It has never been easier for the 21st Century man or woman, to instantly find out what’s going on anywhere around the world. At the palm of your fingertips you have the divine power to simultaneously debrief on a new app, political affairs, and the latest gossip on celebrities; all while offloading a mean buffet feed in your bathroom.
Of course this should come as no surprise. However, it can become overwhelming when the world is pumping more information, new gadgets and apps than you can handle. How on Earth can you keep up with this?
It’s Simple. And here’s how!
Revamp Your Social Media Feeds
For the social media marketer, on your laptop or mobile phone, a significant amount of time is devoted to your feeds across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter etc. So wouldn’t it be amazing if a majority of the information you needed were right on these apps? Well it can be done.
(1). Everyone knows that twitter can easily become a black hole, destroying any hope for productivity from the senseless tweets about someones day to day eating routines and the random thoughts of Will Smith’s son, Jaden (which can be as hilarious as they are profound).
However when utilised correctly, Twitter can be a really powerful tool.
You can start by creating a stream on Twitter with popular social media hashtags. Use terms like #socialmedia, #smchat, or #inboundmarketing — Hashtag.org contains plenty more ideas. Also, to minimise a swarm of tweets into your feed, avoid broad search terms.
Look through your results, both the people and the tweets, matching your hashtag. If you like what you’re seeing then save the tag.
(2). The beauty of social media is that the experts often hang out there, too. Whenever there is a new announcement or update in the social media world, you’ll find influencers discussing it on Twitter.
Use the hashtags that you gathered in the previous example and pick out some of the most active people tweeting on them.
Make a Twitter list based on your findings and spend some time each day running through the list to see what they have to say. And don’t be shy to ask them questions yourself. After all, that’s what social media is all about.
(1). There’s nothing like passing the minutes just flicking through random photo’s of food, clothes and other first world delights. But if you don’t already, add some socially conscious accounts to your feed to keep everything from trends, news and your personal favorites in one place.
The accounts below offer anything from new tips and techniques for social media marketers, to motivation and inspiration accounts:
- @socialglims
- @CMIcontent
- @iboommedia
- @KimGarst
- @thesocialagencyllc
- @emilylagrange
- @socinova_
- @thecrushagency
(2). See what’s trending on Instagram’s Explore tab. Instagram’s Explore tab lets users search for terms and hashtags to see what content people are sharing on the platform that day.
It also serves users with related searches to see what else people are talking about. You could search for terms like “social media” or #socialmediamarketing to see what’s going on.
Snapchat
What has made Snapchat such a hit has been its ability to facilitate creativity, foster camaraderie and user loyalty, and of course its spontaneous elements.
It’s that spontaneous element that users can see social trends and news before they’re even considered to be just that.
Real time is big time on social media, and with all due respect to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the like, there may be no better way to capture and share a moment with your online audience instantaneously than Snapchat.
So make sure you’re subscribed to the right people, businesses and brands. Sometimes you’ll find that before any other social media platform, Snapchat can be the first to give you the details.
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Use Google Alerts On Specific Search Terms And Influencers
Back to the list of people to follow on twitter, you can actually set up a Google Alerts for some of them. That way you will get regular updates when they post content or are interviewed about social media.
Grab your favorite influencers, try keep it to a minimum, and set up Google Alerts for them. Which will help you stay up to date on any breaking news in the industry.
You can also set how often you receive these alerts to suit your needs. All you have to do is type in your search term, select the types of results you want to see, select how often you wish to see the alert, and you’re ready to go.
Get Amongst Discussions On LinkedIn
The social hub for open discussion between people and business. Whether there’s an update to Facebook, a new social network that’s making traction, or a new theory on the future of social media, you are sure to find it in LinkedIn groups.
Here, you’ll become acquainted with a variety of social media enthusiasts with whom you can network and ask questions.
Here are a few worth checking out:
- Social Media Marketing
- Social Media Marketing Strategies for Business Professionals
- Innovative Marketing, PR, Sales & Social Media Innovators Innovation Network by Gerald Haman
- Social Media Today
- Digital Marketing: Social Media, Search, Mobile & more
If You’ve Got Time To Read Then Check Out Social Blogs
Just like you found this page, its bloggers who give you the low-down on social media. So do yourself a favour and follow some bloggers; if there’s a new feature or trend, it will definitely be written about in detail and lehman’s terms on these blogs.
Time spent is up to you regarding how much and how many blogs you go through. Which could be anywhere between 15 minutes a day or 15 minutes throughout the week.
Here are a few blogs to you started that cover social media:
- 5Tales Blogs
- HubSpot Blogs
- Social Media Examiner
- Social Media Today
- Simply Measured
- Social Media Explorer
- BuzzSumo
- Buffer
- Bitly
Head over to talks in person or via the web
Find out if there are any social media talks in your area and take advantage of the opportunity to hear from social media experts in the industry and ask the questions you’ve been scratching your head about.
You will get the most up-to-date advice about running a social media campaign and what you should know when using social media.
Obviously if you can’t attend these talks then there is still the opportunity to listen along through social media. Look out for hashtags corresponding with the event via social media to follow along.
INBOUND are a great choice to stream shows on, as each year they cover top social media trends among a variety of other topics.
Utilize The Podcast Format
When completing low-level involvement work, or on the drive to work, or maybe you literally have nothing to do – this can be the perfect time to listen to a podcast.
Social media marketing podcasts can be the easiest way to learn about what’s changed in the social media space.
Podcasts vary in length and provide lots of valuable information from social media experts and influencers in the form of interviews, case studies, and rundowns of the latest news.
- The #AskGaryVee Show with Gary Vaynerchuk
- Social Media Social Hour with Tyler J. Anderson
- Social Media Marketing with Michael Stelzner
- Social Pros Podcast with Jay Baer and Adam Brown
- Reply All by PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman
- This American Life with Ira Glass
Set up a news Aggregator
There are various free news aggregator that you can customize and subscribe to centralize news from a variety of different sources all on one page.
One popular news aggregator is Feedly. After subscribing to different marketing and technology publications, you can set Feedly as your homepage. That way, you’ll be ‘forced’ to glance at the big headlines before starting work each morning.
You can easily search for topics and names of publications to add to your Feedly to keep your knowledge as current as possible.
Let us know if you use any of these tips or techniques and how they help!
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