Celebrate World #SocialMediaDay

Each year we celebrate World #SocialMediaDay on June 30th! Developed by Mashable in 2010, it began as a day to recognize and celebrate the ways that social media has connected cultures, movements, families, and fandoms. On this day we honor the global impact that social media has had by posting photos, attending social media meetups, and highlighting the value overall value of this innovative method of communication. In the short time since its inception, social media, it has totally changed the way that people interact and communicate. So, in honor of #SocialMediaDay, Colossus Media Group is giving you FIVE quick tips for social media!

1 Keep Your Content Current

Your content, like news, should be timely and relevant. Do you have an event coming up or a sale? Put out a post about that ASAP. Does your team have something super fun planned six months from now? That can sit on the back burner for now. This is especially important when it comes to advertising – if you’re talking about something that already happened in an ad, either make sure that it reflects in the text or don’t run the ad. People want to see content that lives in the now, that they can get excited about.

Of course, if you’re doing a #TBT (Throwback Thursday), that’s very different. There are some benefits to posting about things that happened in the past if it’s to highlight a change or drum up some excitement if it’s an annual happening.

2 Take Advantage of Trends

And speaking of #TBT, take advantage of hashtags and other trends in order to keep your content timely and relevant. Of course, do this within reason. If your brand is fun, try to stick with trends in line with that. If you’re looking for something more serious, obviously following trends within the same vein is also important. Use this as a chance to take a stand or stance, to define your values and morals, and really let people get to know your brand. Obviously, if something is particularly polarizing, it might be best not to get involved, so really take the time to sit down with your marketing team and discuss what is a deal breaker and what is not.
There’s a technique called Newsjacking that has become increasingly popular in brand marketing. This is the process of “injecting your ideas into breaking news stories in order to generate tons of media coverage.” If you find a news story or viral video that you can take advantage of in this facet, use it!

3 Fact Check and Cross Reference

That said, remember to do your research. There’s nothing worse for your brand than being culturally insensitive these days. That could cost you thousands of customers. Take, for instance, a Digornio post on Twitter for #WhyIStayed. The hashtag was about domestic violence, but Digornio took the time to poke fun, commenting “#WhyIStayed You had pizza.” Obviously, many people didn’t find this funny and the post came off as insensitive and out of touch.
If you see something is trending, make sure that you get the whole story before you bring your brand into the mix. There’s nothing worse than having to do damage control for a mistake as simple as that. And don’t forget: you can delete the tweet or post, but it will live on forever in screenshots.

4 Timing & Consistency

This goes without saying, but make sure that you are taking advantage of the timing and consistency of your posts. These days, social media algorithms rely on these two ideas in order to make sure that they are filtering out spam while showing engaging content that people want to see. Try posting at the same time each day and keep the number of posts you put out the same as well. You’ll notice more likes and engagement in no time. Consistency is key.

Of course, this is all trial and error based. Maintaining a posting schedule isn’t an exact science Experiment with posting at different times of the day to start in order to figure out when your ideal audience is on. Once you figure that out, stick with those times. If you find that posting once a day doesn’t garner any engagement, try to post twice for a few months and see if that helps!
As a general rule of thumb, here are some good times to start posting as well as some information on post frequency:

• Instagram:
  FREQUENCY / Once a day
  DAYS OF THE WEEK / Monday, Wednesday, Thursday
  TIMES / 11am – 1pm OR 7pm – 9pm
• Facebook:
  FREQUENCY / 1 – 3 times a day
  DAYS OF THE WEEK / Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
  TIMES / 1pm – 4pm
• Linked In:
  FREQUENCY / Once a day
  DAYS OF THE WEEK / Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday
  TIMES / 10am -11am
• Twitter
  FREQUENCY / 8 – 24 times a day
  DAYS OF THE WEEK / Monday – Friday
  TIMES / 12pm – 1pm

5 Don’t Over Promote

You hate to spend time with friends or coworkers who spend too much time talking about themselves, right? So why would you want that on your newsfeed? Let’s face it, there’s nothing worse than scrolling through Instagram or Facebook and finding ads. Content that’s overly salesy or too pushy is often ignored and will drive customers away. Promoting yourself is okay every once in a while, but you should be wary. Consider the one-in-seven rule. For every seven posts you put up, one should be sales specific and the other six should be sharable creative content.
Truly, you’d have a better chance at selling if you allowed your products and customers speak for themselves. People want to see brands in real life with real people. In fact, 50% of US consumers believe that user-generated content makes them more likely to buy a product from a brand’s social media channels.

Think Before You Post
Obviously, the biggest thing about social media is putting some serious thought into what you’re posting before you post it. This is your brand, your livelihood… as much work as social media might seem, it’s important and it’s a valuable way to engage with potential customers. It’s not just social media — it’s a marketing tool that has truly changed the way that we as a society communicate and live. So, celebrate World #SocialMediaDay with a selfie, with a tweet, or by sitting down and taking the time to work on your strategy.