Staying with the Times in Social Media & Digital Marketing
Working in social media marketing, there is something new to learn every day. A new algorithm to adjust your strategy to, a new platform to try, or even a new way to distribute your content.
It’s important for all business owners, or at least those who run your social media, to keep up with what is going on in the social media/digital marketing world. If not, you’ll be doing things that no longer work or using outdated strategies that could lead your efforts to produce little or no results.
There are marketing professionals who think they know it all and fail to keep up with the newest changes. I’ve seen examples on most platforms. Let me clarify, we’re not all perfect and sometimes it will take a few weeks to adjust things to the newest changes, but ignoring them outright is never the thing to do. Here are three examples I have seen in the past week:
- Hashtags on Facebook. These are no longer relevant folks. Yes, use them as funny sidenotes – I do that all the time on my personal profile, but according to a report from BuzzSumo last year, which analyzed more than a billion Facebook posts from over 30 million brand Pages, Facebook posts without hashtags generated more reach than those with tags added.
- Share contests on Facebook. Facebook updated their contest rules a couple years ago, allowing pages to use likes and comments as means of entry, but not shares. I see “Like and Share” contests all.the.time. While you have a greater chance of winning the lottery than getting your page suspended or deleted by Facebook for this, ignoring the rules is never a good business practice. Do not trust any marketing professional that says it’s okay to do this. For examples of illegal and legal contests, click here.
- Robo-commenting on Instagram. Yes, yes, yes I know there are programs that do this for you but some just do not make sense. Example – I post a Monday Marketing Tip every Monday on my business Instagram account. The most recent one had a comment that said “Cute pic!”. Totally random. I will get random comments that have nothing to do with the image all the time. I understand not having time to engage (if you don’t, then just don’t do it), but using robo-comments is the quickest way to having your account reported as spam.
I’m sure you are asking yourself just how you are supposed to keep up with it all – where do I find this information? When do I make the time? Here are my top four suggestions, and I do not suggest just anyone!
Top Resources to Stay in the Social Media/Digital Marketing Loop
Every week Scott Monty emails out an amazing round-up of top articles from marketing/pr-sphere. You can even check out his Flipboard for the links that didn’t make the cut. You can subscribe here.
Full disclosure – Mark is a personal friend, business mentor, and I do some work for him. He is a wealth of knowledge and if you spend just 10 minutes with him you’ll walk away leagues smarter. His blog, published four times each week, will prompt you to think and give you actionable items you can use. Subscribe here.
As a member of their All-Star Influencer program, I love to share this one! I’ve followed this blog since I began my business. It is full of social media 101’s, data and metrics, and great commentary and case studies to help your business.
I feel like this one has to be here. It’s where I started reading when I started my social media marketing journey eons ago. This is great for those seeking basic to mid-level social media marketing knowledge. Subscribe here.
Top Business Publications to Read
Harvard Business Review (you are limited to 4 free articles/month without a subscription)
All of these can be saved to your favorite reader on your tablet or smartphone to read later – just make sure to read them! If you have someone handling your social media/digital marketing for you, pass this list on to them to make sure they are using the latest strategies for your business. You do not want to be using 2015 strategies in 2017. Trust me, they’ve changed.
