LivingQuirky, Bonus Point Challenge #3 - social media strategy
Woah... prepare for my longest Tumblr post yet! I guess I had a lot to say :)
I have been thinking about this a lot during this surge of social media activity throughout this scavenger hunt. Originally, I thought Pinterest would be the best social media site, but I haven't been getting as great of a response. My interaction with it has been inconsistent so I'd like to change that. On Facebook and Twitter I have pretty good strategies, but I'd like to hone those in even more. With Instagram, it is never instant for me. If I remember to take photos, then I might remember to post them. Also, I under utilize scheduling posts on Buffer - meaning I don't do it! So, there is plenty of room for improvement in my social media arena.
On Fridays I schedule send my newsletter and Thursdays are my creation / writing days. I scheduled a 30 minute time slot on Thursdays right after I finish the blog post / newsletter creation phase where I will be scheduling the posting of that blog post throughout the upcoming week. Eventually I hope this will take me far less than 30 minutes, but until I get a groove going I gave myself wiggle time. I will determine WHEN to schedule the sending of posts with some trial and error in the beginning. Any time left in my 30 min window I will use for checking analytics. *This only applies to my Twitter and Facebook business page accounts. (I wish Pinterest's API would get on board already!!)
Success = completing the scheduled postings
Probably my most frequently visited site because I am part of a LOT of sub-groups related to business or programs and such.
#1 - my weekly scheduled buffer blog posts as mentioned above.
#2 - I have been posting more personal introspective posts that engage my followers. So, if I'm asking myself a question or have a realization then I'll pop over to Facebook and make a post with a few questions in attempts to start a dialogue with people. I prefer to leave this more open and less scheduled because some weeks / days I'm busy offline and some I'm more in online mode. I'm getting a little distracted when I do it though, so I want to try to use Buffer for these so that I can go in and out without seeing other posts / notifications. I do like the live element of it, but I'm going to give Buffer a try first.
Success = posting with a purpose and getting the heck out of there!
Failure = going in for one post and realizing an hour later I didn't do that one post and I just lost an hour of precious time.
#3 - Because this is such an active space for me, I wanted to schedule in times for browsing and general interaction. I'm also a part of a few important business groups. I've added a full hour to my calendar each weekday for this. Seems like a lot, but I do 95% of my business networking online in these groups. Some are also intense mastermind groups that take more time for posting. The key for this is going to be setting a timer and sticking to it. Because I am part of so many groups, it's way too easy to get sucked in! My goal for this hour will be to:
- check and respond to notifications / messages
- do a quick scan of the timeline and like / comment on interesting posts
- deep dive into my groups. I have set my most important groups as favorites in order of importance so I will go through each one as time permits.
- any time left over will be for going back to the general timeline
Success = sticking to just my one hour
Failure = going beyond my one hour or sneaking in quick looks that turn into more since there is no such thing as a "quick look" on Facebook :)
For the past week, I've gotten a pretty good little strategy going that I'm happy with so far. First thing after my morning routine of reading + writing + journaling, I go on Twitter and post a short thought of the day. After that, I will take another 5 minutes to search through the activity feed and favorite or retweet some things. This takes usually about 10 minutes and I'm quickly in and quickly out.
Also, I found that the best way for me to respond to retweets / replies is directly from my notification email. The way Twitter does it is limited in distractions so I can respond and then quickly leave. I'm having trouble keeping with a new surge of followers since every time someone follows me I like to check them out and attempt to engage. This I feel is more of an email surge in general though. Of which I am working on managing the recent in flux due to lots of social media activity and online guest posting / networking - woohoo! What I have been doing is being more selective about these by first checking the brief bio that comes through in my email of a new follower and then if they seem to be a good person to connect with I will continue further.
Success = keep doing what I'm doing with 10 min morning tweet sessions + responses direct from email
Failure = getting distracted, checking more frequently, or not being disciplined with my email notifications. (Btw, I also have an email strategy I am working on!)
Like I said above, I haven't been using Pinterest very much and I'd like to change that. So, I've scheduled in a 30 minute weekday pinning session (right after my Facebook session). Sometimes I have to create special pins for certain blog posts I made, but most of the time it is just pinning the graphics I've already made for blog posts direct from my website onto a board. I wish Buffer or IFTTT integrated with Pinterest, but hopefully soon! I also want to pin other posts more regularly which is why I've allotted 30 minutes. Depending on the success of this, I may increase or reduce this time slot or make it not be every weekday. For just getting back in the groove with it though, I'd like to make a splash. Additionally, I think commenting and liking and following other people's boards is the best way to engage, so I will be doing that as well.
- pin blog post from website
Success = sticking to my 30 minute schedule each weekday
Failure = skipping or exceeding that time slot
I'm so active elsewhere that this won't be too frequent for me, but I do go to or facilitate my Living Quirky events and I'd like to get better at taking and sharing photos from these. My goal is to start out with every Living Quirky event I host - I want to take and Instagram at least ONE photo. I have trouble posting on the spot because I don't like being taken away from the event at hand, but after each event I send a write up to my meetup group which includes photos if I remembered to take them, so I will add a step to post to Instagram as well. These photos are great because they feature other quirksters. I also set up an IFTTT so that when I post to Instagram it will auto post that image and caption to Twitter and Facebook. I'm not very active on the activity feed, but occasionally I will go in there and like or comment on things. I'm ok with that not being the main purpose of my Instagram interaction as I am so engaged elsewhere. Why even post to Instagram? I like Instagram for the ease of photo sharing and the auto posting boosts the other sites.
Success = remembering at each LQ event to take photos and afterwards post at least one photo.
Failure = forgetting to take photos or forgetting to post it during my scheduled write up time slot.
After writing all of that, I realized those are all technically tactics and not quite strategies. So, my strategical bigger picture mission is to:
1) connect and engage with people to build my tribe and enhance my brand awareness
2) network with other creative businesses or artisans for features, guest blog posts, or collaborations
3) drive traffic to my website and then engage them in further to build my email list
4) inspire people through words and visuals and hopefully... make a difference in someone's life!
Success = putting my heart, my soul, my creativity, and the insights I have gained thus far in life out into the online world and reaching someone to hopefully put a smile on their face, make them feel a little less alone, or inspire them to embrace who they are more fully
Failure = twiddling away on social media and offering no value in my interactions. OR not even trying to begin with.
