Want to excel in social media? It starts with caring about it.
When we ask our clients what kind of content they enjoy on social media, we often hear two common responses:
- “I don’t spend much time on social media”
- “The content I enjoy has nothing to do with what I need to create for my product or service.”
Here’s how we tackle both answers.
“I don’t spend much time on social media.”
First, we assign the task of watching content. Lots of it. You can’t truly understand the language of a platform without immersing yourself in its content. The 10,000 hours rule may sound cliché, but it holds true. Nothing beats spending time watching and learning from social media content. It helps you grasp what works, develop intuition, and become fluent in the language, humor, sentiment, and ethos of the environment. It’s the only way to truly get the vibe of social media.
Think about it. Learning a second language is accelerated when you’re surrounded by it. Being immersed in an environment where the language is regularly spoken exposes you to it constantly, helping you pick up new words and phrases quickly. Hearing the language spoken by native speakers also improves your pronunciation and accent.
And when you spend time, lots of time, in an environment, you start to care. You start to appreciate the quirks and features and adopt its particular etiquette as your own. Its vibe becomes second nature and thus much easier to solve for the next answer:
“The content I enjoy has nothing to do with what I need to create for my product or service.”
Now, let’s address the second answer. If you truly believe there’s no connection between the content you enjoy and your product, why would anyone else? Here’s the thing – you care more about your message than anyone else, right? So why not frame your message in the same content structures you enjoy on social media?
To succeed on social media, you have to make people care about your content. And that means bridging the gap between the content people enjoy and what you have to say. It’s not a half-measure. You have to fully immerse yourself in the language of social media platforms and master a format that has a proven track record of success.
So, can you really be excellent in something you don’t care about? Nope. Start by caring and immerse yourself in the content that resonates with you. Then, use that passion to create something that captivates your audience on social media.
Want help with your social media strategy? Connect 1-on-1 with Brendan’s team here to see if we are the right fit to work together.
