With recent changes in the newsfeed, it’s important to pivot, be resilient and adaptable and figure out a game plan for rocking social well. Recently Facebook announced that the algorithm would be changing again. The algorithm will de-prioritize content shared by media and businesses in favor of that produced by friends and family. What does this mean for us? We have to be social on social media! Today, let’s rock through 5 ways to put the social back in social media!
Don’t just post and ghost:
First things first, let’s take some time to post intentionally and hang out and engage with your audience! It’s important that you’re commenting back to comments and let’s be honest, in order to actually get people to comment on your post, you need to have some sort of call to action or question in EVERY SINGLE POST. This can be as simple as asking someone to comment below or tag 3 friends or double tap but you want to ask yourself: what action do I want people to take after seeing this post.
PRO TIP: I now post and then commit to spending 15 minutes online to respond to comments and encourage engagement. Rumor on the street is that Instagram is looking at responsiveness following a post (so the first 20-30 minutes after it goes live) to decide if they should push it out into more news feeds or let it die with the algorithm.
Create a Facebook community:
FACT: Facebook groups can truly create community. My fave group? The Goal Digger Podcast Insiders Group where I get to connect with listeners and ask questions every day! The group is insanely active and I love to set a timer and hang out in there for 20 minutes almost every day to help answer questions, encourage feedback, and be a part of the community. It’s proven more effective than a Facebook page and gives a private place for people to ask questions and get help.
I also run groups for 3 of my courses so as you can imagine, my Facebook notifications are a little crazy each day but nothing fires me up more than pouring into people who have invested in my education! Creating a community can really humanize your brand and give others a space to learn, grow, and commune.
Share life with your stories:
It’s time to go LIVE, babes! Instagram and Facebook stories offer you a chance to show some of the behind-the-scenes and real life behind those perfect little squares. I love using stories (and have to admit, I don’t do them every day) but we’re seeing more engagement on stories than on the newsfeed, so there’s clearly a need and desire to engage with the more candid side of accounts.
Make an effort to show up on your stories, share a little bit of your life, and really engage with your followers who might be tuning in. You can ask questions, poll your audience, or just make them feel a part of your life behind the screen. My best advice? Don’t do a million straight talking to the camera and show some of your personality with video, not just photos.
Show up live:
Now, if you know me, I’m not a giant fan of live video… BUT I’m challenging myself to do one live every month and just connect in that more personal way. Whether you jump on and teach a skill or share a tip or trick, you should some of the behind the scenes of your process, let people in on a special moment or place you’re visiting, or just do a little Q+A for your followers, LIVE video is still king right now in terms of battling the algorithms and it’s a really cool way to be more “unscripted” and candid while showing and serving your audience.
Live video is a huge way to create connection and become a more recognizable, trusted voice and chances are, you’re not using LIVE video as a part of your strategy but if we really want to be more social, it can be a great step to creating relationships online.
Take relationships off of social:
Most of my dearest friends are people I met online. It’s almost like Match.com for finding friends… a lot of times we’d start engaging with each other’s content of showing up in one another’s comment sections but relationships can just stay there if you don’t take active steps to move them along. How do you do this? Send an encouraging email, contact them through their website, slide into their DMs and ask how you can chat with them better.
It’s important to take relationships off of the platforms and really give it a space to grow! I love reaching out and encouraging people via email and just letting them know that I adore following them, I’m paying attention to what they are putting out into the world, and I am encouraged by their journey and then letting it go from there with zero expectations.
So there ya have it, 5 ways to put the social back into social media and to really boost that engagement not just for yourself but the people you love to follow! Stop lurking or passively scrolling and put some intention behind how you’re showing up online to make the biggest impact and to really implement true strategy and heart into the hours you’re spending on your apps each day!
Thank You for sharing best insight, I am glad that you also publish podcast which is more important in this era.
[…] Then we share about ourselves. This is totally up to you how much you share. But it’s good conversation to share about your work or family. It importantly creates a picture of who we are and our personality. https://jennakutcherblog.com/5-ways-social-media/ […]
Hey Jenna, your article is outstanding, keep sharing post like this.
and one of your points about makes the Facebook community is really appreciatable.
Keep sharing posts like this.
Thanks.