Take Your Social Media to the Next Level with These 2 Simple Tips

Take your social media to the next level with
these 2 simple tips.

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson

I teach social media all over the country. My students include writers, authors, ministries, even businesses. I’m asked over and over again for the secrets to my own success. Everyone is looking for that insider tip that can take social media to the next level.

Today I’m going to give you 2 of them.

But I’ve got to warn you, they’re not some difficult algorithm or complicated series of steps.

The simplicity of what I’m about to tell you will cause many to shake their heads and walk away. These tips seem too easy to work. Truthfully though, they are the secret to my own success.

2 Most Important Things that will Take Your Social Media to the Next Level

1. Don’t talk about yourself, your product, your book, or your blog very often. I can see the head shaking from here. I can also hear the questions.

I’m doing social media to get found and to get work out about my book. How can I do that when I don’t talk about it?

Bear with me while I explain.

Think for a minute about what you like and don’t like when you’re on social media. Do you like to read posts asking you to buy a book, post a review, read a blog? Unless you’re in a very tiny minority the answer is NO. None of us is on social media to read commercials. We get enough of those on television and in magazines.

For me, I’m on social media to connect with others. I want to see what’s going on in my friends’ lives. I want to see pictures and share life.

I follow other authors because I want to know THEM. I love to get to know the person behind the book.

I don’t mind an occasional sneak peek at a new cover or sharing the joy at the first box of books to arrive. But I hate post after post trying to sell me something.

That is why I instituted Edie’s 5 to 1 Rule. I never wanted to be the source of more commercials (I call it noise) on the Internet.

When we stop talking about ourselves, we take the focus off of ourselves and put it where it should be—on others.

I promote others by sharing things they post. Even for others, I don’t do a lot of “buy this book” posts, because too much can read like a commercial. I find things that I find valuable and I share those.

By doing this, I build trust with my audience. What I’ve found is that when they trust me, they will go to the mat to support me. It’s that simple.

2. Practice small, consistent steps. By this I mean, no more than 30 minutes a day on social media 4 – 5 days a week. BUT do it consistently.

Social media success is found in momentum. Momentum is built through consistency. If we spend two hours on social media one day, then don’t set foot on it again for several weeks, everything we’ve built has evaporated and we’re back to square one.

By spending even only 5 – 10 minutes on social media 3 – 4 days a week, we can begin to build momentum. And it’s those small steps, done consistently that give us amazing progress when we do them over weeks and months.

I hope you’re not too disappointed, but these two things really are the secret to my success. I’d like to know what you’ve found to take your social media to the next level. Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Take your #socialmedia to the next level with these 2 simple steps - @EdieMelson on @NovelRocket (Click to Tweet)

Edie Melson—author, blogger, speaker—has written numerous books, including her most recent, While My Child is Away. She’s also the military family blogger at Guideposts.org. Her popular blog, The Write Conversation, reaches thousands each month. She’s the director of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference and a member of the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association. She’s the the Social Media Director for Southern Writers Magazine, Social Media Mentor at My Book Therapy, and the Senior Editor for NovelRocket.com.