A few weeks ago I had the honor of participating in Doce Blant Publishing‘s Q&A.  During our conversation we talked about writing, publishing, book covers, and of course my favorite…social media.

Social media has taken the world by storm, and new platforms seem to arrive everyday. While Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram seem to still hold the heavyweight titles, new platforms like SnapChat and Periscope are growing in followers by a surprising number!

With all the platforms out there no one seems to have a clue how to navigate all of them, or even how to use them.  Understandably it can be confusing.

Now before we go any further here, if you are looking to improve your social media skills, you NEED to look up Gary Vaynerchuk, and read/watch every single piece of information he puts out!  I’m serious!  Everything I have learned about social media came from him!

Now that being said lets get started with a few social media basics.

• STOP posting the same content on every single social media platform!

While you may have a Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram account you need to understand that each of these platforms was made for very unique things! Just because Instagram gives you the option to post your photo to Facebook and Twitter doesn’t mean you should!

You need to understand, that is a quick way to lose followers, and irritate people! Imagine for a moment that your best friend had some news to share with you. Could be anything you can imagine.  Now ponder how you would feel if that same friend texted you, called you, and showed up at your house all at the same time, telling you the news in the exact same way.  It would annoy you right?

Going even deeper into this topic you wouldn’t talk to someone in person the same way you text them right? Would you have a conversation with people in the same way you send email?  Doesn’t make sense does it?

Now that you understand that, you need to learn and understand a little bit more about each platform and what it’s purpose is.  Once you understand that, start posting content that is in harmony with that social medias platform.

• STOP posting bad content!

Whatever social media platform you decide you use, ask yourself these questions…Why am I posting this?  What kind of value does this content have to offer?

Bad content is bad content.  No one wants to read it, see it, or interact with it!

With so many people on social media these days there is A LOT of bad content out there!  So make your content stand out above the rest.  Make it valuable, and something people look forward to seeing.

This means you can’t copy other peoples crap!  Be creative, unique, and different. Make your content a light in the darkness.

This means you will have to think, plan, and be a little strategic with what you put out on the internet.  Not many people have the patience for that, but if you want to be successful in social media you HAVE to do this!

• STOP posting to 10 different social media sites!

There are a lot of social media sites out there.  And learning to navigate all of them takes time, study, and A LOT of patience!  So I suggest starting with ONE.

You heard me ONE social media platform, and study it, work it, and drive home good content on it for a year!

Focus all your effort on that one platform.

I have seen far too many people try to manage 10 different accounts, and instead of managing one account really well, the manage 10 accounts really poorly.

After 6 months to a year of working one account well, try branching out to another.  But when you do, same rules apply.  Study it, learn it, and publish good content to it.

It is better to have one amazing social media account, than 10 really shitty ones.

So there you have it.  I hope this was helpful.  I will probably be posting more on social media in the future.  So if you have a question about social media, put it in the comments below.

Till next time, be safe, have fun, don’t do ANYTHING I would do, and Cheers 🙂