3 Valuable Things I’ve Learnt About Social Media

Author: Gwendalyn Tavares

The term “social media” either excites you or scares you, and for me it was once the latter. As you may have heard, it is often said that the only way to overcome your fears is to face them, so that’s exactly what I decided to do!

Although I come from a generation that seems to live their lives online and post about their every action (yes, I’m a millennial); much to the frustration of my real life friends, I never got into social media from a personal perspective. But working in marketing and advertising I have had to embrace it as a tool for brands to use, so that I could best help them thrive in the social space.

That said, here are the 3 most valuable things I have learnt through working with some very knowledgeable experts in the field:

1. You do not need to post every day
   But when you do post, make it count. Make sure that you know what your brand’s personality is, what tone it will use when it speaks to its community and the kind of images you will need to share. Then post at relevant times when you know that your target market is likely to be online – but keep in mind that this is always changing, so you need to change with the trends. And remember that conversations online work both ways; it’s as much about posting and engaging with other accounts as it is about others engaging with yours. 

2. Planning is important
   Creating and sustaining a successful brand means being consistent, and in order to do that you have to take the time to consider your approach and execute it strategically. Remember that your feed is essentially telling a story, so make sure that you choose images which flow in terms of colour combinations and can also weave well into your written narrative.

3. When you don’t know; work with those who do and learn from them
   The best way to get ahead is by choosing a brand partner that will guide and teach you rather than simply take over. By outsourcing your social media creation or management, you can utilise the external team’s knowledge to address your internal brand objectives and look at things more objectively. And then you’ll begin to see that this is when the magic starts to happen on your social media pages.

At the end of the day, if social media isn’t your thing then that’s also ok. From a brand management perspective, as long as you know the basics of what you need to track and what you want to talk about, you can leave the rest to the experts – like The Collective One. 🙂