Let’s bust some myths about Social Media Marketing (Bonus: 5 new-age tips)

Social media marketing is, unfortunately, a very under-appreciated skill. :( There’s so much that it can do for brand building for companies, but even more so for individuals. Don’t believe me? Think the Kardashians — rumor has it, they get $$$ for putting a tweet out. Ok, its probably true that they WERE celebrities to begin with. But, then think of all the YouTube influencers and the moolah they’re making? Some of them have gone on to get endorsement deals, write books and even star in TV shows/movies.

Even if you don’t dream about being a social media influencer, I still believe social media should be a part and parcel of everyone’s life. In fact, I’m actively encouraging my little brother (who is studying to be an engineer) to find an internship where he could build some social media skills.

Today I’m going to shatter some myths and share some tips from my personal experience with social media.

Let’s first burst the myths: 👻

1.Anyone can be a social media marketer. False. It requires skills like project management, time management, a clear understanding of the audience, contexts and references and most importantly, an understanding of analytics to measure success and failures.

2. Theres a unique channel for every message. You’d be surprised at how untraditional channels perform for your message. Social media marketing is all about taking (calculated) risks. Ever tried making a flashmob video for your product release? Why not! It could go viral on YouTube. What about posting an Instagram story inviting people to sign up for your webinar by swiping up? Try it! You needn’t stick with the (“oh-so-innovative”) launch blog post or the email campaigns even if it’s for a business.

3. It’s all about reach. It’s more than just the reach. Your message needs to get to a lot of people, but more importantly to the more relevant people who care enough to engage with you. For social media marketing to work, it needs to be a give and take. You reach your audience, they interact and engage back with you.

4. I need the right social media tools. All the social media tools do the same thing (will different levels of usability). But, if you’re just about to start, you can totally do without them.

5. I can simply click on the twitter bird to tweet. Do you know what I’m talking about here? The little twitter bird that you could click on to tweet content? Well, you could, if being a robot 🤖 is the look you’re going for. I’ve got one word for you — avoid!

Ok, time for the tips! 🙌

1.Being authentic 💯. For your message to resonate, and for you to be able to gain more followers, you’re going to have to speak in a human voice — this applies to both companies and individuals. Tip: Use emojis, gifs and memes (save the gifs and memes more for channels that aren’t LinkedIn).

2. Nailing the context. Wit and speed goes a long way. Being knowledgeable about pop culture references, contexts and reference points about your audience will help you craft messages that resonate with them. Tip: Follow the news (both real and fake 😉)

3. When in doubt, think video 📹. Videos are the mother of all gifs. They’ve always worked for companies (brand videos, product sizzle videos, explainer videos) and for individuals (YouTube DIY videos, Insta stories, and more). I want to take a moment here to really emphasize on what Instagram stories can do for you. You’d be surprised at how these ephemeral short clips can prove to be strategic marketing tools. You can show exclusive content like behind the scenes stuff, countdown to a launch or even ask influencers to contribute. Tip: Use insta stories with a clear CTA. For example, get people to sign up for events by showing them a short teaser clip as a story and then ask them to swipe left/right/up/down to sign up for it.

4. You share, I share 👭. Social media influencers have managed to grow their followers by sheer fame. But for us, lesser mortals, the way to grow those followers is to play a little game called “You share, I share”. It is, just as it sounds — share, retweet, comment on other people’s content and they’ll do you a solid too. Social media is not only about putting your thoughts out there, it’s an interactive game.

5. What’s the deal with #️⃣ ? Now a lot of people I talk to don’t get how to use the #tags. This part is certainly tricky. I mean, seeing 20 #tags on a social media post is seriously annoying. So lets see, what tips do I have for you? Don’t just use #tags for the sake of it. Tip: Keep your #tags between 3–5. If you’re wondering how to expand reach, look up the trending #tags for the day and try to use them.

6. Make smart choices with space. Nobody likes reading long posts. That’s a given. But that shouldn’t stop you from not putting all your thoughts across. For LinkedIn, you can put a short post up, and then add a comment later to it as an afterthought the next day. This will help re-notify (in a sense) your followers and will increase the engagement to your post. Tip: If you’re on twitter, you can always “reply” to your own tweet and create a threaded thought.

And that brings me to the end of this post. Here are some parting thoughts: If you’re applying for a job to be a social media marketer, it ain’t going to look good if your own social profiles don’t look busy. ;)

Cheers! 🍻