Marc's Blog

Content Writing and Marketing Services

Social Media

Why You Should Never Use Social Media Bots

by Leave a Comment

Social media bots are seen as an attractive strategy to artificially inflate your social media numbers. The logic goes that no one would take you seriously if you only had 10 followers, so why not buy 1,000 followers. You can buy your way to clout.

Many business owners know better than to buy followers, but what about social media bots? Why not let AI handle your social media growth instead of you putting in that work? You could then focus on other areas of your business. Here are some reasons you might want to hold back on using social media bots.

The Bots Will Affect Your Engagement Rates

If a social media bot helps you get more followers, but those followers don’t engage with your content, it will negatively affect your reach. Social networks thrive on attention. They’ll only put content in front of users if they believe it will get and keep their attention.

If you have 1,000 followers and average 100 likes per post, that’s a great engagement rate. However, if you have 10,000 followers but still get 100 likes per post, that’s not a good signal to the social networks you’re trying to grow on.

These types of bots can negatively impact your engagement rates and your ability to reach real people through your content. 

ROI Concerns

Let’s say you find a bot that helps you grow your audience and boost your engagement too. While this type of bot will puff up your follower and engagement numbers, the numbers that matter the most for your business are revenue and expenses.

If you aren’t making revenue from your social media marketing strategy or taking people to your website, then what’s the point? If you’re spending $20/mo on a bot that brings in $0/mo, then you’re losing money.

The most successful social media strategies revolve around connections and relationship building. You don’t need to get thousands of likes for everything you post to thrive on social media. You just need enough followers who appreciate your content and are willing to pay for your products and services.

Perceived Relevance VS Actual Relevance

It’s no secret that influencers want higher numbers. Some are willing to juice their numbers via buying followers or enlisting the help of a social media bot. This is the wrong focus. Rather than build up a perceived relevance, build up actual relevance.

Actual relevance takes more work and time to build, but it is far more rewarding. I’m all for finding shortcuts and achieving success sooner, but if a solution promises to take away all of the work, it’s a red flag.

It’s not about how many people follow you or engage with your content. It’s about how many people actually care about your work.

4 Ways to Improve Your Social Media Strategy

by Leave a Comment

social media strategy

A social media presence is paramount to the success of any business in the digital age. These days, no marketing strategy can be complete without a social media strategy. With the social media landscape constantly changing, we need evergreen tactics that can form the core of our social media strategy regardless of which social networks are our top dogs. The following are four ways you can quickly improve your social media strategy and get better results.

#1: Leverage On Messaging

Customer service is at the heart of successful businesses. Get customer service wrong and before long, your business could run out of revenue. You can leverage the messaging power of social media and turn it into a potent customer service channel that goes beyond special offers and resolving disputes.

Social media has vastly changed customer service landscape. This was inevitable given that many people spend a considerable amount of time daily on social networks. Just take a look at some of these eye-opening stats:

  • According to Pew Research, 70% of Facebook users log on daily, including 43% who do so several times a day. 59% of Instagram users, 38% of Twitter users, 27% of Pinterest users and 22% of Linked users log on daily.
  • In 2014, Mark Zuckerberg revealed that Americans spend an average of 40 minutes per day on Facebook.
  • Research by Nielsen has found that 33% of customers prefer to contact brands using social media as opposed to the telephone.
  • JD Power conducted a study that established that two-thirds of customers go to Twitter and Facebook for customer service.

Clearly, if you aren’t using social media messaging for customer service, you are losing out on a great opportunity.

But, there is a caveat. Engaging customers on social media is time-consuming and at times complicated. Sifting through hundreds of comments looking for complaints and/or suggestions is just part of the game.

The only way to effectively use social media for customer service and stay sane is to use Messenger Bots. Facebook’s recently popularized Messenger Bot makes it easy to quickly respond to common requests such as initial greetings. Other messaging apps like Telegram even have built-in functionality that allows customers to get quick answers from a menu selection.

