We had Becky and Paul come up from careers today and they gave me some really good advice and if I ever need any help or just someone to talk to they're always there but since I have been looking at my social media accounts and I'm happy with my Instagram account but it could be better and my Facebook account definitely needs work so I have turned to the careers toolkit to see if it can help me.
The first slide spoke about facts and figures of the online world which I found really interesting and decided to look into the facts in a little more detail to find out which social media platform has the most active users*:
Facebook = 2.27 billion
Instagram = 1 billion
Twitter = 336 million
Pinterest = 250 million
Snapchat = 186 million
*all of these facts are based on active users, who have logged in within the last 30 days
I was quite surprised by some of the figures but then thinking about it they do all make sense. I thought Facebook would be at the top but thought that Instagram would be closer in figures because I know I definitely use Instagram a lot more than Facebook but other people obviously don't. I wasn't surprised by Twitter but I was surprised that Pinterest was used by a lot more people compared to Snapchat but I guess art based Pinterest is definitely used a lot more, nobody I doubt uses Snapchat for business.
Before reading the facts about Facebook I never knew that it was the oldest social media platform because I thought that there were different social media sites that were older. I do use Facebook but I use my personal account instead of my business account a lot more but I need t change that.
Another fact that I never knew was that Instagram was part of Facebook but it does explain why so many people use it. I would say this is why so many artists use it as 70 million pictures are shared each day so just imagine how many people would see one photo. I use my business Instagram more than my Facebook account but still not as often as I would like. I would like to restart my Instagram account because I would like to have a theme to my images and a specific template for every image.
The two social media platforms that I don't use are Twitter and LinkedIn. I have never used LinkedIn but I will in the future because I know it's where a lot of people network. I have used Twitter but I don't really understand it so I hardly ever use it.
One piece of social media that I use all the time for inspiration is Pinterest. This app and website is the best app for me personally to get inspiration for everything.
My social media sites:
Facebook:
As you can see I haven't posted anything on my Facebook account since the 13th June which I want to change but I just don't know what content to put on my page.
Instagram:
I am quite good at posting recent images on my Instagram page and I use hashtags but instead of posting a group of photos in one go I want to be able to have a set of three theme of images from the same shoot with all image in the same template.
Useful tips for marketing:
Use your contacts - if there is an exhibition happening with yourself involved invite people that engage with your social media platforms regularly and get them to share the event.
Document everything - try to post during and after an event, keep content regular in the run up to an event and then after the event thank people and share their content.
Listen to feedback and don't be scared to ask for advice.
Be different - produce content that will grab your audience's attention.
Job hunting:
Be conscious to what is linked to you online as employers will research online.
Make sure all details are up to date.
Follow and engage with people you want to work with in your chosen industry - comment and share their posts but not too often as it can be annoying.
Keep options open to connecting with others, you never know who it might help to be in touch with.
Things to remember:
You don't have to be on all social media sites
Start a conversation
The richer the content the better - use a variety of content pictures, links and videos.
Social platforms are always changing their algorithms so you need to constantly adapt.
Be reactive. Make sure you reply or like comments.
Use language that's engaging, direct and that flows. Avoid exclamation marks as much as possible.
It's not all about you. Thank about what your audience is getting from posts/emails are they finding it engaging?
What not to post:
Personal details
Anything work related
Nothing that you wouldn't want your family or an employer to see
This was very helpful and I have realised that I need to make sure that I act on all of this advice because at the moment I'm not and this is where I'm probably going wrong and if I took all of these steps on board I would have a lot of connections.
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