Social media has changed the way we interact with people and share information. Through social media you are able to display relevant information in front of each other, and provide value. However, since the trend picked up, we now have so many more platforms showing up which didn’t exist before. This has made it tough on people because we NO longer know where to focus our attention. I believe when you start to spread out your sharing, you narrow your reach. How? Very few networks have the traffic like Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. Choosing the right social media network does take some brains since you have to know what to look for. With that said, here is what I’ll like to explore today.
I’ll be writing about the three most popular social media networks, and why they have grown to be the most powerful. Next, we’ll be discussing how to choose the right social media platforms to share your content, and why they are the best compared to all of the rest. Finally, the future trends for the same networks, and how to ensure you get your content in front of the right type of people at all times. Let’s get started and your feedback will be greatly appreciated.
Top Social Media Networks
Over the years, we as bloggers can determine what the top social media networks have been. From the top of my head, I know Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are in dominance. These social media platforms have enormous traffic in every niche, continue to grow by 10% each year, and acquire all the others which are becoming popular. However, we have to keep our mind open understanding that other social media platforms are creating a wave of excitement too. For example, snapchat, Pinterest, and Reddit are ones I have been using to build traction whenever I publish content.
The social media networks I have mentioned above have something in common:
- Enormous traffic
- All niches
- Great sharing platform
- Video
- Content
- Infographics
Next,
Let’s discuss some of the things which are important when selecting a social media platform.
Research Audience
In order for you to find out the best social media network for your niche, it’s important you know about the type of audience you’ll be catering to. Without knowing this, you won’t be able to narrow down your social media research process. Why is this important? Some social platforms might be better than others for your niche…right? By researching your audience, and knowing what they are looking for, you’ll be able to find the same type of people on either Facebook, Twitter, etc. Here are some things that are important to me when researching…
Location – Very important because if most people are from United States, but the social media platform only caters to people from Canada, then I might have a problem resonating with the traffic.
Language – You want to make sure the social media network has visitors which speak the same language as your content. If your content is written in English, but social media network has an audience from India, then you might have a hard time resonating with some readers.
Niche Popularity – It’s a good idea to share on a network where your niche is popular. This means you can tap into a larger audience better for your bottom-line.
Content format – I like to understand the type of content my readers love to engage i.e. video, text, infographics. After, it’s important the social media audience likes the same type, and the platform has no problem displaying this type of content.
Time & Day – This is NOT as important because social media platforms are usually very busy 24/7. However, you might want to research when some peak because this will be the best time for you to share your content too.
Lesson #1 –
The main thing in this step is to figure out and understand your audience better. This way when you are researching social media networks which fit the same profile as your readers. Ultimate this is better for you and your bottom-line.
Email Existing Audience
If you are an established blog, then use what you have available to your advantage. Much of the information I need will come from my existing readers. I’ll email them asking them for their feedback, then add what I learned to my blog. Here’s the cool thing:
You can do the same as it would apply to your social media campaign. It’s a good idea to ask them where they hang out, and what social media platforms they trust the most. This way you’ll know where to focus your attention going forward. Think about it this way,
If they are niche relevant and hangout on Facebook, then how many other potential people are a perfect fit for your blog on the same social media platform.
Read The DATA
I like to use tools like http://hashtagify.me/ to show me which way the market is trending. This tool is amazing because all that’s required is for you to type in your target keyword. It will provide you with the following information:
- Popularity
- Trend
- Related keywords
- Etc
This is all the information you really need to understand how well your niche does online. If you see a growing trend, and popularity increasing over the weeks, then it’s a good idea to keep focusing on the same platform. However, before you head over to the tool, I recommend you get the following ready:
Keywords – It’s a good idea to have a list of focus keywords so you know how to structure your search. This way you can type in each keyword gathering awesome ideas.
Social media – It’s a good idea to know what type of social media platforms you’ll like to start with.
Content – You should have valuable in-depth content ready to be shared. Remember, on social media you’ll have enormous competition which is way it’s important to have a list of in-depth content.
Analyze Competition
I’ve always believed you can learn the most from your competition. They will pretty much give you a blueprint into ads, keywords, content, social media, products, etc. Even when I’m writing content, I’ll always checkout what my competition is up to because they’ll provide me insight into what’s trending. With that said, let’s explore some things to look for when checking out competition.
Social shares – If you skim through other content published on competitor sites, you’ll be able to find out a lot about social activity. Almost every article should have social buttons, so see how many people are sharing and on what network.
Comments – This is a great way to determine what type of content people find appealing. You can skim through each content, and read the comments to find out what others are writing. It’s also a great way to find out what questions readers have. Create content out of those going forward.
Topic – I like to view competitor content, and read what the blogger is focusing on. For example, you know a topic is popular if you see relevant content being published. You can then focus on the same type of content going forward.
Audience – Skimming through competitor content is a great way to understand your audience at the same time. For example, I’ll be able to find out through comments what type of blogs some of these people own. Remember, when you are leaving a comment, your able to visit the blogs of these people.
Use The Tools
If you have read my other content, then you know I talk about Buzzsumo.com many times. This tool is an easy way to find out a lot about your content, shares, and competition. Head over to the tool right now and type in your keyword. The tool will generate a list of content relevant to the keywords being shared. Go through and skim through the social shares, and then visit each one to explore the content itself. I like to skim through looking for information some of these other bloggers are missing. Going forward, I’ll add the missing information to make things more in-depth. For example, add:
- Add videos
- Add infographics
- Add text
- Add images
When you do this you’ll make sure your content is the best available online. This will increase engagement, and help you achieve your bottom-line quickly.
Final Thoughts
I hope you enjoyed this content, and are ready to get started with testing all the social media accounts. It’s important when you choose to market on social media accounts that you keep your niche, and keywords in mind. Why? The answer is very simple because you’ll be able to attract the right type of people. However, I’m still surprised at the amount of people who DON’T do their research when getting started.
Start by reading through this content again, and creating a quick to-do list. This way when you are ready to implement these strategies, you won’t have to go back finding information. After, you can go through implementing each to see what kind of response you get. However, keep in mind, as you start to implement each one, it’s important you keep track of all the DATA. This is the only way you’ll find out which ones produce the best results. To do this, you can add Google Analytics which is great to provide all the information you need to get started. This tool will give you stats on:
- Landing page
- Search queries
- Bounce rate
- Location
- Average time on site
Use this information to understand more about your content, and which ones to share with others on social media.