#2: Mix Paid Content with SEO

Content marketing will only continue to grow stronger in future. So, it’s important to keep creating valuable content. But, to expand distribution, it is advisable to use paid content if you can afford to. Organic traffic is fantastic but if you can reach a bigger audience with paid content that converts visitors into sales, then it’s worth a try?

Unlike a few years ago, paid content today is customized for the platforms and targeting options allow one to target a niche audience. Think of paid content as a useful ally to build an audience faster. Paid content is great for startups and local businesses especially when launching new products or running a seasonal campaign.

#3: Don’t Be Afraid To Experiment

Mark Zuckerberg once stated, “the biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”

Where social media is concerned, you must boldly experiment. The dynamic nature of social media means that new ways of doing things, technologies and tools keep coming up on a daily basis. The innovators that try out the new stuff before the rest of us often get to benefit from upgrades.

Instagram Stories is the latest feature that early adopters happily jumped on. While this feature hasn’t been around for long, it already has over 150 million daily users. Experiment with new features whenever they launch and sign-up for early releases where possible. You might just stumble on something that completely revamps your social media strategy and turbocharges your business.

#4: Don’t Forget the Golden Rule

Active interaction. That’s right. This is the golden rule of a successful strategy. A quiet audience that doesn’t interact with your posts is a clear indication that something is wrong. It could be your content isn’t relevant, interesting and useful enough or your response rate is low. Invest in a good analytics tool to find out what works and what doesn’t.

Remember that social media includes the word social. Don’t solely use social media to shout out your message at your audience. Instead, take the time to ask questions and interact with the people who engage with your content.

In Conclusion

About 80% of small and medium-sized enterprises are using social media to drive sales and business growth. Rather than just having a presence on social media, you need to go deeper and understand how to make the maximum use of the features to provide better service to your customers and improve your bottom line.

What are your thoughts on creating a social media strategy? Have any suggestions for us? Do you have a question for me? Sound off in the comments section below.

4 Ways To Use Social Media To Understand Your Customers

by 1 Comment

customers, social media

Have you ever bought something simply because someone you know recommended it? I’m sure you have. But while this behavior might seem trivial on the surface, underneath lies one of the greatest truths about social media marketing, and marketing in general.

We often rely on our friends to get product recommendations. After all, we know and trust our friends. More importantly, they know us. If you’re an avid reader, for example, your friends won’t likely recommend a good baseball glove. Rather, they’ll recommend a good book.

Having said that, one way to describe marketing is product recommendation. Even when we are trying to sell a product, we are, in essence, recommending it. Some messages are crafted better than others but, in the end, we don’t actually sell products. We recommend them. It’s the customer who takes action.

Part of making a great recommendation is to know your customers as well as you know your friends. It’s easy to recommend something to a lifelong friend. Imagine if it was just as easy to make recommendations for your potential customers. Now imagine if your potential customers responded the same way as your friends.

That’s possible, but only when you learn as much as you can about your customer. And social media can help you extract the information you need. Once you learn more about your customers through social media, you’ll get more sales and generate more revenue.

Let’s get started!

#1: See What Your Customers Share

You can learn A LOT about a person just by what they share on social media. For instance, I share blog posts about productivity, digital marketing, and blogging. Whether you believe I’m an expert on those subjects or not, you know right away that I care about those topics.

I’m interested in getting more traffic from my digital marketing efforts. I want to boost my productivity. And I want to write killer blog posts. And no matter how much I improve my skills, I’ll always want to do better.

Take a look at what your customers are sharing on social media. They share the products they like using, the articles and information they find interesting, and they often share how they feel about certain people and issues.

If a majority of my Twitter followers started sharing Pinterest-related articles, my next training course would be about Pinterest. See what I mean? When you know people already want something, offer them relevant solutions and your product recommendations will carry more weight.

#2: Read Their Bios

A bio can say a lot about a person. For instance, here’s my 160 character bio on Twitter:

customers, social media

Based on my tweets, you know that I care about social media marketing, blogging, and digital marketing (note: I don’t say that I’m passionate about them because people don’t always share what they’re passionate about, but they always share what they care about).

