Keeping Up-To-Date With Social Media

Social media is constantly evolving. The social network that was hot yesterday, is not even remembered down the road (remember Friendster?). New networks and review sites come up all the time (Snapchat is a good example), so you need to stay informed on the latest trends. This doesn’t mean you have to jump on every trend but you should definitely be aware of it. If a network or a review site becomes hot with your target audience, you may need to rethink your strategy. Similarly, if a network where you were enjoying traction starts to falter, you should start to think about where those users will migrate.

You should also be looking out for new features and product changes that could benefit your customers. Historically, businesses who take advantage of new features are able to benefit from them more before everyone else piles in and dilutes the value of your efforts. A good example of an underutilized new feature is Twitter Cards which allow a Twitter account to present a user with a call to action (for example, input your email to get on our mailing lists).

Other important developments to follow are the different social media policies regarding posts and interactions. Social networks regularly change their policies (Facebook is notorious for this). Things you were able to do, you suddenly can’t while once banned activities can become fair game. A great of this was when Facebook decided only 15% of the followers of a page could see its posts organically. For any more exposure, the page would have to pay to boost its posts or get more exposure entirely through follower interaction. Another surprising policy change came when Facebook decided to allow previously banned sweepstakes based on the number of likes/shares.

Social networks typically have blogs or email lists to keep business users up-to-date on any changes. Make sure to subscribe or regularly check these resources for updates. There are also numerous social media blogs and tech websites that will cover the significant changes, and may help you to quickly understand their impact on your activities.

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