Whether you’re an artist, business, actor, entrepreneur, etc, if you have a brand or something to sell, social media is a necessary tool to aid you in exposure. The main players in this space are Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For many years, that order was the level of importance for brands. However, in 2019, Instagram is social media king as far as creating content quickly and getting yourself seen. With that being said, there are still ways to leverage your online identity through every platform.

FACEBOOK (Professional)

Although Facebook is the largest platform, it’s the toughest to work with. The algorithm that allows your posts, pictures, or videos to be seen is always changing. You can have a page with 50,000 followers and a post might only be seen by 500 people. Facebook makes you pay for ads to give exposure to your work. There are ways around this, but it requires a heavy investment into content creation and it often isn’t worth it unless it becomes viral. One of the greatest strengths is the ability to plug into stores. An example would be Shopify, merchline, and things of that nature. Investing your money into targeted ads may be a good option to go in. Facebook is a tough sell, but it serves as an almost professional website that you need.

TWITTER (Conversational)

Twitter is a versatile platform. It allows you to hit your following with quick bursts of updates. It lacks on the media side and functionality of other platforms, but you aren’t mired in ads and promotions. Twitter is more conversational. It’s a great place to share thoughts, interact with fans or customers, and even share memes. It’s a lot of fun if utilized properly and it takes a certain mastery to gain traction on it. Some of the ways you can do so is follow hashtag trends, create thoughtful and knowledgeable threads, creative polls, share important posts from other people, and build a network of influencers. If you can become a “voice” on the platform, you’ll gain a following. In turn, you can eventually monetize a following.

INSTAGRAM (Personal)

Instagram is the leader of the new school. Young creators and enterprising businesses are starting to make a fortune on the platform just by sharing their life or “perceived” life experiences. Strategically hit Instagram with quality, interesting photos, and hit all the hashtags properly. People who consistently post quality content build a following quickly. What’s great, is you can mix that up with video content, and even Insta Story clips. These clips, are quick snippets or behind the scenes looks. It also serves as a great way to get personal with your followers on a face-to-face level. The camera is pointed at your face and you can explain things, get something off your chest, or even Kanye rant without the Tweets. The platform still has untapped potential that hasn’t been muddied by corporate greed and crazy algorithms, although it’s probably coming, so move fast!

CONCLUSION

So that’s it. Choose your platform wisely. Give a healthy mix of professional, conversational, and personal feel on your platforms and make it quality. Try everything, and go with what sticks. There’s a quote by technology and journalism professor Clay Shirky – “Nothing will work, but everything might.” Grab your social media by the horns in 2019, and go for it.

This article originally appeared on Fenix Studios. 

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