7 SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS FOR 2020 TO HELP YOU DOMINATE THE COMPETITION

Social Media has given everyday people powerful tools to build their brands and businesses online. 2020 is the turning point that many of us have been using as a “guiding star” as we enter a world fundamentally changed by technology.

Navigating social media for your brand and business can be challenging, and there is no shortage of advice on how to be successful when it comes to social media.

These 7 tips and strategies are not social media secrets, but they are something a bit rarer. They represent actionable advice that you can use today to grow your brand and business online. There are no shortcuts, no gimmicks, and no ninja tricks.

Social Media is about people, we are social, or at least we should be.

If you can understand people, you can understand social media.

1 BALANCE VALUE vs QUALITY vs QUANTITY

There is a lot of rhetoric about “quality over quantity”. That saying has been proven false time again in the context of social media, and media as a whole. It’s not that the quality that is irrelevant, and there is certainly a threshold of acceptable quality. But if quality came first, why is it that individual social media influencers get more views than highly produced network programming?

In the eyes of a consumer, value is the filter for access, not quality. You can’t experience quality if you opt-out of the value.

Value is determined by what we are interested in and what we want to give our time, attention, energy and money to. To put this into context, if you make the best quality strawberry shortcake in the world or even a ton of it, that means very little if your client is allergic to strawberries. The quality and quantity are irrelevant to them at that point.

Value gets us to say yes, quality keeps us around and we come back if there is more quantity to be had of the thing we said yes to.

While this should be common sense, it is not common practice.

You have to find the right combination of value, quality, and quantity for your target audience

2 GET THEM TO STOP SCROLLING

Social Media platforms are mobile-first, some are even mobile-only. The first barrier to competing for relevancy is to get their attention. You have to make a user stop scrolling through their phones and pay attention to what you put in front of them.

If you can’t accomplish this one simple task, you cannot reach them, cannot engage them, and can never convert them.

Adobe Spark is a tool that beginners can use to get attention for their social media posts without being a professional photographer or graphic designer. Spark offers access to Unsplash stock images you can use to help your content stand out, and a strong library of font choices to help with typography.

(Example of an image I created with Adobe Spark)

3 HAVE A STRONG VISUAL BRAND

Aesthetics matter to people, period. They always have and always will. While everyone says they want to stand out, their brand often is generic visually and it is obvious that it hasn’t been given tender loving care. 

For many users, social media is powerful because it’s accessible, but many of the tools that you need to build a powerful visual brand feel complicated for the average consumer.

Adobe Spark puts powerful tools in the hands of anyone to build a compelling visual aesthetic and consistent branding. For example, you can import your logo into Adobe Spark and it will match the color of your logo across different post formats including spot colors and fonts.

You can also take advantage of pro designed templates that will help you get started.

4 GET CLEAR ON YOUR AUDIENCE

One of the pitfalls many fall into when it comes to social media is having too broad of an audience. Focusing on a specific value proposition, identity or problem makes it easier to stand out and to become known for something.

This is often referred to as the Blue Ocean Strategy. 

When you get crystal clear on your audience, you will be able to easily clarify, communicate and deliver your value, and build a community, then become a true leader.

5 MAKE YOUR PLATFORM A DESTINATION

Building loyalty within your audience and keeping them engaged is a challenge. One great strategy you can deploy is the idea of making your platform a destination or community hub. Think of your favorite restaurant or vacation spot. 

You go there and keep coming back for a reason right? There are little special things you can’t get anywhere else. You can make your platform a destination by finding as many ways as possible to create experiences for your audience that are unique and based on your own unique skills and abilities or around the community you serve. 

Culture is the thing that is nearly impossible to compete with, and it usually wins.

6 DOMINATE WITH VIDEO

Online video is continuing to conquer online traffic and has become a core feature of nearly every single social media platform today, from Instagram to TikTok to LinkedIn. Even Amazon has gotten directly involved in allowing creators to Live Stream on their Platform.

Adobe Spark Video is an intuitive tool that helps you create simple videos that you can use across multiple platforms. In fact, Spark just released a new Text Animation feature, that allows you to make simple text effects from your iOS or Android devices.

Video is compelling and powerful and it’s not something that is common in every niche, let alone well done. If you can create quality video content that directly addresses the interest and values of your community, you can dominate within your niche.

If your niche is “saturated” within a specific online video, it may not be represented in every platform, and there may be an under-served audience you have not tapped into.

For those who are struggling with video editing tools, both Adobe Premiere Rush and Adobe Spark Video are easy and accessible options for breaking into online video for any platform.

Adobe Spark Post is suited to some very simple short-form video content and would work well for Instagram Stories, or TikTok. Spark Post Animations are a good example of those types of features.

For longer-form video, Adobe Spark Video offers you more features and has great templates to help you ease your way into videos you can use for YouTube, Facebook or even LinkedIn video. You can make branded intros for your video content that you can use to be consistent, and you can add a copyright-free audio track to your video as background music.

While I typically edit my content in Adobe Premiere Pro, I feel that both Adobe Spark Video and Premiere Rush are more suited to beginners or anyone who needs to make content on the go.

7 BE CONSISTENT ACROSS YOUR BRAND

Consistency counts for a lot when it comes to building and maintaining an audience. While most people think the answer is to “just go viral”, a steady track record counts for more than a one-hit-wonder at the end of the day.

Consistency takes on many forms. It could mean a consistent schedule for posting, but it could also be consistency in your tone, your messaging or even in your aesthetics and style. 

When we condition familiarity we are conditioning loyalty and proving we can be relied on when it in the eyes of our audience. Consistency is a way to prove you are not taking them for granted, and that really counts more than most people might realize.

Final Thoughts on the State of Social Media in 2020

Social media should prioritize engagement and interaction, and brands and business owners should not default to think of it in broadcast terms. While reach and scale are important for your brand and business, so is ensuring that you are clearly communicating the value of your brand, and engaging an audience that will share the values of your brand.

To that end, prioritize community, creativity, and context in your content, rather than arbitrarily posting for the sake of posting. Consistency does matter, but it should not come at the expense of context and delivering value to your audience.

This article post is sponsored by Adobe Spark, as per usual, all opinions stated here are my own.