3 Things You Must Know About Social Media March 2017

Welcome to episode 339 of Hit the Mic with The Stacey Harris.

Welcome to our first episode of March which means it is a three things you must know episode, and so these are the three things I want you to be paying attention to when it comes to your social media time in March 2017. Now here’s the deal. Some of these things will be relevant even outside of March, so if this is not March when you’re listening, keep listening, because guys, these are things that I’m seeing questions on, I’m seeing frustration around, and so I really want to get this in front of you get clear. If you want to stay up on the latest and greatest of all things social media anytime, the place to be is of course inside of Hit the Mic Backstage. That’s where I make all announcements on sort of network updates, strategy changes, tool updates, things like that. So if you are listening to this because of a intense need to be in the know, head over to to hitthemicbackstage.com because that’s the place to be. All right?

With that, let’s get started.

Number one thing I want you to be paying attention to in March is around the tools you’re using. We’re actually going to review a new tool this month called Viraltag. I’m a big fan of eClincher. I have done countless episodes reviewing tools, and still one of the most common questions I got in February of this year was what tool should I be using to manage my social media? What tool should I be using to schedule? What tool? What tool? it’s not about the tools, guys. It’s about using it, and the best tool for you to use to manage your social media is the one you’re actually going to use. If that’s Hootsuite, if that’s Buffer, if that’s eClincher, if that’s Meet Edgar, if that’s Viraltag, if that’s Post Planner, and I don’t care what it is. I care that it fits your needs and that you are going to login and actually use it, because that’s where the difference happens. That’s where the change happens, and that’s where your business and your community is impacted is when you actually use the tool.

You know, the same can be said about just about anything. The webinar that’s going to make all the difference in your business is the one you attend and then the one you take action on. The course that’s going to change your business forever is the one you actually use, so this is one of those things that applies to literally all the things, but I want you to remember, especially when it comes to social media, the tool that is going to work is the one you’re going to use.

Now there are different tools for different budgets and different needs a different network focuses. Again, I’ve reviewed a lot of them. I’ll actually link to all of the review episodes in the resource section over on the show notes page for this episode, but at the end of the day, if you’re not going to use it, it’s not going to work. It’s not going to make a difference. So make sure you are using it, and that means getting comfortable with it. That means setting aside time to figure it out, to watch the tutorials, to reach out to your social media person get training. Whatever it is that you need to make sure that you are, yes I’m going to say it again, actually using this tool, because again, that’s where the difference is made. That’s where the change happens.

And you know what guys? That’s where the results are. I know, it’s magic. So yes, the tool that is best for the job is the one you will use.

Number two, let’s talk about number two.

If you’re not yet going live, seriously guys, do it. We’re actually, we just launched last week on the first, a brand-new training inside of Hit the Mic Backstage about going live, and the power of going live. I actually walked our members through using OBS, which is what I used to go live for Facebook and YouTube. We talked a little bit about a tool that will allow you to go live in multiple places at one time, so if you want to check that out, of course that’s all on Backstage, hitthemicbackstage.com. But going live is never been more important than it is right now, so do it. Start figuring out what that looks like for you and then do it with some consistency.

One of the biggest things I want you to realize is this doesn’t have to be all new content. This doesn’t have to be you creating something else. This is a great play for you to be repurposing your content. This is a great way for you to be doing more with what’s already there. Maybe you have a blog post the that you wrote or a video series that you did, and you can pull out one small point in that valuable piece of content and say, “I’m going to dive deep into this in five, 10, no more than 15 minutes really, and I’m going to provide the value that way.” Or you can be using your Facebook Lives or your Periscopes or your YouTube Lives, whatever you want to use, you can be using those to create your content. Actually record it going live, and then have it transcribed. I use Rev.com for all of my transcriptions for not only my Facebook Lives, but this podcast. So Rev.com, and then take that and edit it into, you guessed it, a blog post.

