Social Media for Personal Brands
So, you think you’re pretty cool and you want to start a business – about yourself. You have passion and a good portfolio, but it’s you against the world right now. Without a budget and having limited resources, it’s easy to feel alone in a world of digital marketing giants. Have no fear! We’ll help you take control of your marketing this year!
People assume the social media moguls of today have a bunch of tricks to get famous quick, but getting more interaction with your social media depends on your marketing mentality just as much as your methods. You must be willing to think outside of the box and try new things. You don’t even need to use every single platform as each one caters to a different user, but you should be aware of how to maneuver across the various networks.
Facebook is now the largest country in the world. Once you realize that over a billion people have logged in to the Myspace successor, you can begin to look at things differently. What you need to know about Zuckerberg’s magic matrix is that they care very little about your business page. Unless you have a lofty ad budget, most people won’t even see the statuses you share. A business profile helps people discover you and gives you control over advertisements, but for optimum organic reach for your posts, it would be wiser to utilize your personal profile and grow your friends list just as you would with page likes.
A lot of consumers feel like IG is becoming too much like Snapchat… and well, it is. Facebook’s newest acquisition however is a little more tangible and beneficial for building your personal brand. The most influential users of Instagram seem to hold a higher standard with their content, so originality is key here. There’s filters for a reason so find a style and stick with it as your page is like a personal portfolio and people respond to consistency.
Snapchat
At this point, Snapchat feels like a glorified Vine. With Instagram strategically introducing Stories and Live Streaming last year, Snapchat is already starting to feel a little outdated and underwhelming. The app created by the now rebranded Snap Inc. has a great following, but the 150 million users pales in comparison to most other apps. It is a great tool to connect with your fans or clients on a more personal level, but with disappearing pictures and no ‘link in bio’ type of features, it’s not the best advertising anchor for your digital marketing.
Even with over 317 million active users, Twitter is pretty much the social media trashcan. We’re not saying Twitter is garbage, but the most engaging content is regurgitated (or I guess it’s called retweeted) from others and is usually drenched in social satire or motivational mumbo jumbo. It can be hard to gain traction unless you’re posting at least 3 times a day with extremely relatable and engaging visual content. But hey, the new #POTUS excels at it so what can we say? Seriously, just say whatever comes to your mind and you can become Twitter famous.
This is the cigar lounge of social media. Older, more sophisticated businessmen use this platform to network with others within their industry, but it’s not overly engaging from an interaction stand point. Young entrepreneurs use it to look for mentoring or business tips. Their new application, LinkedIn Pulse (yeah, no one really knows about this) attempts to categorize information and posts based on relevancy rather than what’s most recent. This is just what Facebook did with their algorithm, then tainted Instagram and thus made Google themselves change their “In the News” to “Top Stories”. On any platform, you need to make sure what you’re talking about is relevant and not just promotional.
How to Succeed with Social
There is an innumerous amount of social applications that will expand the reach of your personal advertising for cheap or even for free. Understanding what your service is will help you decide which platforms you need to focus on. Experts in visual arts or tangible goods tend to gravitate towards Tumblr and Instagram while businessmen and entrepreneurs lean heavily on LinkedIn and Facebook.
Social Networking is a lot like designing your website; having a unique social handle is just as important as a solid URL for your website. Just as you would buy a few different domains to bolster your SEO practices, you should make sure that your name is available on every social media platform, whether you use it or not.
Remember that even large firms have issues with marketing themselves, so don’t expect to have success overnight. You can perform quick and easy experimentation but you will need to dedicate effort and time to the cause, along with a minor financial investment.
Quick Takeaways
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Don’t be Timid
Don’t worry about being politically correct or censoring yourself. People like authenticity.
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Don’t Settle
Keep your ear to the ground for new applications and updates to current ones to stay ahead of the curve with your social marketing
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Experiment
Don’t be afraid to try new things. Look at automation tools like Buffer and Hootsuite to help you stay on top of your posts.
Digital Marketing for Entrepreneur
Don’t be intimidated by the sea of social sharks and get excited about building your online presence. Having a budget is important, but you’d be surprised at how far a few dollars can get you with promoting on Twitter, Facebook or even Instagram. Successful online marketing starts with developing a solid brand around your product or service, so have faith in yourself and your business and you will go far in whatever you do!