for what's real.

2. You have to be specific. Nobody wants to hire someone who can do everything, they want someone who can do one thing really well.

And you need to be able to prove it. Everyone speaks a good game, but how is your track record? 

3. Blog. Give away your expertise. How do people know to trust you? When you give everything away. Your unique insight makes you appealing.

4. Don't register a 'Facebook Page', we were duped! We thought it was a way to build an audience, but it's not. If you have 1000 'fans' on your Facebook page, only around 30 of them will see your posts. If a social media guru is telling you to get a Facebook Page, they're not a guru at all.

Facebook gave us the Pages function for free but then took away everything they're good for. Now you have to pay to reach your own 'fans' through promoted posts. 

5. Don't be automated. If I'm getting the same tweets or emails as other people, I know you're not giving me any of your personal time. So why should I give you mine?

6. It's too easy to be against a new platform. Most people waste years berating Google+, Instagram and Vine, and then... they join them.

7. Don't read too much into the numbers. Someone may not have many Twitter followers, but maybe the 50 people who do follow them are industry insiders. Likewise, they could have 30,000 Instagram followers, but none of them are paying attention. The numbers rarely mean what you think they mean. 

8. Nobody is listening on Twitter. You can have a million followers, but they probably won't care about your latest project. People are reluctant to click through. And it's virtually impossible to know what your followers want.

9. Quit while you're behind. If no-one is interested in your project or product, quit badgering them. Make a better product. Get better at your art. 

10. Don't waste your time trying to go viral. If you can't make something that connects with 10 people, how will you connect with 10 million?

Greatness spreads. If your content isn't being shared, it isn't good enough. Period.

Care to share?


  1. #8 is quite timely for me. I deactivated my Twitter account last week on a whim, and as far as I can tell, nobody noticed...which proved my point in doing so: nobody really cares anyway. I'll admit, I have a handful of influential followers, but most of the time I feel like they aren't paying attention, so why should I waste so much time tweeting? I'll probably re-activate it before the month is up (and use Twitter much less from here on out), but it was an interesting experiment.

    #6 also rings true. My prior disdain for Instagram came back to bite me in the butt. I love it now.

  2. This is one of the best social media posts I've seen. You're right on target with Facebook. It's a complete waste of time. I hate going on there. I much prefer Tumblr and Twitter. I think you make a good point about not reading into the numbers. Just do it and enjoy it. Or don't do it.

  3. Agree on the Facebook one too. Loada shit