Looking at my bio, you also know I’m a runner, dog lover, and Red Sox fan. Do you offer a DVD workout routine that helps me cut 10 seconds off my mile within 30 days? If so, I’m all ears. And if you recommend something that will make my dog love me even more, you have my attention.

If you have some epic Red Sox memorabilia, I’m listening to you. I will not listen to anyone who offers Yankees memorabilia (unless it has something to do with Derek Jeter or Mariano Rivera). Likewise, if you’re selling a cat bowl, you will lose my attention immediately.

Doing this type of homework lets you discover what to recommend, and what not to recommend, to your customers. Depending on what you offer, and the information you provide in your bio, you can offer something that appeals to multiple interests.

If you recommend a Red Sox dog costume, you’ve won my heart. Envisioning my dog in a Red Sox outfit satisfies my love for dogs and my desire to watch the Red Sox win another World Series (and then another one. That cycle of desire will continue forever).

#3: Look At Who Your Customers Follow

Almost every social network lets you to discover who your customers are following. From a marketing perspective, we aren’t concerned about every individual a customer follows. We are more concerned with patterns.

Are your customers following accounts that post inspirational quotes? Are they following social media influencers? Understanding these common patterns will allow you to identify which recommendations will resonate strongest with your customers.

Now I’m going to share a trick to ensure your audience will become more receptive to your recommendations. Let’s say I want an audience consisting of people who follow other social media influencers.

These people were interested in social media marketing before I discovered them. Following them, and getting them to follow me back, will result in more individuals who will see my recommendations and potentially take action.

#4: See How Your Audience Engage With Your Content

If you follow an influencer’s followers, you are more likely to grow an audience. Combine that with the above-mentioned tips and you’ll grow a targeted audience.

But even when you have a targeted audience, you won’t FULLY understand what they want. If your audience is interested in social media, for instance, you may not know which social network they use most. But there are two ways to figure this out:

  • Conduct a survey and ask your audience to fill it out (keep in mind this method works better with an email list).
  • Examine how your audience engages with your social media content.

A few years ago, I noticed that my Twitter and blogging-related content received the most retweets. That’s why my first training courses were about Twitter and blogging.

Then I saw increased engagement for my productivity and social media-related blog posts (social media in general, not specific networks).

Therefore, I created more training courses about productivity and social media. The more often you share content on social media, the more data you’ll have to play with. Having more data to play with always allows you to make more accurate conclusions.

In Conclusion

Speaking of conclusions, you’ve reached the near-end of this blog post. Understanding your customers allows you to provide products and services that your customers will buy before you even say a word.

So far, social media is the most revolutionary marketing tool of the 21st century. While we’ve learned many methods of social media marketing, we still have much to learn. The evolving trends in social media marketing will be very exciting.

Regardless of how marketing evolves, the emphasis will always revolve around knowing your customer. By knowing your customer like you know a friend, you can make recommendations that result in happy customers and more revenue that you can use to expand your business.

What are your thoughts on using social media to learn more about your customers? Have any tips for us? Sound off in the comments section below.

5 Social Media Lessons Pool Taught Me

by Leave a Comment

social-media-lessons

As a college student, I play pool for several hours in any given week. As I continued playing the game and working on my business, I realized that some tips for pool mirror ideal tips for growing and maintaining a social media audience.

It’s funny how any activity can teach you about business if you look at it the right way. You don’t need to be a pool player to understand the concepts within this blog post, but if you are a pool player, I’m sure you will appreciate this one.

#1: Start Strong

In a game of pool, the break typically determines how the rest of the game will go. Ideally, you want to break the triangle of pool balls and scatter the pool balls in different directions while landing some in the pockets (or if you land the 8 ball on the break, you win).

A bad break means the game will last far too long while a good break allows for a more fun game.

