Inbound Marketing Insights

In my most recent blog post, titled 4 Inbound Marketing Lessons from the Keynote Speakers at #INBOUND, I wrote about Guy Kawasaki and his inspirational Keynote at Inbound. Later in the conference, I heard him speak once more in a smaller session where he shared valuable social media advice with us.

"I say what I want to say on social media, and I let others know how I feel," said Kawasaki as he began his session titled "The Perfect Post." There, Kawasaki gave several tips on creating the perfect social media post.

Here are 6 of the most critical tips to help advance your social media strategy:

1. Pass the re-share test: Your users should think your posts are so educational and exciting that they would re-share them to their followers. Therefore, your content must be both attention-grabbing AND substantial.

 2. Be Valuable: Provide value, whether it is within the information, a specific analysis, thought-provoking insights, or just generally entertaining! You should NOT only use social media to self-promote since curating content is even more important than personal or company PR. We know social media is about driving traffic and leads, but we share valuable content that others write.

 3. Be Bold: Write your thoughts and show others what is important. Social media is another platform for your company to show who you are and what you believe in. Use social media to make a difference for the followers who are important to you.

 4. Be Brave (in your writing and formatting): Have an active voice and make your posts short…people are busy! There's a fifty-character headline, so leave room on Twitter for retweets. Finally, use bolding and bullet points. Unfortunately, people don't read paragraphs anymore!

5. Add Drama To Your Posts: Every post should have a picture, a graph, or visual content. Make sure your image "jumps out" at your audience. Some tools you can use are Canva or YouTube for embedded videos. Fun fact:  Did you know you can add up to 4 pictures on Twitter and tag people in the photo?

 6. Hashtag it! (Connect your work with others): When you connect your content with others, you join a more extensive network where people can find your posts and information. Remember to schedule and spread out your posts as well. Hashtags help people find your content and also allow you to get the point across in fewer characters (helpful on Twitter!) #socialmediatips. 

These six tips are simple yet essential when creating that "perfect post." For more material from Guy Kawasaki and his advice concerning social media, check out his blog "How To Change The World."

You can learn more about Inbound Marketing Methodology and how social media is integrated.