Social Media Strategies for Content Creators

In the digital age, authors are not just creators of content; they are pivotal in shaping online conversations and trends. Understanding how some authors excel in social media engagement is crucial for others to replicate their success. This guide will touch on a few points to consider when developing your social media strategies.

Why Focus on Social Media?

Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest have become essential tools for authors to amplify their voice and connect with their audience. But what sets some authors apart in these crowded spaces?

Strategies from Successful Authors

1. Consistent Brand Messaging: Successful authors maintain a consistent brand voice across all platforms. This consistency helps build a recognizable and trustworthy presence, which is key to audience retention.
2. Engaging Content Creation: These authors often produce content that resonates with their audience, encouraging shares, likes, and comments. This could include topical articles, thought-provoking questions, or relatable stories.
3. Active Community Engagement: Responding to comments, participating in discussions, and acknowledging followers’ inputs are practices that foster a loyal community.
4. Leveraging Analytics: Tools provided by Parse.ly help authors understand what content performs well on social platforms, guiding them to tailor their future posts accordingly.

Complementing Content Creation with Social Insights

Integrating social media strategies with broader content creation efforts is vital. For instance, an author’s article on trending topics can be supplemented with social media posts to drive further engagement. Conversely, social media trends can inform the topics authors choose to write about.

Using Parse.ly Insights

Run through this list to ensure you’re making the most of Parse.ly:

• Ensure you’re receiving proper attribution as an author
  • Review the authors list on your dashboard and look that we’ve captured your name correctly
  • Search for your name and any variations
  • Speak with your tech team about fixing any incorrect metadata, for example:
    • “April O’Neil” and “April O’Neil, Channel 6 News” are two different listings. Consistent author names ensures your stats are readily visible.
    • "creator": ["April O'Neil and Clark Kent"] is different from "creator": ["April O'Neil, Clark Kent"]. “April O’Neil and Clark Kent” will be treated as one author instead of two.
  • Use Author Groups to collect names together. Whether you’re listed in 8 different ways or you want to follow your teammates, an Author Group can help!
• Learn more about our social data features
• Promote trending stories across your network of referrers
• Monitor your individual performance with a Details Report (focused on the Author aspect)
• Use Benchmarks and/or the Comparisons report to monitor your relative performance
• If you desire clear standards and accountability, talk to your lead about setting up Goals.

You may find that some metrics simply tilt towards breaking news reporters who produce the most stories. But there may be certain writers who outperform by promoting their stories effectively and engaging with readers on Facebook and Twitter; maybe they can offer advice for your team and help drive up those numbers across the board.

Conclusion

In summary, authors who have “figured out social” have mastered the art of online engagement through consistent branding, engaging content, active community interaction, and the strategic use of analytics. Aspiring content creators can learn from these practices to enhance their own social media presence, thereby strengthening their overall authorship profile.