Each day, when you start implementing your social media strategy, the way you start determines the rest of the journey. If you start off distracted by the trending topics section, you will remain distracted for most of the day.

The way you start impacts the rest of your journey.

#2: Stay Consistent

A pool player who has a great day on one day and a bad day on another is not reliable. The best pool players are the ones who are consistently good.

In the same way, social media growth requires consistent work to see the results. You can’t grow your Twitter audience on one day, take a day off on the other day, and repeat that pattern while expecting massive results.

Staying consistent is one of the most important parts of thriving on social media. The more consistent effort you put into your social media strategy, the better your results will become.

#3: Get Advice From Others

When I got into college, I had no pool experience. I was terrible. I only became good after I got some guidance from others.

Getting advice from others sounds like common sense, but common sense is rarely common practice. Some people are intimidated to come up to someone or send an email to someone asking for advice.

When I got started on my social media journey, I had tons of questions. I was not afraid to ask people how they grew massive social media audiences. They responded by offering me their advice.

This advice was critical for me growing my social media audience. Don’t be afraid to ask others for advice. You’ll accomplish more in a shorter amount of time just by asking the right people the right questions.

#4: Focus On One Social Network

When the 8 ball is all alone on the table, you must call your shot before sinking the 8 ball into a pocket. It’s impossible to call multiple pockets. You must choose one and focus on only sinking the 8 ball into the chosen pocket.

If you look at other options, you risk hitting the 8 ball wrong and landing it into the wrong pocket. You can do all of the work to get the other seven balls off the table, but if you don’t focus on the best pocket for the 8 ball, you risk landing it in the wrong pocket.

Many social media experts start their social media journeys by focusing on one social network. Once they master their first social network, they then expand into other social networks.

I started by mastering Twitter and then I expanded into the other social networks. Foundr Magazine grew a massive presence on Instagram and then expanded into the other social networks.

Choose one social network and master it. It’s easier to walk with one egg in your hand than walk while juggling 10 eggs. Most people approach social media like the person who juggles the 10 eggs (without being a professional juggler).

#5: Set Yourself Up For The Next Opportunity

When you have an easy shot in a game of pool, you need to do two things simultaneously. You must both make the easy shot in and set yourself up for a next shot. The next shot you want to set yourself on determines how you hit the cue ball and how hard you hit it.

Think about everything you do for your social media strategy. What type of work can you do now that can set you up for more success in another area within the near future? Growing a social media audience sets you up for several opportunities.

If you share your blog posts and landing pages on your social networks, then expanding your social media audience sets you up for more blog traffic and a bigger email list.

Don’t just invest your time (and for some, money) for the sake of building your numbers. Do so with an end goal in mind. What is the purpose of you using social media? Why do you bother to grow an audience?

Always think about how your actions in one area can set you up for the next opportunity. Still focus on the opportunity you are currently pursuing, but have that other opportunity in the back of your mind.

In Conclusion

Any activity presents itself as a learning experience you can use to take your business to the next level. In this case, playing pool taught me new things about social media.

I knew some of these lessons before, but with the new context, I am more conscious of how these lessons apply to a social media strategy.

For instance, I was promoting my blog posts and landing pages on social media long before I started to play pool. However, I never thought of the concept of setting up for the next opportunity.

If growing on social media sets you up for the opportunity of more blog traffic, what opportunity do you set yourself up for once you get visitors? Do you set up for leads? Product sales? Clients? Always anticipate the next opportunity and set yourself up for it.

If you are a business owner, you can make each phase of the customer cycle set up for the next phase of the customer cycle. That’s what the most effective autoresponders do. When a customer buys a low-priced product, they eventually get the pitch for the high-priced product.

Are you a pool player? Which of these lessons landed in the pocket for you? Have any other lessons you’d like to put on the table? Break in the comments section below.

How To Integrate Live Streaming With Your Social Media Strategy

by Leave a Comment

Live streaming

We’ve all heard the buzz: live streaming is going to be the next thing for businesses, broadcasting and brands. 