Use the value in lots of ways, because that’s how you’re going to see it, but you’ve got to be doing it. You’ve got to be going live, and later this month, we’re actually going to talk about a few ways I have up-leveled my Facebook Lives so that I’m really providing maximum value and really having the best experience from a creator’s standpoint, but also my watchers are having from a consumer standpoint. So stay tuned for that. That’s going to go live on the 21st, you’ll see that episode.

And again, if you want to do that right now, of course head into hitthemicbackstage.com when we’re talking about Lives, and you can of course ask your questions there about Facebook Lives. And of course, you can join me. I go live once a week, so there you go.

Number three, consistency matters. We talked about this at the beginning of February, but here we are going into the final month of this first quarter of the year, and I’m starting to see a lot of people who were really gung ho at the beginning of the year about their social media goals, about tracking their numbers, about looking at what was happening with their numbers and doing something about it, about implementing a strategy, and now here there are in March, and they’re feeling maybe overwhelmed. They’re feeling like they don’t know if it’s working. They’re feeling like they don’t have time. Something else has sparked up in front of them that seems way more fun, and I get that. I totally get that, but consistency is important, and it matters more than it ever has before, because there are more voices than there have ever been before. And so, as much as you can get distracted by the shiny object, so can your audience, and that shiny object might be someone else.

So what I want you be doing is really looking back at January, looking back at those goals you set, looking back at those commitments that you made to change something about your social media and do something with it. If that means that you are going to do something, and this is what I really hope it is if you’re not doing is already, looking at your numbers regularly, checking those insights, paying attention to those numbers so that you can see if those changes you’re making are working.

One of the biggest reasons people stop doing something is they’re like, “I don’t even know if this is working.” Well, first of all, look at whether you’ve given it enough time to work. Two Facebook Lives is not enough time to know whether Facebook Live works for you or not, okay? It’s just not. And number two, make sure you looked at the numbers before you started, and make sure you look at the numbers on the regular now, because they’re gonna tell you if things are working. I can tell you that going live once a week since the beginning of the year is absolutely working. You know why? Because I’m seeing an increase in traffic to my site. I’m seeing an increase in new members. I’m seeing the impact made on my business from people telling me they’re watching live. I’m seeing my view numbers go up. I’m seeing my viewers are staying longer. I’m seeing my engagement sort of fluctuate back and forth, but I’m still seeing the traffic drive and the members join and the sign-ups happen for the free stuff that I’m promoing.

So I know it’s working, even if I feel like, “Well, nobody actually watched live today,” or, “Nobody commented today.” Well, guess what? They did take action, though. They did sign up for that training. They did join us backstage. They did listen the podcast, whatever it was that I was talking about on that episode. So if I didn’t look at those numbers, I wouldn’t see that it really is working.

So stay committed to whatever goal you set. Stay committed to taking action, and continually be measuring those results. And guess what, guys? In some cases, it will be that it’s not working, and then it’s okay to make a change. But making a change doesn’t mean throwing everything out, it means “Well, you know what? I’ve been going live, and it’s not clicking in the way I want it to. Maybe I’m going to start going live on Tuesdays instead of Thursdays, or in the evening instead of in the morning, or flip that around, because guess what, guys? That depends on who your audience is. It depends on when they’re online, it depends on when they’re available, and it depends on how you’re executing your Live.

Maybe it’s not working because you haven’t included a single call to action in a Live you’ve done all year. I’m seeing that and absolutely seeing that mistake made. I’m guilty of it from time to time. I’ll get so excited to provide value and share something that just happened that I’ll forget to say, “Click the episode. Check out the training. Join us backstage.” Whatever the call to action is that episode. So make sure you’re doing those things, but make sure most of all that you’re being consistent. All right?

All right. That’s our episode for today. Again, if you want to be in the know of what’s happening, not only strategy-wise, but what’s happening on the networks, there were some changes that we talked about inside of Hit the Mic Backstage. Instagram is a great example, sort of a bonus thing you need to know, Instagram has now got a slideshow option for your Instagram photos. You can do up to 10 photos in like a little gallery kind of thing. If you want to know about that stuff first, Hit the Mic Backstage knows about it first, so hitthemicbackstage.com to join us.