Making The Most Out of Social Media

4 Easy Ways To Grow Your Social Media Following Quickly

Social media refers to websites and applications that enable users to interact, create, and share information, ideas, interests, and all other forms of expression. Social media offers a varying range of opportunities from employment opportunities to creating relationships amongst users.

It’s the new safe space, creative and destructive, you choose to use it, but I’d personally advice to make the most out of it creatively.

The Types of Social Media

Social media can be separated into different types, and all serve different purposes creatively.

1. Social Networking sites

These includes popular sites like Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn. These sites helps connect individuals, including brands. Thoughts are shared, contents are created, interests are found. It’s also a very good avenue to promote brands.

Social circles are discovered and they access their interests more easily and collectively. Social networking brands can be utilised effectively as follows:

•Reaching target audience: if you own a business, you can reach your target audience by running ads on Facebook and twitter.

If you brand focuses more on youngsters, you could consider twitter the right place to run your ads and if you are trying to reach an adult and more professional community, you should run your ads on Facebook and LinkedIn. Running ads on social media saves more money

•Building a brand: A brand can refer to a business or one’s self. Looking at the aspect of self- branding, social networking sites are the best bet for this. It gives you the opportunity to express your self and your interests, it steadily creates your own audience, those who have taken a liking to how you express yourself and are always ready to listen to you. Bigger brands tend to notice you and see your as a catalyst to their growth, hence they pay you to promote them.

2. Image sharing sites

These refer to social media sites that allows the sharing of visual content likes images, illustrations, and videos. Platforms that offer this feature includes; Instagram, Snapchat and tinder. These sites let users create and broadcast images that speak for them uniquely. Image sharing sites can be used to create publicity for brands, e.g photography, make-up and fashion/beauty modelling brands.

It’s also a way of creating inspiration by sharing own images to the public and having them try to recreate looks or illustrations. These creates bonds over common interests.

3. Video hosting sites

Examples of video hosting sites are YouTube, vimeo, tiktok. Video hosting sites refer to assist creators in putting content together then sending it out to audience for streaming or download. You can use video hosting sites in:

•Getting feedbacks: These sites have comment sections that let’s audience leave reviews and this way you’d know what type of audience you have and what you should create for them.

•Building a community: This is quite an obvious use. You start building your own community when you share interesting videos that people look forward to. That way, you are setting up a brand easily.

4. Discussion sites

social media platforms like Facebook, quora, reddit are discussion sites. These apps are mainly designed to start conversations.

Any user could ask a question or make a statement and this attracts other users with similar interests and intuition. You can make the most out of this app by:

•Asking questions/research : These apps are made of different users from different communities and backgrounds.

You can find out and engage people in your field, check out what they are asking, research on the topics found and use this as a strategy in promoting your brand.

5. Instant messaging apps/site

These are apps that provides avenue for instant communication with family, friends and acquaintances.

Short messages can be sent between two parties within seconds. Some IM apps even offer the ability to send files, voice notes or make video calls.

They also provide multi cast transmission also known as chat rooms which gives the opportunity for a group of people are able to chat collectively either anonymously or previously known to each other (this is always an advantage to collaborators that are using chats to facilitate communication) examples of instant messaging apps include: WhatsApp, blackberry messenger, Facebook messenger, telegram messenger, imo and viber.

Utilising instant messaging apps is very easy as it provides an almost direct human-to-human interaction among users.

•Buying and selling: This is one of the prominent activities that occur on IM apps as products and goods are easily advertised. Pictures and videos can be exchanged in between contacts and deals also set.

•Creating friendships and relationships: There’s a saying that “out of sight but not out of mind”. Well, instant messaging sites even makes this easier to achieve, as you can talk to friends and families who are miles away, you can meet new people on these sites.

6. Community blogs/website hosting platforms

Most times, not everyone wants to run their blogs on self-hosted websites, that’s just a whole lot of work. That’s why there are shared blogging platforms like tumblr, WordPress, blogspot etc.

This websites give opportunities for self-expression and connections between readers and writers. These platforms give room for expression and customization for audiences. Community blogs can be used to:

•Develop writing skills: Writing is a skill that develops through consistent practice. You have the opportunity to practice. You could write short stories, poems, fiction or Non-fiction.

•Develop your voice: You can develop your voice by writing challenging articles for readers. Articles that are compelling and engaging will attract reviews from your readers. Slowly, you start to discover where your strength lies and you can create more relevant articles.

•Share content: if you are signed up on other websites, you can easily connect your blog and share your works with a link, exposing it to a new audience.

Finding The right type of social media for you

As listed above, social media comes in different forms and types. Choosing the right type depends on your kind of person, your brand and the type of business you run. E.g If you are the type of person that loves taking pictures, are fashionable or in the beauty line, then image sharing sites are the best for you etc.