How to Take Advantage of Social Media (Part IV)
Thanks for joining us once again for our Social Influencers series! This marks the fourth entry into our program, and caps off a great discussion about how to best take advantage of the various social platforms available to us. Before moving forward, make sure you’ve checked out Parts I, II, & III, as we had fantastic contributions from social influencers across the globe.
In Part IV, we spoke with Nellie Huang, who began using social media to promote her travel blog, which has since grown in size and scope. She’s even using her position as a social influencer to launch a course that will teach bloggers how to effectively build a community on Facebook. Rishabh Shanbhag is by far our youngest contributor, who was recently featured as one of the top 13 social media teenage all-stars. We also spoke with Kathy Cano-Murillo, who has embraced many social platforms, and created her own website.
Professional Travel Writer, Author, Blogger, and Social Media Specialist. Adventure Travel Blog WildJunket.
When I first started travel writing and blogging in 2008, I mainly used social media as a marketing tool to promote my blog and share my content. I would also share live updates on social media when traveling, drawing in new followers with enviable travel photos and videos. I started gaining a loyal following on social media – so much so that it became a platform for me to build my community and brand.
My Facebook page, Twitter channel, and Instagram account are all now extensions of my brand. I don’t only use these platforms to drive traffic – I use them as tools to talk to my audience directly, ask them questions, and engage with them actively. After all, engagement is key in the world of new media, and social media is the best channel to communicate and engage with your audience.
For a travel blogger like myself, social media is an incredibly powerful tool that has helped me establish my name in the industry. In fact, I’ve been approached by the biggest companies I’ve worked with and editors of major publications on social media. Thanks to social media, I’ve been able to build a strong brand and business that allows me to travel frequently and make a living on what I love most.
These days, social media work has also become part of my job scope. In many of the campaigns and projects that I’m involved in, social media shares are often included as one of the deliverables. I also do social media consulting for a few travel startups and run their channels from time to time. It’s a job I love and hope to pursue more moving forward.
Currently, I’m working on a course [that teaches] bloggers how to build a community on Facebook. It’s going to be extremely useful for those who want to build a following but don’t know where to start. If you are one of them, I recommend being genuine and letting your personality shine on social media. It doesn’t need to be all unicorns and rainbows – a few profanities won’t hurt – just be yourself and others will follow.
Social Media Brand Ambassador for the #GivingTuesday movement by the UN.
Social media is a phenomenal platform that can be used to learn, stay informed, and connect with friends & fans. The best way to utilize social media would be to ‘always interact.’ To build a following, you will have to focus on a niche [group] and then follow up on it.
For example, if your area of interest is technology, then you’d want to post quotes, images, links, and ask questions related to it which would help you grow your follower base. Other than your niche, you can also focus on some of the trending topics which a majority of your social media followers can relate to.
This could recently be seen in the case of #PokemonGo where several businesses and companies made use of the trending hashtag to promote their own products in an innovative way so that they could grab the attention of social media users who were ‘non followers.’
I would like to demonstrate the profound effects of social media with a quote by Mr. Jeff Bezos – ‘If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends.
Artist, author, speaker, founder of CraftyChica.com
Social media has been a huge component in the success of Crafty Chica. I love to write and make content to inspire people to incorporate creativity into their lives. In order for that to happen, I need to get my content in front of as many people as possible. That’s where social media comes in. I love it and embrace it in all forms. I can’t say I love one platform more than another, they all have their charm.
I think of each platform as an awesome, active party that is happening – everyone is sharing ideas. I want to contribute and be at all those parties! I feel that because I’ve taken such a positive approach towards social media, it has worked well for me. The main key has been back and forth, give and take.
It’s helped me build a steady organic following. My mission is to keep my followers entertained and pleasantly surprised, and to show gratitude and respect to them by only sharing and making content that matters. I want them to know that if they follow me they can always count on feeling great and learning something new!
No comments:
Post a Comment