Social media life: Is it worth the hustle?

If you have managed to land on this page, wow! I owe you a pat on the back. I bet you have had to part with drooling over your best friend’s photo on Instagram; probably enjoying their vacation at the Burji Khalifa.

Welcome to social media, where you don’t need to try hard to make it like it is in real life. Behind your desktop or sleek Smartphone, you can chat with people miles away from you. From wherever you are, you are free to post your pictures and any other information that is readable.

Interestingly, a majority of social media users seem to be doing just fine. Most photos you come across are worth your appreciation and envy in equal measure. From your college mate who wedded recently to your ex-romance sipping an expensive drink; social media leaves you begging for more.

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In real life, no one really wants to show their haemorrhage or unwanted situation. Most users would rather flaunt their wealth; the new property they own or their beauty.

One thing you never miss to see on social media is the lovely photos of your friends. Such pictures could make you feel less of an achiever. What else are you expected to think when most of your friends are posting pictures of fancy road trips. In the long run, social media leads to a life of comparing yourself with other people.

What you are comparing yourself with could not even be in existence anyway. Other than the joy of sharing your life online, social media life leads to no ultimate fulfillment in life.

True fulfilment in life comes from building genuine relationships with people in real life and not hiding behind a Smartphone or computer.

Though I have been more of a negative jabber here not all is lost. Social media users could leverage on its benefits to their advantage. Your social Image matters. You want to invest in such services as auto likes Instagram to your benefit.

If you are a brand looking to gain influence on social media here are more tips that will prove handy.

Have content that is amazingly valuable

We live in the age of too much information. Too much information poses in it a danger to misinform. With all the noise out there, you want to produce content that is valuable.

Producing valuable content makes you stand out as an authority in your niche. This has the resultant effect of building trust and loyalty from your followers.

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For you to gain that rare trust from your followers, being sure of your content is key. Get down to knowing what other key figures are doing in your niche. Analyze and use keywords tactfully in your content to your advantage.

After a proper study of your industry and your audience dynamics; you are now ready to produce content that is amazingly valuable. I guarantee this will keep your visitors wanting to visit your site again.

Engage with your audience

A content creator could be too busyin content production at the expense of engaging with his/her followers.

Content creators should watch their tendency to speak at their followers instead of speaking with their followers. Social media thrives on relationship building. One easy way to make your brand to grow is to listen to feedback given by your followers.

You could be managing a number of social media accounts. Make sure to engage with your audience in your pages. It builds your followers’ confidence about your brand and makes you dependable.

For instance, if they have questions or concerns, find time to answer them satisfactorily. Share advice and relevant content whenever possible. Use tools that can support you in engaging with your audience. Some tools you want to use are sprout social and mention.

Know the right time to share content

It’s just not about the contentyou write but the timing of your content as well. The question of what and when is a solid strategy for posting content on social media.

Know when is the right time to venture into a particular topic. Also, do not keep them hanging when they want to engage in a given topic.

For you to share the timely content with your audience, the key lies in understanding their habits. By knowing their habits, you will be able to know their reading patterns and content they love.

Build connections with professionals and influencers in your niche

To thrive on social media, you have to improve your connections and relationship building skills. To do this the easiestway, seek out for business professionals and social media influencers in your niche.

However, this is easier said than done as approaching a competitor is perceived to be counter-intuitive. You could build stable relationships on social media by sharing posts of your niche partners, liking their pages.

If they value relationships, they will be able to reciprocate your kind gesture. To warn you though, just like physical relationships, you need to understand the people you are building relationships with.

Avoid the tendency to send out requests randomly to different clients that you do not know well. First work on establishing clear connections before sending long direct messages.

Your content should be up to date

Sharing content that is timely and relevant is important to your followers. Being a content creator that is on the forefront in his/her industry is not an option but a must.  More followers and visitors will gravitate to where they feel content is relevant.

As a content creator, you do not want to push content at them but explain to them what matters too. To achieve this, use social media to stay afloat.

Most of your fans on social media will happily share their thoughts and concerns. Aggregate their thoughts so as to come up with content that gives you clout. You also want to create content that is interesting and shareable. If it strikes your audience as good content, they won’t resist the temptation not to share.

The bottom line

If you are tired of being the average social media user, its time you flexed your muscles. Whether you are trying to stand out as a brand or business, being real and caring to your audience is very important. Understand your audience better to serve them better.