New to social media or know that it’s time to boost your game? Don’t be overwhelmed. If you need simple how-to tips on creating a visual brand, choosing fonts and colors, overcoming your fear of creating video, or figuring out how the heck to get your tribe to talk to you, Peg Fitzpatrick, author of The Art of Social Media, is here to help. The posting powerhouse has taken #girlboss to the next level with her sought after social media strategy. She has over 1.5 million followers across her channels, writes a killer blog on acing social media, speaks internationally to help people be successful online, and gave this interview to help you out.
What’s your advice for a business or person just starting out on social media?
Don’t do too much at once. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn—don’t try to learn everything at once. Instead, figure out who your clients are, select the platforms they use, and then launch from that site. Just start with one platform.
Don’t forget that email is always the best marketing strategy. Pick one social platform then gather emails as you go. You can collect emails by offering specials on your products, or a download.
How can a business cultivate a tribe (an engaged community)?
Consistency in your designs always helps. Your designs speak for you when you’re not there. Ask questions in your graphics as an invitation for people to engage with you. Share an event you were at that you met others and tag them it—whether customers or colleagues.
Create a visual element for everything you do. I’m a blogger and I want people to read my blogs. To create a visual interest that brings people to my blog I do different things: maybe a video, a little animation piece, I’ll experiment with making a Spark Post from the title of a blog post, or make a Post by pulling a quote out from my blog. I usually put the URL of my blog post into my Posts on Pinterest because the copy can get separated from the picture sometimes on Pinterest and you want to keep your branding together.
Do you have suggestions for streamlining the design process?
Once you get more comfortable, make templates of your most successful posts. Take one of your designs you like, then duplicate the template. If I have a Spark post that did well in Instagram, it’s always stored in my Spark designs. I can go into my Spark library and make a duplicate of that design. Don’t edit the original! Make a duplicate so you have the initial design as a template then you have a duplicate to insert new text or photos and still retain the style of that post that did so well.
What’s your focus for social media 2017?
Keeping up with all the changes. Facebook recently came out with Facebook stories. So I’m learning how to use that. I’m always blogging and social media-ing. I write one blog post a week unless there’s specific content for a company like Adobe. I believe you can create one great piece of content per week and that’s more effective than pushing out a bunch of content. It keeps my presence relevant online.
Any other advice?
Don’t focus on number of likes and followers. Focus on the content you’re sharing and the feedback you’re getting. If people aren’t interested in your content, they’ll never buy your product. And don’t obsess with analytics all the time. They’re good to check, but don’t obsess over them.
Most of all, try not to stress on stuff. Turn off your notifications while you’re working and you’ll get more stuff done because your phone’s not going off every few minutes. Most importantly, turn your notifications off at night. Allow yourself to get some sleep.
Read how Peg uses Adobe Spark and learn her tips for getting started with Spark!
Do you have a brilliant social media tip? Share a Spark about it! Don’t forget to tag #AdobeSpark.