No one really wants to hear about all the pilates I’ll be doing next year, rather let’s talk about social media strategy and what I’ll be doing differently in 2020 and beyond.
Digital platforms are ever-changing and therefore our strategies must evolve too.
A great deal of my list of twenty are not necessarily new things to try, but things I know I should be doing but haven’t made it a priority.
To get this decade off to a flying start, I am putting it out to the internet for accountability, and also challenging you to set some resolutions to improve your digital marketing and social media efforts.
1. Have fun with the Instagram #WordDropChallenge
I’ve created a challenge which I’m rolling out on my Instagram account each week over the 52 weeks of the year. The WordDropChallenge is designed to stretch to think about your content in a new, weird, different way. The challenge is simple. Each week on a Sunday morning (starting 5 January 2020) there will be a new word posted on the Zockmelon Insta account. The challenge is to drop the word as part of your Instagram captions over that week. Each week a new word will be dropped on Instagram. Use the Hashtag #WordDropChallenge to let other WordDroppers of how you applied the word to your account. I hope to see you taking part!
2. Increase my post frequency
I’ve always been more of a ‘quality over quantity’ kind of person when it comes to social media posts. However, as news feeds are getting so busy, and I actually have a good bank of good quality content to repurpose, I intend to have content at least daily rather than 3-ish times a week. This applies to Facebook in particular.
3. Email e-news monthly. Make it a priority!
My email open rates are around 35% and my Facebook reach (on average for a post) is 10-30% of my followers depending on the post. I also know that when I send infrequently I have a huge loss of subscribers due to bounces from people (who normally use their work email address) as they change jobs due to the insecure nature of health promotion employment, then their email addresses are cleaned from my mailing list. Regular emails will ensure that the best content is seen by them in a timely manner, and I can stay top of mind for social media training and consulting.
4. Explore new hashtags instead of just settling on the ones I use all the time
This year I’ve been creating collections of hashtags on Instagram to use depending on the subject. I need to keep updating these and refreshing the hashtags that are used. I like using the inbuilt hashtag tool in Instagram for this or an app like Leetags.
5. Review monthly metrics including top tweet and follower on Twitter and what post had the top reach and top engagement on Facebook
Social media is as much a science as it is an art. The metrics provide the information we need to make smarter decisions. What worked and what didn’t work? I need to make better use of the data and create or repurpose content that the data tells me is what people want to see. The top follower as shown in Twitter analytics is a big hint on who I should be engaging with more.
6. Spend more time on an underused platform
For me, the most underused platform is LinkedIn and my long-suffering LinkedIn Company page. This year I wrote a blog post about top LinkedIn Company pages of health-based organisations and I’ve been spending more time in consulting and strategy sessions speaking about the power of LinkedIn. LinkedIn is where a great deal of my professional audience hang out and it’s where I need to spend more time too (sorry Facebook).
7. Edit or repurpose old blog posts
I have a bunch of old-ish blog posts that I need to revisit, update, refresh and create some new social media stories out of. I probably need to tweak them for SEO too. It shouldn’t take too long and is a much better use of time than re-creating or starting fresh blogs from scratch. 2020 is the year of decluttering and upcycling, digital content is no exception!
8. Pitch being a guest on a podcast or two
As much as I would love to have my own podcast, at this stage I can’t justify the time and effort. For now, I would be happy to appear as a guest on any relevant podcasts to hone the art before doing my own. If you listen to a podcast that you think would be a good one for me to listen to and/or approach please let me know!
9. Consistency in filters, tones, colours, fonts, and Canva styles
I have made huge progress on my Instagram consistency in 2019, which you can see for yourself below.
For 2020 I aim to keep the consistency up, maintain a bright theme, with just a few primary and secondary colours, and stick to mostly white backgrounds for breathing space.
10. Take the time for image descriptions
I need to follow my own advice on accessibility and lead through best practice image descriptions which are important for people who use screen readers.
On Facebook, you can use the inbuilt Alt Text function rather than having lengthy captions.
Harvard Uni have produced a helpful guide for writing image descriptions.
11. Do more split testing with Facebook ads and share my learnings
Like I said in resolution #5, social media is a science as much as anything else. I am keen to experiment more with my limited advertising budget and see what placements and creative placements work the best. And of course, share the results with my audience.
12. Find Tweet Chats to engage with
Twitter remains my favourite social media platform. I love that the conversations are brief but powerful and that you connect with real people like journalists, politicians and influencers and not just brand managers. Tweet chats, in particular, are a fantastic way to connect with people on a topic. In the health space, I recommend using Symplur to find hashtags and tweet chat topics.
13. Share my views MORE on social media, on my personal feed
I maintain a business presence on all the socials, but rarely cross-post on my personal Facebook. I had a friend once mentioned that she thought this was strange and I should speak more about my work on my personal page. I will try and do this more next year, about my regular (paid) work and my advocacy work too.
14. Finally sort out my Twitter lists
I LOVE Twitter lists as a way to manage different feeds depending on the categories of people I follow. I need to take time (maybe just a few minutes a day) categorising accounts I follow into different lists. The Twitter app also makes it easy to see your lists by swiping. I highly recommend!
15. Figure out how to use TikTok or at least do one of the dance videos. Not for any particular strategy, just because it’s fun
If you haven’t checked out TikTok yet please have a look and be sure to follow me there, even though I’m about 20 years older than most people on there. I also recommend that you register an account there already with your brands preferred handle, even if you don’t end up using it. So far brands like the Dumb Ways to Die campaign is on there, as well as the Washington Post and of course Gary Vaynerchuk. Also check out TikTok for Good.
16. Update my cover photos with more frequency
I think I’ve let my cover photos become a bit stale, and I would like to update them as I embark on new campaigns or have new offers even if it’s just quarterly. I advise my clients to do the same so why shouldn’t I?! On Facebook, sometimes cover photo changes are shown as notifications or just posts on a follower’s timeline, which helps keep you top of mind.
17. Create some new blog posts based on keywords people are searching for
I never have as much time to create new content as I would like, so to make the most of my time, I should be creating content that people are actually searching for. I’ve already started a list of keywords to help inform blog topics. I find a tool like wordtracker.com helpful for keyword research.
18. Engage on the trending hashtags on LinkedIn
LinkedIn has joined the world of hashtags in a big way in the past 12 months. Have you noticed how there are now hashtags in most posts, or if you are creating a post you are given some (sometimes terrible) suggestions on the hashtags to use?
I am planning to use my time on LinkedIn wisely by engaging with the 3-5 hashtags that are most relevant to my work, in much the same way as engaging with a Tweet Chat on a particular subject.
19. Settle on a scheduling tool or two
I’ve never truly settled down with one scheduling tool. The closest I’ve gotten is using Planoly for Instagram, and I use Facebook’s native scheduler (now Creator Studio) for scheduling posts. I have always Tweeted on the platform and not on a scheduler. In order to achieve resolution #2 I will really need to get my schedule on in a big way. At this stage, Hootsuite or TweetDeck are probably going to work best for my needs, but I will try some others and let you know.
20. Take a digital break when needed
I have plenty of existing content that I’ve only shared once. A lot can be reshared, and I’m planning to combine #19 and #20 by releasing some useful content as a ‘summer series’ while we take a much-needed break.
Let’s keep in touch on the socials and you can keep a watchful eye on whether I’m delivering on my resolutions or not.
I’d love to know – what are your digital resolutions? What will you be doing differently this decade?