Do you feel like you’re in a rut with your social media marketing? Do these thoughts keep running around in your head: “Which platforms should I really be on? How can I really be visible on the ones that I choose? Should I try a different platform? Shouldn’t social media be fun?”

You are not alone! Many people feel overwhelmed by social media marketing. It can be confusing and frustrating trying to figure out which platforms your target audience may live on and how to be visible on those platforms.

Never fear! I have reached out to seven people who are experts on some of the biggest social media platforms. They have shared their best visibility tips with us.

Feast from their words of wisdom!

Instagram with Michelle D. Garrett

It’s important to recognize that Instagram thrives on action. Users interacting on your content triggers Instagram to show your content more frequently. How can you use this to your benefit? Consistently have a call to action.

For example, photos and quick videos shared to your feed should include a caption that directs the viewer to immediately take action. That action could be liking, saving, commenting, or sharing the graphic. It’s also important to share visually appealing content. Your images don’t need to be professional-grade, but they should be clear, bright, and draw the eye in. Think about what makes you stop and take action on the platform.

It’s easy to take one piece of content and share it in multiple ways to your Instagram community. Here’s a sample flow to repurpose one piece of content:

• Share a quote or image that relates to an article on your site or a product/service that you offer. The caption can include 3-5 key points that are accentuated with emojis to break up your text. Include 15-30 relevant hashtags for visibility.
• Recap each point throughout the day using InstaStories. Include 1-2 hashtags and incorporate one of the engagement tools.
• Go live recapping your content. Save the video immediately after your live.
• Upload your video to IGTV. Include a recap, relevant hashtags, and a link that goes to the article, product, or service. When you post your IGTV video, make sure a preview is posted to your main feed.
• Finally, share your IGTV post into your InstaStories.

The more frequently you incorporate these steps, the easier you’ll be able to quickly create content that will get engagement and opt-ins thus making your social media marketing easier.

Michelle D. Garrett wants female entrepreneurs to embrace their inner diva and become driven, inspiring, victorious, and called to action while learning to make money by showing up consistently. A wife, mom, and mental health advocate she teaches women in business how to find the “right for them” balance between family, life, and work. Her goal is to provide women in business the peace of mind by being able to balance family, life, and work in a way that feels good for them. Visit Michelle at Divas with a Purpose. 

YouTube with Lou Bortone

When it comes to visibility and awareness, YouTube is the undisputed king. The mega-platform has a staggering 2 Billion users.  73% of adults in the US use YouTube.  That’s more than Facebook, and twice as much as Instagram.  In fact, YouTube is quickly passing traditional television as the “preferred” screen to watch.

For that reason, a YouTube presence is “must-have social media marketing” for small business owners.  The problem is, for most entrepreneurs, their YouTube channels are a hot mess.  If you fall into that category, there’s still hope.  They are a few things you can do to upgrade your YouTube game.

• First, think of your YouTube Channel as an extension of your brand and your website. Use your brand colors and create a channel banner that matches the rest of your branding.
• Next, create a channel trailer or “welcome” video for your channel. Organize your videos into playlists to curate your content. Make sure your channel isn’t a “mish-mash” of random videos, as a confused viewer will leave your channel faster than you can say “subscribe!”
• Then be sure to optimize your video titles, descriptions, and tags (keywords). Create custom thumbnails to make your content visually appealing and easy to find and use YouTube’s “end screens” to preview your other videos and keep people on your channel longer.

Most important, good content that’s relevant and useful to your target audience will keep viewers engaged and coming back for more. As I like to say, if you want more video views, make better videos!

Lou Bortone has been in video marketing since before video marketing was a thing! He’s been a leader in the video space since the launch of YouTube in 2005. Before that, Lou was in the television business in Hollywood for over 20 years. He’s a video marketing consultant, speaker and author of “Video Marketing Rules: How to Win in a World Gone Video.” Visit Lou at LouBortone.com.

Twitch with Kelly McCausey

In March 2020, when the pandemic hit and shut down my travel plans for the foreseeable future, I gave myself permission to play in a new space I’d been tempted by for years.

I’m talking about Twitch.tv.

