Five Methods I'm Using To Grow My Social Media Following

I owe most of my business growth to social media. I get new clients, new readers, and new friends through the different platforms and can’t imagine where my blog and business would be if social media didn’t exist. I learn something new about social media every week and am constantly adapting my plan to help my business keep growing. There are five methods, or ideas, that I have found stay consistent across anything I learn, try, or use in my own practice. These ideas are what I use in my own daily social media practice and I thought that today I’d share them with you, so that maybe they could help you and your business, too!

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FIGURE OUT THE GOAL FOR EACH CHANNEL

This is, for me, the most important and valuable step. I actually consider this as a part of branding and run through this with my clients. The thing to remember is that Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest… they’re all different. They serve different purposes, reach different people, and generate different feedback/interaction. So posting the same things across all of them won’t necessarily work. Instead, I think about what I want to gain from each platform and plan my posting out accordingly.

So, as a visual business, I can use Instagram and Pinterest to generate clients and send people back to my website. Those are two very visual platforms; they depend wholly on pictures. Pinterest, however, has a really crazy intense algorithm and requires a ton of interaction and posting to ‘be seen.’ So I focus Pinterest on just driving traffic to my website, whether it be readers or potential clients. It’s easier to post A LOT on Pinterest and not feel stuck in only posting client work. On Instagram I vary between posting client work and call-to-action posts that talk about working together. I also link to latest blog posts every week and show some behind-the-scenes type images too. With every post I try to ask for interaction, or direct people to a certain link.

For the other channels, I find that Twitter is best for building peer to peer relationships and community, so I focus on sharing other people’s content and thanking them for sharing mine. I’m very active on Twitter and often tell people that’s a great way to get in contact with me, because it’s so quick and simple. Facebook itself, as far as my TheCrownFox page goes, isn’t something I focus on – however, I do focus heavily on Facebook groups. I’m a member of quite a few groups and all of them have helped me with clients, promoting the blog, and establishing myself as a resource (by answering questions). Facebook groups are the one platform that I don’t have a specific purpose for, but instead just try to be very active in every way on there and utilize the opportunities presented (people asking for branding designers, or daily blog posts, etc.). If you aren’t in any Facebook groups I definitely recommend searching for some that relate to your industry, because they are hugely beneficial.

I use Periscope to really build trust and interaction among my audience. I love hopping on there and just chatting and having a quick lesson, and I think it’s a super useful tool to put a face to your brand. Otherwise, I don’t use YouTube often (Yet, but more on that soon!) and I’m not active on LinkedIn. The reason for that is I haven’t found a purpose for those two that grow my business, yet.

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DECIDE BEST POSTING TIMES

There are tons of infographics on Pinterest about this. You could also study analytics, use tools (like Iconosquare), or just study the results yourself. I’ve done a combination of reading through infographics and studying the results for myself. So, as far as my schedule goes:

I post to Twitter very often, sometimes up to 10 times a day, sporadically. My thought process behind this comes from studying the results / how I use Twitter. Basically, I don’t really scroll endlessly on Twitter (like I might on Instagram or Pinterest). I maybe scroll down for a few minutes at the most, and my thought it, most people are probably the same. Therefore, posting every few hours is okay because chances are you won’t scroll far enough to see too much of me. I need to be relevant and recent enough that you would see my post in a quick scroll while you’re eating lunch or waiting in the carpool line.

Pinterest, and its crazy smart algorithms, spreads out your posts anyway, so I don’t focus heavily on what time I post. I've got posts going up all the time thanks to Tailwind* For Facebook, I check the group boards throughout the day, but I post to TheCrownFox page daily, in the morning. I came up with that based completely off of when I saw the most interaction happening and the widest reach. It took a little trial and error, but that’s what I’ve come up with working best for my audience.

