5 Habits of People Who Are Successful With Social Media

My favorite part about the first two reading assignments from Guy Kawasaki and Peg Fitzpatrick's "The Art of Social Media," was the list of 74 blog post templates that work. I thought this list was really clever and reminiscent of Buzzfeed articles that make people want to click on and read them. What better way to comment on the textbook than to utilize it and make a post summarizing the most efficient ways to be successful on social media.

1) Use Clever Blog Post Titles

Kawasaki and Fitzpatrick provide an infographic in chapter three that gives templates to create eye-catching titles, such as, "A Complete Guide to ___, What No One Tells You About ___, [#] Tips for Busy ___,  [#] Habits of ___." I was able to use this last one for the title of this blog post, and I think it made it more exciting and interesting. The authors also write that posts with titles akin to the 74 listed are more effective at getting people to click on them because they are usually lists or short concise ways for people to read through very fast.

2) Make Use of Karma

Kawasaki tells us to utilize karma by telling us to "be a mensch." In his words, this is "an honorable person who does the right thing the right way." This is his way of telling us to share other peoples posts and be kind to other user's blogs and social media so that they will be more likely to reciprocate. I believe this goes for all aspects of life, not just social media. However, you might as well take advantage of being nice to get more notoriety online.

3) Follow the Rule of Three

This basically means that if someone leaves a rude or nasty comment on your post that you should respond and then leave it at that. Round one is the nasty comment left on your post. Round two is the response that you type out. While responding, it is important to stay positive. Kawasaki compared it to a politician speaking in the way that both you and the politician cannot stoop to the ignorant person's level and respond to hate with hate. Lastly, round three is the commenter responding. After these three rounds just let it go.

4) Explore New Social Media Platforms

Doing this will help you gain more followers. This is due to less people being on there to follow, so if you get on new platforms right away with good content, people will choose to follow you. The book doesn't mention this, but if you can link your other social media sites to this new one, you could boost followers on all accounts. This makes me think of people who jumped on YouTube early and then started making money, getting their own shows, making makeup, and following their dreams. This could be you! Don't waste opportunities!

5) Be You and Own It

Kawasaki and Fitzpatrick tell us to be bold. Do it. People chose to follow you and they chose to unfollow you, but that shouldn't stop you from sharing posts about what you believe in and find interesting. Social media is about showing off who you are, and posts that are boldly you are the best way to show this off. Take a break from just sharing recipe videos on Facebook and own your beliefs. One cautionary measure that I would add to this is to not overshare articles that will just keep making people mad. I know Kawasaki said it is okay to piss people off sometimes, but that doesn't mean you have to do it all the time. Also, I would advise people to fact check opinionated articles because sometimes they are inaccurate and borderline propaganda.

I hope my own take on these habits of people who are successful with social media helped refresh you on how you too can succeed on these incredible platforms.