Bigger, Better, Bolder: Get Strategic With Your Social Media + Our Best Tips

This is the next in a very exciting series we’re bringing to you on IFB in anticipation of the upcoming #IFBcon. Each day in the month of August, we’ll have a different post designed to help your blog become – you guessed it – bigger, better and bolder.

How are you feeling about the Bigger, Better, Bolder series so far? Are you flexting your blog muscles as never before? We hope so! Previously we touched on the importance of sprucing up your social media before the IFB conference, so you’re probably following our speakers, following @_IFB (duh), and tweeting with the hashtag #IFBcon all the time (Right? It’s just a couple weeks away!).

If ever there were a time to step up your social media game, it’s the pre-conference, pre-fashion week weeks of August. While it’s nearly impossible to keep up with every tweet, Instagram, Livestream or Facebook timeline update during this insane time, there’s logic in making it as easy as possible to at least try.

While the concept of applying a strategy to your social media can sound corporate, stiff, impersonal or – dare I say it – antisocial, consider the benefits for a moment. Using a bit of planning and some ahead-of-time thinking when it comes to promoting your content frees up time and attention for the in-the-moment updates that are so critical (and fun) during the conference and fashion week(s).

To get yourself started (or just test out this method and see if it’s right for you), here are our best strategies:

Build a calendar.

No, I don’t mean map out every tweet for the month in an Excel spreadsheet, but set yourself up to be right on time for events and holidays you can plan for in advance. If you’re planning to blog around a specific holiday (Labor Day style comes to mind), set up tweets that correspond with your content (Something like “Wearing white feels right!” but way less terrible.)

Another method? Use a social media dashboard to plot out your upcoming tweets and Facebook updates for posts, giveaways, and friendly and funny reminders to follow your Pinterest account, etc.

To get very specific, you can devote a day to getting to know your Twitter feed a little better. Pay attention to when your followers are most active and responsive, and make a point to engage with them during busier times. You might also notice that news-y content does better in the morning and lighter fare flourishes in the afternoon and evening, and post or update with that in mind.

Promote your posts.

To get the most out of your social media efforts, figure out what channel drives the most traffic to your blog. (You can find this out by looking at your “traffic sources” in Google Analytics or your “stats” dashboard on Blogger or WordPress. If you’re getting twice as much traffic from Pinterest as Facebook or Twitter – give those boards some love!

Engage with influencers.

Oh, influencers. This is a tricky topic, no? Who exactly is an influencer, and who exactly are then influencing? We’ll save opening up that topic entirely for another day, and just for now let’s say that an influencer is someone who’s following, blog, and personality you look up to (define influencer for yourself). Whether it means liking them on Facebook and mentioning them in a related status or dishing or making conversation on Twitter – there are polite, tactful, fun ways to strike up a digital relationship with bloggers and brands alike.

We talk about social media a lot on IFB. Here is a round-up of (most of) our tips, tricks, tutorials, advice and information on the most popular channels for bloggers:

Facebook:

Twitter:

Instagram:

Pinterest:

Google +

Topical:

To get your tickets, head to the Eventbrite page and buy either:

Regular One-Day Pass: $125

Regular Two-Day Pass: $185

Corporate/Non-IFB Member Tickets: $600

Travelle McFarland says:

August 21, 2012 at 7:29 pm · Reply

Great article!

Michelle A. says:

August 21, 2012 at 11:57 pm · Reply

This is super helpful. Can’t wait to delve into my site analytics a little further!

http://www.mfashiondiary.com

lalipops says:

August 22, 2012 at 9:16 am · Reply

great tips <3

http://lalipops.blogspot.co.uk/

Miranda says:

August 22, 2012 at 10:57 am · Reply

Thank you IFB for putting all the links to these articles in one post! I will definitely be looking through all your tips. As a new blogger I am still learning the ropes of how to use social media to my advantage. Thanks for being such a huge help!

Aleysha Proctor says:

August 22, 2012 at 11:51 am · Reply

Thank you for this post! It’s loaded with great information and links to other great posts. (It should be included in a social media 101 class).

Chanteau Garrett says:

August 24, 2012 at 4:33 pm · Reply

This was a very helpful post! Trust me when I say I will be giving all the tricks, strategic methods a go this coming week. I think that sharing these articles gives us hope for building our brand.