In fact, 51.9 percent of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content with the best ROI and 74 percent of Internet traffic is expected to be video in 2017, according to Invodo Video Stats Report, 

Viewers are drawn to the authenticity and immediateness of video bloggers. You can speak to them live from their bedrooms. The rise of live streaming platforms like Meerkat, Twitch and Periscope capture that drive towards the live moment, being in the now. Online influencers appreciate that fact that there is basically zero production time, and audiences are willingly making the switch from YouTube and Instagram.

Live streaming is like TV and public speaking wrapped into one. And it’s very profitable. Some marketers have made thousands of dollars from a single live stream simply by promoting a product at the end. In fact, more and more live streaming platforms are offering innovative ways of monetising content including branded content and virtual gifts.

More and more people want to give live streaming a try, however, with so much other social media activity already in play — scheduling tweets, analyzing Facebook ads, creating engaging posts, etc. — they may put it off.

To get started, it’s better not to think of live streaming as its own entity. Instead, consider it a critical piece of your overall social strategy.

Share Live Stream Recordings On YouTube

Every piece of content you create can serve multiple purposes. Live streams are no different. Live streaming platforms like Periscope and Blab will provide you with an MP4 file of your finished live stream, which is easily sharable on other platforms like YouTube.

If you have a podcast, you could even turn your live streams into MP3 files.

Making the switch to a live streaming platform will allow you to be active on more than one platform. Consistently produce live streaming content and upload it to YouTube to keep that channel active and content rich as well.

I’m a big fan of feeding two birds with one scone. Live streaming lets you tap into an incredible opportunity for expansion.

 

Tweet The Link The Moment You Go Live

Live streaming platforms give you the option to tweet live links, and sharing those links with your Twitter audience automatically broadens your live stream audience: your followers simply click on the link to watch you live.

As live streaming becomes more advanced, it will be possible to share live links across several other social media platforms.

The key benefit to sharing the link with your social media audience is that you will initially get a bunch of people to view your live stream. That initial audience will provide you with immediate, live interaction.

If you want people to engage with you during the live stream (i.e. ask questions), you need to build an audience.

 

Use Social Networks To Generate Anticipation For Your Live Streams

Live streams provide a high level of interaction. However, interaction doesn’t have to begin and end with the live stream itself.

Consider each live stream an event that none of your loyal fans would want to miss. The live stream itself should be engaging and valuable, but an awesome live stream doesn’t possess the same gusto as an event.

To bring that gusto into live streaming, you need to create anticipation. Let your audience know in advance when you’ll be broadcasting a new live stream. Set a specific time and date for weekly live streams and share that information with your audience.

One reason popular TV shows perform so well is because viewers always know when to watch. When Supergirl was on CBS, I always knew when to tune in: Mondays at 8 pm EST. At the end of each episode, I knew the next episode would air at the same time the following Monday. Virtually every TV show has a scheduled time, and your live streams should follow the same method.

You can also market some of your live streams like webinars. Use your social networks to promote a landing page, and when people subscribe, you can occasionally send emails reminding them about the time and date of your live stream.

And if your live stream is Q&A based, you can use social media to garner questions in advance.

 

Bonus Tip

At the end of each live stream, be sure to let your audience know when they can attend the next one. 

 

In Conclusion

Live streaming is quickly becoming an essential part of the marketing tool kit for brands and businesses. If you’re still making excuses not to get started, you’re missing out on a great opportunity.

Live streaming can easily be integrated into your current social media strategy without a large investment in time or production. A good live stream can be carried out in 10-15 minutes, with an extra 15-20 minutes for preparation. That’s extremely doable if you aim for one live stream per week.

Indeed, the best strategy is to start by limiting yourself to one live stream per week. As you become comfortable with your chosen platform and begin to see results, consider increasing your weekly live streams.

Build your live streams gradually, not automatically, and focus on offering your audience valuable information that prompts interaction.