You see, I’m a gamer. Yep, a 53-year-old Nana who plays video games. My favorite game is Don’t Starve Together. Not surprisingly, it’s a community-focused game you play with others.

My son, who is also a gamer, told me I ought to stream my gameplay. He’s entertained by my enjoyment of the game and thought others would be too. I signed up, learned the basics of streaming gameplay, and got started. I hired a Stream Coach to give me advice on how to get viewers to my Twitch channel.

Turns out success on Twitch is a lot like other content marketing. Create, network & be consistent.

I have been streaming for over six months now and don’t only stream games. I have streamed ‘Just Chatting’ sessions and I’ve done graphic design on stream as well. Twitch is a platform that welcomes the variety streamer and people you meet there don’t generally pigeon hold you.
What I love about Twitch for anyone who does something visual or enjoys spoken word video content creation, is that you meet new people pretty much every time you stream. I have made friends all over the world and yes – oddly some of them have expressed interest in what I do in my business.

Gaming brought me to Twitch, but the community has won my heart.

Kelly McCausey is a blogger, podcaster, and business coach with a focus on content marketing and community building. She knows you want to publish content you’re proud of for a community you love. Visit Kelly at LovePeopleMakeMoney.com.

LinkedIn with Heidi Medina

Are you training the LinkedIn algorithm to work for you or against you?

One of the biggest mistakes I see people making on LinkedIn is jumping on the platform and posting, connecting, and engaging without a thought of what they are trying to achieve. Most never even thought about their goals before taking action.

But here’s the thing, if you aren’t taking action deliberately, you’re not training the algorithm to help you. The main reason I can spend an hour or less per day on LinkedIn is because I’ve spent time deliberately teaching the algorithm to work for me based on the goals I’m trying to achieve.

An algorithm is a tool. One that can work for you or against you depending on how you train it. Train it well, and you will have a feed filled with people’s content you want to comment on – making your engagement so freaking quick and easy each day. And your content will be shown to people you want to see you. Plus, the suggested connections are your ideal clients – which means no searching. You just go down the suggestions hitting the connect option.

Your actions teach the algorithm who you want to see and who show to you. If you’re connecting and engaging with anyone and everyone, you aren’t giving the algorithms a focused vision of who you want to see your content and what types of content you want to see.

Deliberate action is what helps you achieve your purpose.

Hi. I’m Heidi Medina from Talk to Heidi. I’m a business coach who helps people learn how to create human connections with themselves and others using the power of conversation and fun so that they feel valued, accepted, motivated, and empowered to achieve their goals and dreams. Visit Heidi at TalktoHeidi.com.

TikTok with Tish Lee

I had never thought about using TikTok. I only knew it as ‘that app for kids.

Then a friend sent me a link to a body positivity gal on there. It didn’t take long before I went down a rabbit hole devouring quick 30 to 60 second videos and quickly finding people using it to market their businesses and build community.

Because I’m in the body positivity niche and there is a huge community on the app, I decided to give it a go and haven’t looked back – the best social media platform I’ve ever decided to use!

The return on investment (ROI) I’ve seen has been well worth the efforts!

Here are my 3 best visibility tips for TikTok:

1. Have Fun! Don’t go to TikTok and expect to shove your content (blog posts, sales pages, products, etc.) down people’s throats. Even the businesses I follow, have fun and jump on some of the trending themes. This means you might do a dance, use a silly voice-over, etc. For visibility, I’ve noticed I get put in front of more people (land on the FYP – for you page) when I jump on some of the dancing or lip-syncing/voice-over trends). That’s how new people find and follow me.
2. Engage with your followers. If people take the time to comment on your videos, comment back! Show them you’re not just there for the numbers/likes, etc. I’ve had a follower of mine create a video and share my profile with her followers because she appreciated how much time I spent engaging with her whether it was commenting on her stuff or commenting back to her when she commented on mine. People love it when you acknowledge them – be “visible”!
3. Don’t spam like! Back when I first started my TikTok account, I would scan a few seconds of someone’s video, like it, and move along to another one of their videos and do the same. In TikTok land, this is a huge no-no and people will quickly call others out for doing it. Not only does it hurt the person you’re doing it to, but it can also hurt you… with both of you ending up shadowbanned and that’ll put a damper on your visibility quickly!

