By Tatiana Bacchus
I Googled “Social Media Rules” and this is what came up, “About 3,780,000,000 results (0.41 seconds)”. I hope this alleviates any concerns you have about there being a right or wrong way to “do social media.” There are some hard and fast rules, like don’t be a jerk and don’t blast your audience with nothing but one-sided promotional posts, but there is an ocean of room to create your own style and voice on social media.
The game has definitely changed since I started posting on Facebook, long before being an Influencer was a highly monetizable gig and there were such things as NFTs. Now social media feels like a young person’s game. The challenge with this feeling is that our audience is multi-generational. My mom is now a beast on Facebook. Okay, maybe not an expert but she finds her way onto pages with her full social justice self and ensures that she is loudly heard. She may not be able to find the post once she hits the button, but she has figured out how to find recipes, old family members, new fashions and the politics of the day.
If there is one thing I would advocate for in this entry, it would be that you make sure your unique perspective and voice are woven into your social media strategy. Even if that strategy is, I am going to post one thing every day! Make it be about something you care about. People will tell you that social media success is about consistency. If you start by posting about things you don’t care about, you run the risk of falling flat and the work feeling like a chore. By contrast, if you can find a way to incorporate your passion into your posting it can become exciting for you and your audience.
There are pages I follow because they are funny, some are inspiring, others provide great educational resources and still some are pages I bookmark when I get that impulse buy feeling. You know, the one where you’re waiting in line at the grocery store (or maybe scrolling through your Instacart order) and there is that one item you know you don’t need and weren’t thinking about, but because of where it is positioned it caught your eye and now you must have it! I impulse bookmark luxury vacations, cute dresses, future hairstyles, and creative retreats I want to go on…one day.
These people behind the accounts have found me. They have called to me and captured my attention. They found me through a variety of methods - organic, paid ads, shares from trusted friends, and even suggestions from the platform. The platforms do play an algorithm game, so finding your tribe may be harder than it was in the past. Also, there are so many platforms so it may take some “listening” to find where your like-minded people are.
I am no expert when it comes to this and I am still working to find the tribe for each of my projects. There will likely be overlap, but the people who are showing up to catch my fossil-hunting videos aren’t necessarily the ones who also want to see my documentary about a Haitian master painter. They could be, but there are definite tribes for each project. My challenge, when I choose to accept it, will be to find out if they are on FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, TikTok, and on and on, but that’s a story for another day.
Image: film camera with viewfinder in the foreground. Painter Ulrick Jean-Pierre is seated in a suit jacket, visible in the viewfinder. His legs and the edges of the painting on a blank wall in a sparse room are visible in the background.
If you speak with an authentic voice about something that matters to you, I believe you will begin to draw your audience to you, no matter how you choose to do it!
***
Comments