What are your thoughts on live streaming? Have any tips for us? Sound off in the comments section below.

10 Social Media Trends To Pay Attention To

by 2 Comments

social media

Social media is always evolving and with each new social media trend comes new opportunities to learn and grow your business.

One of the few things that will remain constant in social media’s ever changing landscape is our desire to master new trends.

Social media has changed a lot. And with each new trend comes more opportunities to learn and grow your business. For example, when I created my Twitter account in 2011, Pinterest wasn’t as big a player.

Live streaming and SnapChat didn’t even exist.

Just to give you an idea of how much social media has changed, here’s a powerful video from Matt Banner that shows just that.

Social media will continue to change rapidly and, as it does, it’s better to get ahead of the game. These are current trends to watch:

 

#1: SnapChat’s Rise To Power

SnapChat is HOT right now. In 10 seconds or less, you can put a snap on your story. Within that snap, you can provide advice, entertain, or literally anything else that your audience will enjoy.

The cool part is that it only takes 10 seconds or less to record a snap.

But even cooler than that is the platform’s unique capabilities. Now you can take a picture of someone’s SnapChat ID and automatically follow that person.

SnapChat’s communication capabilities mesh texting, video chats and phone calls into one. And people can choose which form of communication they prefer at any given time.

For example, if you are in a public place and prefer to use the text feature, you can still see the person you’re texting via video. During a phone call, you can text links to websites in real-time without losing the connection or sending an email.

SnapChat is probably the most advanced social network right now and it’s giving all of the other social networks a run for their money. There’s really no other social network like SnapChat.

 

#2: Interaction On A Whole New Level

Interaction means more than responding to or sharing other people’s posts. That form of interaction will remain a constant, but other forms of interaction, such as those available on SnapChat, are gradually gaining popularity.

Similarly, the interacting capabilities of live streaming apps, for example, are increasingly leading us towards real-time, face-to-face interaction.

Maybe some day there will be a social network that turns us all into Martian Manhunters that can read each others’ minds. Indeed, big players in tech are developing emotional recognition technology. And we’ve also got Oculus on the loose.

 

#3: Live Streaming’s Continued Dominance

Live streaming is making interaction more fun and immediate. I especially like Blab, which allows the guest and audience to post in the chat section.

blab

This way, people can add links directly within the chat section so everyone can click on it, rather than try to remember it.

Don’t expect live streaming to go away anytime soon. It may be tricky to get the hang of in the beginning, but you’ll get better with practice.

 

#4: Podcasting As The Underdog

With SnapChat, live streaming apps, and other social networks dominating the news, it’s easy to forget about podcasting.

The podcast is the cool kid who never gets invited to parties. Every year, podcasts are gaining in importance and attracting larger audiences.

Podcasting is simply audio. So people often choose YouTube because YouTube it is more popular and visual. But podcasting allows you to tap into the iTunes Podcasts and Stitcher audiences (among others) that you won’t reach with other forms of content.

Better yet, if you prefer YouTube over podcasting, why not convert your videos into MP3 files. It’s a very easy way to repurpose your content. Speaking of repurposing…

 

#5: Repurposed Pictures

In the past few years, virtually every social network want to be that place where you share your pictures.

And including an image in your tweet or Facebook post generates higher engagement. And Pinterest and Instagram actually require all of your posts to include an image.

More of these types of social networks will come into existence. As a result, content and images will continue getting repurposed. We’ve already seen this happening with blog posts. Tell me if any of these tips sound familiar:

  • Republish your blog post on LinkedIn Publisher.
  • Republish your blog post on Medium.
  • Try to republish your blog post on a guest blog.
  • Better yet, get your blog republished on a big media outlet like The Huffington Post.
  • Turn your blog into a video.
  • Make your blog into a book.
  • Turn your blog into a podcast.

Images are increasingly getting repurposed. How many times are images shared from Imgur? How many Instagram photos are being shared on Pinterest? Popular images are shared across multiple networks, often without attribution.  And as more images become repurposed, there is a greater need for photo optimization tools.

