You’re surely familiar with old adage of “reach exceeding grasp.” If people read your content and then their people will read it through your people, it spirals outwards again further, into the most distant arms of the social media galaxy.
So how can you make sure you’re sending your information as far as it can go?
Take personal care in your posts
We understand that deadlines are immovable objects, in principle; it’s not that they’re always inflexible, but we imagine them this way, oftentimes forcing ourselves to conform at the sacrifice of personal touch.
Studies show that such shared link posts receive way less hits than posts where you take the time to include your own photo or your own description. Even if you’re taking info from a pre-existing blog or article, you should rework its message to support your meaning and provide your own content.
Definitely give credit where it’s due with a reference link, but make the focus of your social media content something you, yourself, have personally created.
Target trending topics
It’s very important to leverage popular hashtags; it’s how we keep our fingers on the pulse of the digitized world. The step most people forget is that certain trends are time-sensitive. Find a strong search engine for hashtags that incorporates analytics. We like to use hashtags.org because it takes time slot into account, showing you what is trending when.
You can always work backwards, too, beginning with a hashtag you’re certain will be in the public sphere, i.e. #backtoschool. Then target the best time to tweet, leveraging that upcoming trending topic. Another great source of trending topics is Google Trends, previously known as Google Insights.
Think before you post
A combination of personal care, personality, and attention to time will give your social media post the leverage it needs to meet the largest number of people. This is more important than, say, making every word in your tweet a hashtag, or name-dropping a million handles, because busy looking tweets can turn people off.
Think of your content as a golf swing; you don’t need to swing at the ball as hard as you can. In fact, you shouldn’t. The way to hit a ball the farthest is to find the sweet spot and swing naturally. The above tips will help you find that sweet spot and send your tweet to the deepest regions of the social media universe.
What are you doing to extend your social media reach? Tell us about it, and how these tips are working for you, on Facebook and Twitter. Stay tuned for more pointers on optimizing your integrated media.