60 Powerful Tips to Master the 5 Big Social Media Platforms

by Editor

I hate social media and this is not because I’m not able to leverage them … it is because social media platforms are changing so fast in which what works yesterday doesn’t often turn out that well today.

Remember those days where people says that sharing an image gets more interaction compared to plain text and preview?

Then there comes publishing videos directly to Facebook is said to be more visible than sharing a link of a YouTube video.

The moral of the story is this: Social media is constantly changing.

You could decide not to participate in this rat race but rest assured, you are going to lose a huge chunk of traffic and followers.

In this post, you will find several important guidelines that will help you leverage any social media platforms of your choice under the shortest time.

You can either use them for your upcoming social media campaign or just dipping your feet in some social media for business.

Mastering Twitter Platform

I love Twitter and 70% of my social media traffic comes from it. And I must be joking if I say I hate it!

Twitter is one of the most popular social media platform for marketers because it is a fast paced industry. On average, tweets and replies should be done under 60 minutes to have the biggest impact.

If you are in the customer service industry, you may want to scale it down to 30 minutes or less.

Here are several pointers you need to make Twitter work for you:

Enabling Twitter cards gives better click through rates (CTR) compared to plain URL
Retweeting tweets of others helps you generate more followers (read my post on Jeff Bullas Blog)
Replying to retweets helps to generate more interaction
Adding questions to the tweets help to build more interaction
Publishing tweets using the best and optimum time (I personally use Hootsuite)
Tweets which consist of quotes or snippets + links at the back increases the chance of retweets
Asking (politely) for retweets helps to generate even more retweets
Participating in Twitter events such as Twitter chats and #FollowFriday help to increase followers
Using hashtags increases the chance of visibility and sharing by over 2 times
Use Twitter as a conversation tool, not just a marketing tool
Twitter search option is a great way to find popular topics and conversations among Twitter users
Keep an eye on Trending feature to ensure that you are on top of the news

Leveraging the Power of the Facebook Platform

Used by over 1 billion users, you must be kidding me if you are not (even) trying to leverage Facebook for your social media marketing.

While there’s still some tiny little bit of chance to improve visibility on Facebook without paid advertising, you could reach at least 10x more potential readers if you do. PS: You could even start Facebook marketing as low as $10 a day.

Marketing on Facebook is really a two edged knife; The right strategy will help you increase visibility by a mile while the wrong one literally waste your money and effort faster than you can ever imagine.

Here are some tricks to make Facebook work for you:

Updates must be memorable and provides value to the readers if you want to increase click through rates or interaction
Updates with images usually get more engagement compared to plain ones
Videos uploaded directly to Facebook will stand a higher search algorithm on Facebook compared to sharing a YouTube video link
Avoid click baits (Facebook tends to penalize this form of posts)
Be daring with your call-to-actions at the end of the update (not the beginning)
Avoid tagging everyone in the post just to get engagement (which is REALLY annoying)
Quotes with images works better than the one without image
Use Facebook insights to understand your follower’s activity (some are super active on weekend, some only on weekday)
Sharing is caring on Facebook (same goes with a dozen of other social media platforms). The more you share information of others, the more likely they will share yours
Mentioning and tagging are awesome features to make them feel unique and special (use these wisely as they could backfire)
Focus in using Facebook profile, business pages and groups to maximize the effectiveness in Facebook marketing
Use appropriate hashtags on Facebook to increase your reach

Master the Art of Social Media Marketing on LinkedIn

For me, LinkedIn is a whole different ball game. For starters, the common sharing of links doesn’t get the type of interactions you wish to get.

LinkedIn is mostly a B2B social media platform and this means that your updates must be highly specific to the topic.

For example, a discussion on LinkedIn works like charm compared to a plain sharing of URL and 200 characters update. At LinkedIn, users enjoys real information than just self-promotional (even by a little).

Information shared on LinkedIn must be super specific and aimed at a focused target audience
Use LinkedIn as a form of connection (invite people you met to connect on LinkedIn)
Perform status updates on LinkedIn at least once a day (lesser is better here)
Engage and participate in LinkedIn groups
Participate / apply to write on LinkedIn Pulse
Liberally provide and request for recommendations
Consider creating a community (group) on LinkedIn
Update your profile regularly (do it once a month)
Avoid self promotional (LinkedIn users tend to dislike those)
Sharing media on LinkedIn is still considered a new way to engage and increase interaction
LinkedIn works best as a platform for discussion more than just a link share

Mastering Pinterest Platform for Marketing

Are you interested in raising your visibility on Pinterest? Bet you are!

If you are thinking of raining the bar in social media marketing, this is one platform you cannot afford to lose out. At the moment, Pinterest is dominated by (majority) females in the art & crafts and as well as fashion.

But this doesn’t mean that you are in the losing end. With the right strategy, this social media platform is going to skyrocket your referral traffic the whole 9 yards. Here’s how:

Pinterest allows you to include price tag (and if you are selling something, do this!)
Share the URL of the pin across other social media platforms
New idea: Share URL (or snippets) of the pin in your weekly or monthly newsletter
Participating in popular group boards that are related to your niche
Use Pinterest messenger to communicate with others who share your pins and thank them
Create Pinterest boards which are super niched (specific topics)
Invite others (I prefer influencers) into the board to further boost the opportunity to reach out to others
Use Pinterest analytics to learn what’s working and what’s not
Infographic gets a lot of attraction on Pinterest (it’s an awesome way to grow your brand visibility)

Don’t get left out in Pinterest marketing. Discover how you can use Pinterest for Business today by analyzing Pinterest analytics .

Instagram Marketing Strategy

Let’s face it. Instagram is cool way to connect with your socially engaged consumers.

There are 130 million active users on Instagram every month, and every day 1 billion photos are liked. Use the app right, and you could have an instant viral marketing success. Use it wrong, and your efforts on this young site could be a big empty fail.

Just like Pinterest, Instagram is more than just a social media platform. Posting an image on Instagram doesn’t require to be for-official-use only.

And as a matter of fact, majority of brands out there are using Instagram to tell their brand story.

Get ready to leverage Instagram using these tips below:

Use hashtags in your updates (with Instagram, you can literally overkill the usage of hashtags – so don’t be shy)
If you are using Instagram for business, use brand specific hashtags
Don’ forget using general hashtags as well
Want more attraction? Mention your Instagram followers on other social media platforms (one of the example is Starbucks who do this every once or twice in a month)
Use Instagram embedded codes to share images on your website or blog
Be interactive; leave a comment on other’s posts and reply to your followers who left a comment
Be really creative on Instagram (sometimes, simplicity rocks)
Don’t just publish images, take a video with Instagram
Share images of your colleagues or business partners on Instagram, make the whole process fun!
Tease your followers on Instagram to gain some pre-launch momentum (think iconic Steve Jobs marketing)
Partnership is an awesome way to get more traffic, followers and engagement to your Instagram account
Ask questions and provide call to actions in the status updates
Use the every-popular “fill in the blank” posts
Want even more firepower in Instagram marketing? Organize a contest only on Instagram
Consistency is the key here; ensure that you are publishing a good amount of images constantly and in an easy, agreed-to duration
Monitor your success using Instagram by using 3rd part apps (I personally recommend Iconosquare which is free to use)