Social Media Resolutions for 20182017 has ended, 2018 has begun. It’s the perfect time to evaluate your social media strategy and plan out your strategies for the new year. 

Here are 6 Social Media New Year’s Resolutions for 2018.

#1: Explore the social media landscape

Social media is constantly evolving. Going by the rapid technology advances and the infinite number of Apps being developed one can only imagine about how to upgrade existing social media platforms or switch to newer and better platforms that are emerging replacing older and outdated platforms.

Instagram is rapidly gaining a lot of attention in selfie-crazy India. It’s also easy to upload and share your pics without a lot of content. Instagram stories, in particular, have been a hit among the youth.

Facebook’s reach is not what it used to be as the social media platform is pushing its paid advertising service. If you have the money, go for it. Facebook’s lookalike audience feature is very good at reaching out to your target audience.

Google Plus’ popularity has waned drastically and has not been able to keep up with its illustrious peers. Twitter, on the other hand, has added a feather in its cap by increasing the character limit.

There are others out there and will need another blog post to list them. What’s important is to choose a social media platform that meets your objectives. Each social media platform has its pros and cons and also a particular appeal that makes it unique. Spend some quality time understanding how each one works before jumping onto the platform. Also, it would be worth evaluating your competitors presence on various social media platforms. It will give you an idea where your target audience is and how to reach out to them.

#2: Post visual posts

Photos, infographics, GIFs, illustrations, and videos are some of the few forms in which visual content continues to have a massive impact on the way people consume information. These will only continue to grow in importance in the near future.

“The way people, especially younger people, are consuming content is radically changing. If what people consume in just one minute online is any indicator, consumers are connecting to, searching for, watching, creating, downloading, and shopping for content more than ever.  As a marketer, you must adapt your content marketing strategy to remain relevant,” says Larry Kim, Founder and CTO Wordstream. “Visual content increases message association, brand awareness, and engagement–and enhances the overall design of your website.”

Gone are the days when one used read a newspaper for a good hour. Enter WhatsApp and Twitter, news delivered in short and crisp format. According to experts, an average reader reads at most 20 to 28 percent of words during an average visit. Most of the people just skim through the main headlines. So, if you do not have a catchy headline chances are your post may go unnoticed. If you post an eye-catching pic to go with a bold headline your news will be shared multiple times. Catriona Pollard, Director of Australian PR and social media agency, CP Communications says, “Images are attention grabbing pieces of ‘snackable’ content which users can understand and engage with ease. Images used in your social media are far more likely to evoke emotional reactions in viewers and can portray information more efficiently than text.”

#3: Engage and Listen

Social listening goes beyond monitoring and replying to incoming questions or comments about your brand. It’s about extracting key insights from social conversations that you can apply to your overall strategy,” says Dominique Jackson of Sproutsocial.

Apart from commenting and liking user comments, you need to focus on the details like what are your users talking about, how much time are they spending reading your posts or watching your videos etc. Occasionally, asking your fans or followers to participate in feedback surveys will not only give you an idea about where you need to work on but will also make your users feel that you care.

#4: Content continues to be the King!

Teagan West of Scrunch shares, “Good content, whether it is in the form of a blog post or social media update, encourages users to engage with the brand, whether they realize it or not. If the content is genuinely good, users will pause to consume the content, understand the brand message and perhaps even comment, like or share the piece of content. If it’s not, they’ll continue scrolling past and the content will disappear into the black hole that is cyberspace.”

Content whether in the form of posts, blogs, tweets, contests, videos or newsletters not only engages users but it is a favorite of SEO. Want to get more traffic to your blog or website? Content is the key! So focus on creating great content not for yourself but for the users.

#5: Facebook, Instagram or Twitter?

Choosing the ideal social media platform from among a plethora of available choices can be daunting. My experience says choose a platform that will put forth great content that will showcase your brand to your target audience. In other words, if your potential followers are on Instagram then that’s where you should be and not on Snapchat. Do not choose a social media platform based on how well it’s trending.

Secondly, you don’t have to be on every social media platform. Prioritize and focus on only those platforms which make more sense to your company’s objectives. Scott Levy, an online marketing expert says, “Most people and companies can’t be amazing on every platform; that takes a huge amount of bandwidth and resources. Instead of having sub-par representation in a lot of places, be awesome on a few of them.”

If you haven’t made your social media resolutions yet it’s not too late. And while you make one, just remember that social media is about staying engaged and keeping your users engaged.

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