Image-obsessed users are always chasing after the perfect shot and design elements.

 

#6: The Immortality Of Blog Posts

The only places you hear about blogs dying are on other people’s blogs. I find that funny.

Blogs will never die because they offer users a unique voice and home on the web, and everyone needs that presence on the crowded internet.

Think blogging is dead? Take a look at how many blog posts have been published today. I’ll wait.

 

#7: More Blog Posts About The New Social Networks

I feel this one is inevitable. There are enough blog posts about Facebook and Twitter to keep you, your children, your grandchildren, and your great grandchildren satisfied for the rest of your lives.

Surprisingly, there still aren’t as many blog posts about SnapChat and live streaming. I actually wrote a blog post about SnapChat recently. And people want more of that information.

People aren’t asking me for Twitter tutorials because many of those already exist (I have also done a lot of them).

SnapChat and live streaming apps will soon be as saturated in terms of content and products as Facebook and Twitter.

And because there are more content producers today, especially user-generated content creators, saturation will happen much faster on new platforms than it did for Facebook and Twitter.

 

#8: More Outsourcing

With new social networks coming out every year, it’s easier and easier to fall behind the trends. That’s why I have outsourced 95% of my Twitter work.

I continue to interact with my audience and make sure everything is running smoothly, but other than that, I do little else. I outsource the work needed to keep that platform active and content rich.

Naturally, you cannot outsource your own live streams, videos or personal interaction with your audience. But literally everything else offers the possibility of outsourcing.

And without outsourcing, it’s difficult to focus on new social networks and opportunities beyond social media.

Expect outsourcing of social media activities to grow.

 

#9: Increased Need For Diversification

Each social network competes for our time as well our attention.

YouTube wants to keep us on the platform for as long as possible because the more videos we view, the more money YouTube makes on video ads.

Facebook wants to keep us on their site for hours so they can make a big profit from their advertising network. Same thing with Twitter and other social networks.

“Most of the others.”

That phrase has evolved into hundreds if not thousands of different social networks competing for our time and attention. When we put them all under the social media umbrella, that’s a lot of time and attention commanded by social media alone.

People’s opinions will change. Some people are migrating away from Facebook. Others are migrating away from Twitter. Others won’t even give SnapChat a chance.

No matter what your audience’s preferences are, you always want to be present in their feed.

Increased diversification also increases the amount of times our content and pictures get seen and repurposed, as well as the need for outsourcing to keep up with it all.

Managing that many social networks on my own (in addition to everything else) is too stressful for me to even consider.

 

#10: Constant Changes In Response To Social Media Trends

Every time a new social network with revolutionary capabilities rolls out, the big players try to copy that social network before it becomes too big.

Remember Meerkat? That live streaming app was hot until Twitter slammed the door shut.

The feud between Meerkat and Twitter got ugly. Twitter cut off Meerkat’s ability to access its social graphs in the eve of Periscope’s launch.

Then Periscope became the big live streaming app. But soon after, Facebook launched Facebook live. YouTube also offers live streaming capabilities.

A while ago, Vine was the revolutionary social network everyone was talking about. The six second infinite loop got all of the hype imaginable.

Then Instagram came out with its 15 second infinite loop videos.

Facebook is currently working on a SnapChat-like app. Expect other social networks to follow.

I don’t like the trend of the big social media players trying to copy the new and emerging social networks. The only reason Facebook didn’t bother copying Instagram is because Facebook ended up buying Instagram.

But it is what it is. In the end, we get more and better choices, but still, copying a social network like SnapChat makes no sense to me. It makes more sense to keep innovating and offering users something new.

 

In Conclusion

Social media will continue to evolve. And as we continue on our quests to master social media, we will have to take action based on emerging trends.

Those who tap into those trends and take action early will enjoy the most success from new social networks.

What are your thoughts on social media trends? How do you keep up and decide where to spend your energy? See any social media trends on the horizon? Sound off in the comments section below.