How To Get Started On Social Media In 2015

Change Is Good

So you’re still not on social media? It’s going to be 2015 soon, if you’re not for any particular reason you’re going to be setting yourself at a disadvantage, socially and professionally. Don’t keep trying to fight the plunge into social media; it’s really not that bad. I promise.

(Source: kingsbarcade.com)

I’ll let you in on a secret, Twitter still confuses me sometimes. I also only just started using Instagram too. But that doesn’t mean I (or you) should shy away from these outlets – With just a bit of patience, you’ll be a natural.

One of the most important things to remember is that getting started on social media isn’t a huge scary adventure full of flesh eating tweeting birds. It’s something you can start at slowly and whittle away at it in your own time. You could set up an outstanding profile in a day or two, but you can also sit back and give yourself much more time to get to grips with everything.

Don’t try to jump into four different social networks all at the same time. They’re all simple on their own, but each has their own different learning curve so it’s good to make sure that you’re comfortable with each one before jumping onto the next one.

When it comes down to choosing your best starting option, it will all come down to what it is that you want to do, have a look at other brands or peoples profiles on other sites and choose which one is the one for you to start with and go from there.

Once you’ve got all your details filled in and people know how to contact you or what your brand does, make sure that your profile looks lovely. We’re a world of aesthetically driven people where we just love nice looking things. A pretty page will send you further than a page full of information. Choose appropriate profile pictures. Nothing pseudo-offensive or that Banksy picture to show that you’re a free thinker. Make it a nice picture of yourself, pictures of your brand or something at least related.

A great way to get your name out there is to embrace other people's and brands content. If you see a post or picture you like, make sure to like, retweet, share or follow (those terms will make more sense one you’ve chosen your social network) as appropriate. People love it when their content is shared and, more often than not, they’ll repay the favour and share your material in return.

Obviously, you can’t expect a huge brand like McDonald's or John Lewis to retweet your posts just because you did the same for them, they’ll have thousands of people already doing that for them. Instead, look for people and brands that seem to be in the same position as you just trying to get themselves out there. A good friend of mine recently started his own drinks company over the last few years. One of the best ways for him to get exposure was to start following and sharing similar company’s on similar levels content and this has really excelled his brand. You can take a look at the Facebook for a good view of how to get your appearance right too.

(Source: forbes.com)

Even though getting yourself out there is important, remember not be constantly pitching and broadcasting yourself. The last thing you want is to annoy your target audience by consistently filling up their news feeds and getting inevitably blocked. Try to stick to just a few updates a day. Also try to make each one count and make them a little bit interesting to boot.

Also, try to engage in conversation. Conversation is probably one of the strongest cornerstones of social media. Respond to people who want to get in contact with you and embrace everyone who wants to talk. More conversations mean more exposure – And that’s always great.

Most importantly, remember to stay consistent. Make sure that you dedicate an hour or two each day to get to grips with your new social media profiles. Also, make sure that there are posts going up each day. You can even plan them in advance so that you can just nip to a keyboard, type out what you planned and then move on, you’ll still be doing consistent updates but saving time.

So there you go, a brief outline of how to get yourself up and running on social media. I hope that this makes you see that getting started out isn’t as difficult and daunting as it’s played up to be. Give it a bit of patience and you’ll get the hang of it in no time at all. Promise.

Tom Welby

Tom has just graduated from University of East London in Creative and Professional Writing. He loves writing and is currently interning as a content writer hoping to go further. His other loves include Arnold Schwarzenegger films and his dog. Follow him @TomAtSMF

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