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SCHEDULE TIMES FOR INTERACTING

This is something that has been a big plus for my time management. Left to my own devices (and willpower – or lack thereof) I could sit on social media all day. This is not exactly conducive to actually running a business. So, I’ve incorporated block scheduling into my routine and blocked off times for social media. On Monday I have a larger block so that I can schedule out tweets for the week on Buffer. Otherwise, I give myself about 30 minutes in the morning to hop on and check Facebook groups, pin for about ten minutes, and check through Instagram and Twitter a bit. I have ten-minute blocks throughout the day where I can hop in Twitter or Instagram or Facebook and just do a quick scroll and check if there’s anything important or urgent that I need to interact with or respond too. Then, again, at the end of my day I have another 30-minute block to repeat the tasks from the morning.

I have to schedule these times and treat them as any other task on my to-do list, or I end up spending way too much time on social media. If you don’t already schedule your time for social media, I recommend doing that ASAP!

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USE BUFFER + Tailwind

These are two new additions to my process. I came to the realization that the amount of time it would take me to personally do what these two applications do was not a good “bottom line.” It took some convincing, because even though its total cost is less than my daily coffee habit, I still hate spending money. But – the results don’t lie. In just the few short weeks I’ve been using these two programs, my reach and my interaction level has greatly improved. Pinterest is growing exponentially and has quickly become my top referrer thanks to Tailwind*. I’m seriously regretting not using these tools earlier.

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MAKE COHESIVE DECISIONS

This is something that is easy to forget when you are pinning or tweeting in bulk. But – your audience is still YOUR audience and you want to make sure that the content you are putting in front of them is relevant. So, it’s really easy to go through and want to retweet every post you see on Twitter, but, I recommend taking pause and making sure it somehow fits your overall message. Same with things you pin, or share on any other platform. Sharing irrelevant information is detracting from your overall message.

I try to share things that are about branding, business, or blogging – same as the content I would share on my own blog. This is what people have come to expect from me, so I would hate for them to go to my Pinterest and only see stuff about how I want to decorate my living room or the food I want to try and cook. I understand, that stuff is important personally too, but I just use a secret board for things that are really unrelated to my business.

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I'd love to hear what you've been working on for your social media plan. Let me know in the comments below! I've found these methods work best for me, but like I mentioned before, I am an open book to learning new methods!

*The links for Tailwind are affiliate links -  but I wouldn't recommend this program if I wasn't personally using + loving it. Let me know if you have any questions about how to use it!

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The Main Elements Of Your Brand’s Style Guide

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One way to create a system through your branding is by creating a style guide for your visuals. Style guides are so valuable, folks. Even as a designer, who makes design decisions all day long, I have a style guide. It just takes the guesswork out of everything – and when you have a lot to do, you don’t want to waste time wondering/guessing/figuring things out. You just need to be able to execute, and having a style guide helps you to accomplish that.

A style guide can be as intense or as basic as you want. But, basically, it should have a resolution for any issue that might come up. For example, if your logo is made up of darker colors, what do you do when it is placed on a dark background? Have a solution prepared in your style guide. Are you okay with placing your logo over an image? Or does it need a solid color block behind it? Put that in the style guide. What fonts do you use for headers versus body copy? What colors are your links? When do you switch to a more horizontal lockup of your logo?

Taking the initial time to figure this all out and create an actual system will save you so much time in the long run. It’s especially beneficial to begin documenting and systemizing these things if you plan on growing your business and bringing on employees or assistants, because then you can pass off work without too much explanation. Here are the essential items your style guide must cover.

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LOGO USAGE

You spent a lot of time perfecting your logo, so you want to make sure it’s always shown in the best and most professional way. Things you should consider with your logo:

• How and when you use different variations or lockups of it.

• When you switch to one color (and what the one color is).

• When you switch to a white out or a black out version (depending on what it’s being placed over/on top of).

• What colors are you okay placing behind your logo?

• What sizes can your logo be displayed at?

• What can’t it be placed over (images, photographs, etc.)?

• What margins need to be around your logo at all times?

