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Social media is one of the things where you can: Like it, Hate it, Can’t Ignore it. There is still no one who can confidently say they have mastered the art of virality on social media. How do we create an effective digital media strategy for 2018 when every day offers a new update and a new learning opportunity? Companies like Facebook, Instagram regularly change their algorithms which can impact many in their respective marketing efforts. In 2018, how can we stay relevant and be effective in our digital strategy?

We had a social media workshop by Sree Sreenivasan, a leading social media evangelist at USC Annenberg.

As famously known as #SreeTips, here are my compilation of few of the interesting tips for an effective digital strategy:

1. Always remember 3 ‘ABC’ rules :

Always be Charging – Always be Collecting – Always be connecting

 

2. Three important rules for Email:

When you receive an Email, the 3 most important things to do are Reply – Delete – Delegate. People with Inbox 0 are superheroes. Managing your Email efficiently is critical part to managing a successful career and life too.

 

3. Focus on connecting and engaging with influencers:

If you want to grow on social media, posting great content isn’t enough. You have to connect and engage with influencers having more meaningful connections. This will enable your social media growth.

 

4. Create a Legacy Facebook Contact:

Give someone in your family and friend access to your facebook account. Legacy contact is when you choose someone to handle your account after you are memorialized (Incase of death). After, you have given access, tell the person you have made them their contact.

 

5. Build your network before you need it:

Every time you are on social media, it is very important to build your connections and network. It is not enough just adding them on your profile. Engage your network by asking questions, sharing answers or if you see someone (you know or don’t know) need an answer to something find out the answer and share it with them. It is one of the effective method to start a conversation with someone new. 

 

6. Be open to meetings and advices:

Life may keep you busy at most times but if someone wants to meet up or shares an advice, be open to them. You may never know how things may help you at a time you don’t expect it.

 

7. Use code words:

In your posts when you have something interesting to say, make sure you use words like Breaking – Update – Latest – ICYMI etc. Adding these words will make someone to stop and give your content a chance.

 

8. Check Spelling & Grammar at any cost:

Social media will make you want to do things in a hurry or autocorrects may have other plans you didn’t imagine. So always look for spelling & grammar. Remember you are building trust and credibility with your posts.

 

9. Create & Organize Lists:

Twitter allows an option of creating lists. Create lists of people on Twitter you want to meet, network in specific industry, city, job role etc. When you tag them on your list, they will be notified showing your interest in their career, work or experience. This may include people for example – ‘LA list, USC List, News list, Informational interview list, Social Marketeres‘ and so on.

 

10. E-mail Marketing maybe old but its gold:

Platforms like snapchat and Instagram may be rapid and cool but the money & conversions lie in Email marketing and strategy. Email counts for businesses and drives traffic. If you want to connect with your audiences regularly, create a weekly/monthly newsletter and share it with them. It is a very handy method to effectively reach your audiences.

 

11. Experiment with the ‘Live’ feature:

Almost all platforms have the ‘Live’ feature in them. Take your chances to experiment with them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. When you do a ‘Live’ session, you are creating more intimate connection and conversation with your audiences. This is an effective method to build and grow your audiences. 

 

12. Create #Thumbstoppers:

Thumb is the most important part while using your smartphone. In a way, it decides when to scroll down or when to stop. Hence, make sure you create visually attractive thumbstoppers through ‘Gif’, Photos or posts so that it may enable the user to stop at the right time. Use ‘Giphycam/Imgplay‘ to create simple yet attractive posts.

 

13. It’s not who follows you that matters:

It’s not who follows you that matters. It’s who follows who follows you that matters. When you create content or a post on social media, it is your followers and their followers who amplify the reach. Therefore your focus should be to make sure ‘How to get influential followers to follow you’. This is more important than numbers to show off

 

14. Show excellent judgement on social media platforms:

Be opinionated & show excellent judgment on social platforms. Whenever you post, post it with confidence. Remember, everything you do on social, you are creating a brand for yourself. 

 

15. #Hashtags should be memorable & unique:

If you have any major project product or idea it deserves to have a hashtag. Make it memorable, recognizable, unique. Similarly, don’t abuse the use of #Hashtags too.

 

16. Don’t seek permission to connect with people:

There are many ways to connect with people without asking for something. You can always Tweet, RT, and follow. It’s a whole new world. Always be connecting with one another. It is very important to build a community. Incase if you are fired, unemployed or have a personal crisis, they will come in handy.

 

17. Effective Global Success Strategy:

Every global brand should have china traffic while every English speaking channel should have India strategy. Content should be posted in their time zones respectively.

 

Highlights:

  • “People will follow you on social media if you’re generous, transparent & confident
  • “How you tell your story is very important rather than what you tell”
  • “Think about creating content where people are most active”
  • “Social media is like your embassy and your website is your home country”
  • “The scarcest resource in the 21st century is going to be human attention, it is critical to gain their attention”.

Tools for Effective Digital Usage 

Linktree – Helps you manage multiple links across Instagram and more

Twiangulate – Tells you who your most valuable Twitter followers are

Inbox – A google product and the best way to access your mails.

Canva – Helps you create beautiful posts and designs

Crowd source – let’s you know the increase and decrease in followers

Giphycam – Let’s you make quick attractive images

This may have been a little long but I believe, it is important to learn and share so that we can build an efficient social media community helping each other grow audiences.

Let me know what you think of this article and if you have any additional tips to include, feel free to post in the comment section and I shall update it her.

Follow me on instagram @myhighwaytales for visual stories and on Twitter @rajavenkatapathy. Connect with me on LinkedIn – Raja Mani

Cheers,

Raja Venkatapathy Mani