Blog 266: How I Screwed Up Social Media

This is part 3 of 8, this series started on blog 264.

Tired of being ignored? Frustrated because nobody reads the important thoughts you share?

Do these four things and even more, people will think you’re great and tell their friends. I’m not an expert, but I have invested probably 100K in social media consulting and could write a book on what not to do, because I have done it, and I have the receipts.

Posting properly will get you more engagement and help the people who are looking for you, find you. When they find you, they’ll refer you and clients who are referred to you will be more loyal and do more business. It’s a fact.

Your content has to be worth the attention and time you are asking your audience to invest in you. I’ll write more about how to create better content another time, watch for it.

This blog is about improving your click-through rate on the content you’re creating, which for now we’ll assume is as good as it can be.

1. Pay attention to packaging.

You shouldn’t judge books by their covers etc. but then again, this is exactly why we put covers on books. You can make an argument that so long as the product is good and easy to access that it will find an audience, but humans are humans, and we like interesting things. Interesting can be ‘simple’, after all, www.google.com is about as simple and perfect as possible.

You are in competition for people’s time attention and money, never forget that. Titles, thumbnail images and everything else have to be as enticing as possible. If a blog drops in the middle of the digital forest and nobody clicks on it, does it make a sound?

2. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away …

Don’t overlook the importance of a good intro. Good packaging will bring them in, but a good intro will make them want to stay and hear what you have to say.

A question works well, and so does a list of things to do or avoid. Make sure you tell everyone exactly what they’re going to get for their time. I wrote a blog years ago called The Age of Ultron, it was even before the Avenger’s movie and I thought I was so clever. Great pic too. Nobody read it. I would have gotten more interest had I written: “The 5 ways the Robo Advisor is going to crush you.” There is no need to decipher that.

3. All signal, no noise.

Cut out the fat, just give the people what they want. Create other areas, spaces and places for your audience to learn about the other aspects of your life or experience that you want to share, but when it comes to creating engagement and conversation, your audience will stick with you until the end. I opted to go back to a written blog, it’s easier for you. Having said that, I’ll still share videos where and when it’s appropriate.

4. Just Add Water …

Make it simple. People don’t want to cook they want to assemble. You are the sous chef of enlightenment, do all the prep work for them, they’re never going to admit it but they don’t want to do the work.

Make it easy to read – I write as I speak, and if you do audio make sure your microphone is up to the job. Assume that your audience is in the middle of something when they see your post and make sure it’s easy to consume no matter what they are doing. “Most of your audience will read your blog when they are peeing” is probably the most honest and insightful advice I ever paid for.

The more people who open your content and stick with it the better. You have to create material that is worth your audience’s time, otherwise, you are insulting them. But after that, you need to get the almighty algorithm working for you.

The more things are opened, the longer people stick with them, and the more often they are shared, the better.

I’ll go at this subject for the next few blogs.

This month in our online community, www.seriousshift.com we’re talking all things Digital. Our community is made up entirely of financial advisors who were all blog readers that wanted a little more. Check us out, we can help you improve your client experience in the physical and digital world.