• What lockup versions are absolutely not allowed?

Going ahead with answers to these questions lets you place and use your logo in a consistent way. This builds trust, authority, recognition, and makes it easier for you (or your designer, assistant, partner, etc.) to work with your logo in the correct way. If you have a more ornate logo, you should also have a minimum size that it can appear (before it begins to look jumbled and confusing) and then an alternative option if you need something very small.

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COLOR PALETTE

Creating a color palette is more than just picking out colors. You also want to consider how you use the colors and how they work together. What becomes a body copy color versus a headline color? What becomes a background color when you need it? What do you use when you need neutrals?

My recommendation is that you have a set of primary colors that include a good body copy color, a good headline color, and a good link color. I also recommend making sure the colors work well together, that one or two of them are strong background colors. I also have recently added the idea, in my palette, of a bank of neutrals to choose from for when the situation arises. I’d rather be more prepared than less prepared.

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TYPOGRAPHY

You want to choose between 2-3 fonts to use throughout your branding. You need a font for the main body copy, one to be headers/title, and one for special emphasis (totally optional, I don’t actually have one for TheCrownFox branding). More than 3 fonts will probably begin to get confusing, so as a general rule, I’d steer clear of that.

Typography should be, at this point in “the way the world works”, web friendly. Or at least have a comparable web-font option. It’s easiest to use Typekit or Google Fonts, if you want to eliminate wondering if your fonts will work online.

With choosing your fonts, you also want to consider creating rules for how it can be altered/designed. For example, do you allow adjustments to the kerning and leading? If so, what sort of adjustments? You would also want to consider, or make a rule, about treatments such as turning things to uppercase, or changing the weight of the font for emphasis. Rather than just haphazardly choosing these things on a per project basis, it would be more efficient and more consistent (and therefore more professional) to have the rules already established within your style guide.

When you are making these decisions, consider the effect of different spacing. Something with blown out leading might appear airy, light, and modern. Something very compact will read as rushed or intense.  Too many uppercase sections can come across aggressive or rude. But most importantly, whatever you decide to do, do it consistently.

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UNIQUE DESIGN DETAILS

Things that would fall under here would be patterns, illustrations, specific design elements, etc. and how you use them throughout your branding. So if you often incorporate a really harsh diagonal line throughout your branding, specifics about how you use that would be something you want to establish – like what the angle is, how thick the line is, what happens when it intersects something else, and so on. Or if you use illustrations, think about what colors they appear (or can appear), how close they appear to text, the edge of a design, etc.

With distinctive elements like these pieces you really want to make sure you use them in a way that makes sense and adds to your branding (and overall goals). It can easily become overbearing or just “too much” and cross into gimmicky.

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OTHER

Other pieces that you would consider including into your style guide would be photography and copy/voice.  If you use stock/styled photography, or any sort of photography, in your branding you want it to make sense with the rest of your branding and be used effectively. You can include samples in your style guide of photography, or just make a note that you prefer images with certain things. For example: lots of white space, business casual wear, 1-2 people max, no people, food, coffee, etc. You can set whatever parameters you’d like - it’s just better to actually set them, so you aren’t wondering what types of images to use.

Copy/voice doesn’t really fit into “visuals” but it is commonly covered in style guides, because it is something else that benefits from having rules. So if you have a good idea who you are targeting, chances are you know some phrases, examples, references, and words to use to reach them. This is especially helpful if you are thinking of growing your team at all, because then you could handoff things like writing social media posts. Ideally, at some point, one person would do these sort of tasks, so everything felt the same – but you can create that ‘sameness’ by having key phrases, words, styles, etc. for people to pull from.

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If you don’t have all the answers to these questions yet, that’s okay. I just wanted to give you a place to start from so that you could establish a style guide. When your business starts to grow, expand, and evolve – having these set rules will be so helpful. You don’t have to “figure it out” on the spot, or try to explain to someone else all these little details that you might have in your mind, but not written out anywhere. 

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