The takeaway I want to leave you with… just have fun! People love connecting with someone real that lets their personality shine.

Tish Lee encourages women of all sizes to take up space confidently and comfortably with no apology. She knows if you don’t take your space in the world, no one else can and that would be a damn shame. Visit Tish at ShiningSelf.com

Facebook Groups with Val Selby

When I created my first group 7 years ago, I had no idea what I was doing, yet it’s rocked a crazy 95% engagement for nearly the entire time. It’s due to the very personal interaction I have from the very beginning.

I technically do it “wrong” and make way more work for myself. But, when I have clients make a real connection with their group, their engagement grows tremendously and very quickly.

Member requests are a GOLDEN opportunity to connect. They just decided to check out your group and if you set up your questions correctly, they even had enough trust to give you their email address because they want more of what you have. Contact new member requests in a private message before you approve them to the group.

I have a template I use that includes a short bio and a link to my about page for more info. It includes my goal for the group and an invite to go to the site for specific topics. If your questions are set up appropriately, then you can even change out the topic to be a pain point they gave you.

It’s very much setting the tone for what they can expect in the group and I always, always sign off telling them they can contact me at any time. I get many replies and they introduce themselves and give me more pain points they are experiencing that I can address in the group later and in other content.

I know that is time-consuming, but if you have admins or VA’s, you can create a template and have them do the reach out as your team. The personal touch sets you apart from every other group out there. In the last year, I have had many new members instantly invite 2-5 people. Now that they know you, you’ve got just a speck into their trust and they want to tell others.

Val Selby specializes in helping solopreneurs build their community full of raving fans that crave their expertise. Her specialty is creating bundles, summits, and giveaways that make you look amazing and show you as the expert in your niche that you are. Visit Val at ValSelby.com.

Pinterest with Daniel Hall

Pinterest is a marketer’s dream and here’s why. Any posts that you make on Pinterest can be seen by all Pinterest users. Not just by people that follow you. They don’t have to be your friend. They can be anyone. They don’t even have to be logged into Pinterest to find you.

Pinterest is like YouTube, archival in nature. Anything you post on Pinterest can be found years later. So when you understand this, and that the whole culture and backbone of Pinterest is in sharing (or what Pinterest calls re-pinning), you start to get a little idea of just how powerful Pinterest can be from a marketing standpoint.

A little background about Pinterest:

• Pinterest is like an online bulletin board – primarily for collecting visual pieces of multimedia (mostly images).
• People use Pinterest to discover and save ideas because it’s a search engine first and foremost.
• Ideas can take lots of forms, from recipes, to renovation projects, to the perfect pair of shoes.
• Every idea is represented by a “Pin” that includes an image, a description, and a link back to the image’s sources online.

Why Pinterest should be part of your social media marketing plan:

• Pinterest encourages users to organize boards dedicated to niches that people are interested in.
• It is visually stimulating and fun to browse.
• Pinterest makes it easy to add a clickable link to anywhere you want.
• They actively encourage users to share pin and re-pins.
• Links to your offers also get shared with the images.
• Pins get shared and re-shared over and over.

My biggest tip for you about Pinterest is that whatever image you create to post, you should link it to anything you choose – a product, a book, a blog post, anything you want to promote.

If you would like to learn more about how to make Pinterest part of your social media marketing strategy, check out Real Fast Social Graphics.

Daniel Hall is a USA TODAY and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author, speaker, consultant, coach, lawyer (JD from Texas Tech University), nurse (BSN from University of Texas at El Paso), and host of the top-rated Real Fast Results podcast. He is also the creator of the popular “Real Fast” training programs. Visit Daniel’s YouTube Channel for video tutorials. 

Would you like to improve your own social media efforts – make it easy, breezy fun again? Check out these FREE social media brainstorming planner for many of the platforms mentioned here.

Choose Which Social Media Platforms Work Best for You

Now that you have visibility tips from these knowledgeable experts, go through and choose which social media platforms will work best for you.

You want to pick the ones where your target market hangs out, and the platforms you enjoy engaging on. Social media marketing should be fun! Remember, it’s all about relationships and being you. Don’t forget to find joy in the process.