Social media is something many businesses have tried.
If you’re like most of those businesses you’ve probably been in the experimenting stage.
In 2005, I got my first introduction to social media when Facebook came out. I was in college at the time and a neighbor came over and said that our school was getting Facebook. I had no idea what he was talking about.
Of course, Facebook became a phenomenon soon after that followed by Twitter, LinkedIn and I guess you could Google+ in there as well. We also have Pinterest and Instagram, which have become part of the social media story.
Twitter launched in 2007 and I started using in 2008. There was a simple and unique value in using Twitter even though it was basically the update function of Facebook.
There are many ways to write social media updates and ways for how to write them on each social network. I’ve learned over the years a few things that seem to work really well to build a following of the right kind of people. In other words, how to build a following of the people that will either be or will have connection with your ideal customer.
How to Write Social Media Updates
Social media is pretty interesting for me over the years. I’ve had the chance to meet some great folks. Some of these people provide great updates that I enjoy reading.
Others seem to like what I have to update.
I’ve met friends, fans and clients using social media. To me, it’s been a great investment of time to use social media for both business and personal relationships.
Here are the kind of posts I’ve found to work well across all social media sites.
Questions
Questions have a few different aspects that are valuable on social media. First, people seem to really like offering answers to questions. Second, you learn a lot by getting answers.
A question for GBW would be something like, “What topics interest you as a business owner?” Followers provide topics that can turn into posts right here on GBW. Another question might be, “What is the best invoicing service?” You get good feedback from people that want to provide good insight and you kind of learn why people choose certain services and products.
Replies
Social media is very much about relationships. And most relationships in life start out by asking people questions and getting to know them. I find that reading updates and shared content from others and replying with questions and comments is a good way to get to know people.
You’ll usually find that people are open to getting to know you in this way. It seems like a better way to introduce yourself as opposed to sharing an article with someone and saying, “You’ll like this.”
So if I read an article I’ll reply on Twitter or LinkedIn with something like, “Really enjoyed your points on blogging in this article.”
Mentions
Mentions are ways to give others some love on social media for something they’ve done. People get crazy with mentions to the point of spam so don’t take this one too far.
I’ve found that this works really well in the form of compliments to people for things they’ve done.
You could compliment a business with something like, “Just got great service from @XYZ company. Would definitely recommend them.” You could also do it with articles, which is similar to the advice above with something like, “Love this post from @XYZ…”
Articles. With Commentary. (Not Yours)
This is exactly what we just said in the point above, but you focus more on the content. Share an article on social media, but add your own two cents or commentary. It can get the writer or owner interested in the tweet and you provide your followers with two things: 1) A good article endorsed by you that they may not have found and 2) your own thoughts that adds more value than just the article.
Articles (Yours)
Finally, you’ve got to share your own content. Put a little teaser for your social media update and then link to the rest of the juicy content on your website or blog.
Let’s say you do a “10 Tips” type of post. Share one tip with the update and then say, “Find the other 9 tips here…”
Conclusion
These are some of the things I’ve seen work well for social media updates. It can work for both personal and business reasons. There are certainly other ways to find success, but this is how I’ve found the most success.
Image: Devon