Tips for Starting a Successful Social Media Presence

Social media is a huge part of our current society. The original purpose of social media was to share content with family and friends, but today it has grown to be much larger than that. Now, social media can be used to reach millions at once. Many are also doing content creation as their job as it can be profited from now. With the rise in popularity, more and more people want to take social media more seriously and start making an income from it.

As a content creator who has earned over a million followers across all platforms combined, I have learned some tips and tricks that have helped me when it comes to growing an audience and earning money while doing it. Today I will be sharing some things I’ve learned about starting a social media presence to help you grow as a creator.

Build Your Brand

When starting your social media accounts, it’s important to build your brand. First, you should figure out what type of content you want to post. Pick a niche that you find interesting and you’re passionate about.

Then, create a recognizable username that you can use across multiple platforms. Usernames are usually best with fewer numbers and special characters. For instance, if you want your content to be more lifestyle, you might want to include your name in your username.

Pick a profile picture that’s engaging and that you can use on all your platforms. Having the same profile picture will help make your brand more recognizable especially if someone follows one of your pages and finds you on a different platform. Profile pictures tend to be better when the focal point is large as most of the time profile pictures are small and hard to see. Pictures that are bright and colorful do better as well.

Focus On Quality

With social media, quality is something that can sometimes be overlooked but it can help improve your content. When you’re just starting, you probably won’t have a big budget for an expensive camera or special lighting, but there are ways to improve your quality with what you most likely already have.

One tip is if you are making your content with your phone, make sure to always use the back camera. The back camera of your phone tends to have a better lens, which results in better-quality photos and videos. One thing you might want to invest in is a cheap tripod that can hold your phone. This can either sit on the floor or a table, but this will help make sure your camera stays stable, especially when it comes to filming videos.

Another thing you should focus on is your lighting. Lighting will make or break your content. If the subject of your photo or video is too dark, your content won’t be as engaging. Natural light, such as using a window can be useful for when you are first starting. Make sure the light is in front of your face and behind the camera for best results. Having an open window or another light source in the background can make the subject dark and unrecognizable.

Make A Consistent Schedule

Making a schedule will help when it comes to producing content. I suggest looking at your weekly schedule and planning a day or two to film or take pictures, a day for editing and days for posting on your social media accounts.

To help you decide what days to post, I suggest looking at your analytics and figuring out which days and times your audience is most active. This means more of your followers will be online at that time which could result in better engagement.

Also, make sure to advertise your posting schedule so your audience knows when to look out for new content. For instance, on YouTube, put the days and times you post in your bio, or advertise that a new post is coming on an Instagram Story.

Do Something Different

I believe that being creative or original is something that often gets overlooked. Many people would rather just follow what's trending because it’s easy and others are into it.

Although following trends can be great as you ensure that someone is interested in that topic, you must realize trends come and go fast. There are so many of them and lots of creators already participating in each trend. If you want to grow a long-lasting audience that watched your content for more than one trendy video, I believe you must ask yourself some questions:

- Why would someone choose to follow me over everyone else like me?

- What can I do to stand out?

- Would people still be interested in a year?

Figure out what works best for you that’s unique or something that hasn’t been done before. If you are stuck, you could even take a popular trend and figure out a way to do something different with it. This will ensure that your content will stand out.

Engage With Your Audience

It’s important to stay engaged with your audience as they are the consumers of your content. Make sure to read and respond to their comments. There are also other fun ways to engage with your audience such as doing Q&As, poll questions, or even asking people a question and allowing your audience to comment their answer. Interacting with your audience will make them happy you are listening and responding to them which will make them more likely to keep following you.