Boop.Social

Creating content for social media is a daunting task. Every community behaves differently, and content that worked for one brand can completely flop when applied to another. The only real solution is to take an educated guess and create content that you think will resonate. From there it’s a process of throwing things at the proverbial wall, measuring success, and seeing what sticks. Getting started can be a struggle, so here are some quick content ideas that I’ve used in the past to help kick off brainstorming!

Yesterday I received a little prompt at the top of one of the Facebook fan pages that I manage.

As part of their new features for fan pages, Facebook has released a new Instant Replies function. What does this mean? Well, in short it means that the Facebook Inbox is now considerably more useful as a customer support tool. Now when someone messages your page, you can automatically send them an instant reply. Why is this useful?

You’ve built a great game. You’ve created social share features that your audience will actively want to use. You’ve set up your official social media channels and have ensured that it’s easy for your audience to find them. You’ve scheduled in at least 15-30 minutes a day in which you’re going to interact with your community.

…So now what?

I get it, LinkedIn can be kind of a pain in the ass. It’s one more social network in a growing collection, and requires some upkeep to be useful. It has also had issues around spam and suffers from a lot of little UX issues that regularly drive me up the wall.

So why bother?

LinkedIn is still the primary professional social network out there. It is an invaluable tool for connecting with, staying in touch with, and reaching out to your professional network. A few of the reasons I find myself using it regularly…

I steadfastly refused to read this book for over a decade. This was almost entirely due to the title. I found it cliched, cheesy, and just generally offputting. Despite that, I continued to hear people I admire and trust recommend it. Eventually I gave in and purchased it for my Kindle, still wary that I wasn’t going to enjoy the read. After reading it? Simply put: Don’t let the title dissuade you!

The reason behind the cheesy and outdated title is simple: It was published in 1936. Think about how products were advertised at that point in time and the title makes perfect sense. I really wish I had read this book prior to starting my career as a Community Manager and online communications professional. There are a lot of great foundational lessons on communications that would have saved me some serious grief along the way.

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