Written For Social Media Managers

When I'm searching for good information on gaining likes, followers, pins, and whatever else I always run into the same thing. Social media "gurus" telling me things I already know... Why is this? Because they don't know jack! They say thinks like "create unique content" and "listen to your audience" but what does that mean? How is that any different from what the last guy wrote and the guy before that?


THE COLD HARD SKINNY ON SOCIAL MEDIA


Here's what I want from your blog posts ---> Relevant information that I can utilize and transform into a following. I want and need new information to feed my social media accounts.


 I will share some real social media tips that you can use right after reading this to gain a larger following.

Churn Followers
Some people don't like to do this, but the truth? It's a great way to start a following on Twitter. Simply follow large numbers of people that are likely to use your products or services. Some of these people will in turn follow you back. For example if you sell custom guitars then you would type in "musicians" into twitter and follow everyone or everyone you think will like your product. You probably know this, but Twitter will only allow you to follow 2,000 accounts when you first start out. You can always unfollow accounts after you reach this limit, thus why it's called churning. Ethical? All I know is that it works

Gain A Local Following
This goes with the last tip and I know ive said it before in my blog, but this works too. Follow people that follow local sports teams, news stations, and anything local. These people live in your area and might follow you back. At the very least these people will catch a glance of your logo which is good too if you're a local business. Do your competitors use social media? Follow all their followers! You already know these people are interested in the services you offer.

You Need Money!
The truth hurts. You're not going to make it very big on Facebook if you are a small business with no FB ads at all. These ads are not very expensive and will do wonders for your account(s) I will estimate that $30.00 in FB ads will be enough for a month per account. In my experience I will gain around 100 new likes per month with these ads. Don't think that's a lot? Think again. These new "likes" are targeted likes and are actually interested in the services you offer. You will flip after seeing all the engagement on your page. These are the creme de la creme "likes." Think of all the time you spend trying to gain a following. $30 a month is nothing compared to the results you will gain. After awhile you won't need FB advertising anymore because you will have people sharing your posts for you.

Social Sharing Sites
You know those networks that will help you grow your social presence by trading likes? They work! These people won't engage with your page at all and almost all of them are fake accounts. The only benefit I see is that you will have larger numbers which will gain you credibility. I would trade 1000 of these likes for 100 real likes any day of the week.

Triber 
Triber is great for you if you own a blog. Other blog owners will share your content once you have been accepted into a tribe or once you create a tribe and gain members. These bloggers usually have huge followings of real followers. The only downside of this site is that it take a little work to get into a good tribe, but it's worth it.
Make sure to share blog posts and log in frequently!

Share Photos On Facebook
If you don't get much engagement try sharing photos. Don't steal photos! Use copyright free photos when posting to any social account. Rename the photo with a keyword and you're set. You can find lots of photos like this using Google Advanced Image Search.

Know The Image Sizes
Do your photos look a little off? It's very important to maintain a professional look while on social media. Make sure your images are the right size.

Here's a short list of the main ones:

Facebook
Cover Photo 851 x 315 px
Profile Picture 180 x 180 px
Timeline Photo 403 x 403 px
Highlighted Post 843 x 403 px

Twitter
Profile Picture (in stream) 48 x 48 px
Profile Picture (in profile) 81 x 81 px 
Header Image 520 x 260 px
Recent Image 90 x90 px

Google +
Profile Picture 250 x 250 px
Cover Photo 890 x 180

Link You Accounts
Link your Facebook to your Twitter. What can it hurt? Also if you work for businesses as a SMM make yourself a manager on their FB business pages. This makes switching between accounts pretty easy and takes a lot of the work out even if you use Last Pass.

Check your FB Insights
With FB insights you will be able to see which posts are preforming the best, and what days are working the best. There is a gold mine of information on each page of the insights and it's fairly simply to read and understand. I'm surprised FB doesn't charge us for this, so use it!

Quozio
Need something to post, but you don't have any fresh content? Quozio <--- nuff said


I hope you learned at least 1 new thing you can implement into your social media strategy.
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