MAKING 2020 YOUR BEST YEAR EVER ON SOCIAL MEDIA

I have a really really REALLY good feeling about this year!

It may be because I’m launching my new business. But I also just have this feeling that great things are about to happen!

2020 can be a year we can all achieve huge success. I for one am committing more and more time to my social media activity, in particular Instagram. LinkedIn has served me as a great source of business for many years now, and continues to do so. But I think Instagram could take its crown for my new business. Time will tell!!

So, how can you make 2020 your best year ever on social media?

1. CREATE CONTENT YOUR AUDIENCE WANTS

Don’t create content for you. Don’t focus on what you want to sell them. Don’t focus your content on what you want to tell people. Focus on what they want to hear. With every new year, there are more and more social media users. If you focus your content on your business and away from your audience, they’ll just scroll on past. Think about how you can help your audience, how you can add value to them, how you can entertain them, how you can inspire them, how you can make them laugh, how you can get them thinking. All of this will have a much bigger impact and will undoubtedly lead to more sales than focusing on sales related posts.

2. SPEND MORE TIME ENGAGING THAN CREATING

Engagement is more important than ever on social media. Why expect engagement on your posts if you don’t give it elsewhere. My engagement went up dramatically when I spent more time engaging on others’ posts. I aim now to spend approximately an hour a day engaging on social media, and it has had a massive impact! It’s lead to more engagement and reach on my posts. But, more importantly in business, it’s lead to more sales!

3. PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR INSIGHTS

Your audience is telling you what they enjoy from you through your insights. Those posts that get the most engagement are the ones they love. Those that get the least are the ones they are less keen on. Don’t ignore the messages your audience are giving you. Check in weekly with your insights and analytics to see what’s working best for you on each platform.

4. BE MORE YOU!

I’ve always spouted on about how important it is to be personable on social media. But again, I think that’s more important than ever. Businesses that don’t have faces tend to struggle on social media. Your audience want to see the people in the business. Faces bring your business to life. And, after all, we socialise with people. And this is SOCIAL media! Include selfies of you and your team, sign off with names if managed by multiple people, share more about your life beyond your business. You know you’ve got this right when your audience feels like they know you despite having never met you.

5. STOP WORRYING ABOUT THE NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS YOU HAVE

If I had a penny for every time someone asked me how to get more followers, I could buy myself a fair few chocolate bars! My first question would be ‘how much business do you get from the followers you already have?’. If the answer is very little, then what’s the point of getting more followers that you hardly get any business from? Instead, focus your attention on building relationships with the followers you already have. Get to know them. Let them get to know you. It’s very rare that any follower is going to buy from you after seeing one post. So be consistent with your content, engage with their content and build that relationship. Then when you do post a sales message, it’s far more likely to convert. When you build relationships with the followers you already have, you will naturally grow your follower base too, as you’ll have more engagement on your posts and will get more and more reach!

6. CREATE VIDEO CONTENT

It’s time! This is the year to get out of your comfort zone and start getting in front of the camera! People hearing you speak is a sure fire way to increase the relationship with them and often a great way to get your message across. Hardly anyone likes being on camera. Which is why hardly anyone does it! Be the one who does. It will really help you stand out.

7. STOP DOING WHAT EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING

It’s tempting to look at successful accounts on social media and think ‘I’ll just do what they do’. Then when you do, it doesn’t work! We firstly need to work with our audience, not someone else’s! So, think more deeply about how you could appeal to your audience. And being the same as everyone else will not help you stand out. Think of a way you could be different. For example, a video I put out on Instagram at Christmas received my highest view count of any video I’ve ever posted on there. Why? Because I sang on it! Be different!

There is so much I could add to this. But definitely, doing the 7 things above will lead you to much greater social media success in 2020. I hope it’s an amazing year for you!

If you want to explore more about how you can make 2020 your best year ever on social media, I’m hosting a free webinar on Wednesday 15th January. You can register here!