Spring Clean Your Social Media Presence

It’s spring and time to get a head start on spring cleaning your social media presence.

Here are some areas to review:

1.  Social Media Plan

Before you started being active on social media for professional reasons, hopefully you wrote down your social media plan. The plan would have included your goals, why you’re using the social networking platform you are, who your target audience is, what content you’ll be sharing, how often you will be sharing etc.

By following your plan, you’ll be more focused on what you share, how you engage and when. It will help with the time you spend on creating and curating content to share. It will also show your expertise and interest in an area or certain areas, so those who find your shares appealing will want to follow and engage with you. The more you share and engage in a consistent manner, the more likely you’ll be top of mind in your followers’ eyes regarding those interests.

By having a plan, you’ll have a strategy to review against and refine. For example:

• Are you meeting your goals, or do they require refinement to be more aligned with how social media is used, such as improving likes and re-shares?
• If no one in your target audience engages with the content you’re providing, what changes can you make to share content they would find relevant and valuable, or to be more visible?
• Do the social media channels you use result in the interaction that satisfies your goals?

Reviewing your social media plan shouldn’t occur only once a year. You may even start to realize that changes need to be made within days or weeks of implementing your plan. Without an actual direction that is clearly set out, you will be less productive and less likely to realize what is working and what isn’t.

2.  Social Media Profile

You should be regularly reviewing your social media profile to see if you can update or improve it. For a short list of things to review, see my Spring Clean Your Social Media Profile post from last year.

Another review to add to the list is testing out the links in your social media profile to ensure they’re still working correctly. Also, think about:

• Whether the link you’ve used is still appropriate (e.g., you may have recently changed firms); and
  
• Which web page or social media profile will give your audience more information they may be seeking about you.

When making changes, don’t forget to consider both your target audience and your personal brand. Also, is your profile consistent with your elevator pitch?

Diarize your spring cleaning now if you’re unable to start your review right away. By revisiting, analyzing and refining your social media plan and profile, you will be more successful and productive in your social media efforts.