Make These 5 New Year Resolutions To Win With Social Media In 2016

Happy new year! We hope 2016 is a prosperous and successful year for you. But after the midnight countdown, the fireworks, the singing of Auld Lang Syne and for many the inevitable hangover the following morning, no doubt your thoughts have turned to your resolutions for 2016. Whilst many of us make the usual 'new year, new me' fitness and healthy-eating resolutions with the best of intentions, many of us simply can't keep them. So, here at Socially-M we've come up with some social media new year resolutions you can keep and that you should start seeing results from almost immediately.


1. Ditch Automated Direct Messages on Twitter

Have you ever started a conversation with a stranger and then instantly given them your website address, instagram handle, Facebook page, Tumblr blog, Snapchat, asked them to subscribe to your newsletter or asked them to download your latest e-book? No? We didn't think so, somehow. So why do it on Twitter? There's nothing worse than seeing someone's tweets, checking their profile and finding them interesting enough to follow, only to get bombarded with information in an automated direct message and that's how potential customers feel when they follow businesses according to one of our recent surveys. It's just not authentic and social media users want personality. Out with the old, we say.


2. Stop With The Emotional Blackmail Posts

You know the posts we mean, we've all seen them. The 'not one of my friends will post this', the 'are you brave enough to share this' and the 'only my true friends will share this' posts. This is a technique used to great effect by some questionable organisations, which preys on the readers' conscience, making them feel embarrassed or guilty enough to share your content. It's the equivalent of playground social media, if you feel you have to tell your followers that they're not really your friend if they don't share your content. Is that how you'd talk to your friends or customers in person? We doubt it. It's got to stop.


3. Quit Using Automated Quote Generators

One or two inspirational quotes make you stop and think. But a quote every 30 minutes starts to clog up peoples newsfeeds and timelines. Social media thrives on original and thought-provoking content, but if it becomes repetitive, annoying or the only thing you post on a regular basis, then you're not doing you, your business or your followers any favours. Let's cut out the clutter in 2016.


4. Ditch Negativity Completely

They say that misery loves company, but actually the complete opposite is true on social media. There's nothing worse than seeing constant complaining, criticism and finger-pointing on your newsfeed. If you're a business, what does that kind of posting say to your customers? On social media, positivity is the new black, it's uplifting, it's infectious and it's engaging. Which means more of your followers are likely to respond well to it. Which is what you want, right?


5. Promise To Deliver Relevant Content

When you follow a business on social media we imagine you do it because you're interested in their brand, their industry or their products, right? So would you expect to see an estate agent sharing photos of dogs, using the hashtag #wetdogwednesday? Would you expect a bar or restaurant to share news stories about computer games? You can see what we're getting at here (and these are both real examples we came across over Christmas) but your audience has already decided what they expect to see from you. Don't let them down.


So, there you go.  There's 5 easy to keep resolutions to help you win at social media in 2016. But we'd love to hear yours! Let us know what resolutions or decisions you've made with your social media efforts this year, we'd love to be able to help you keep them too!