When I started this blog I focused mainly on using social media.

It was not just about social media usage as a distraction.

My main point was that you can use it professionally for business and marketing as well.

When I wrote about X/Twitter marketing for the first time it was a huge success e.g.!

It became the most read by subscribers post on seo2.blog back then.

More than 1k regular seo2.blog readers have read it within a week.

Yet many business people use social media wrong.

This is a follow up on this issue.

This I time I explain how to engage on social media in general like a pro. See below!

Do you still make common social media mistakes that may make you lose credibility?

The no-nonsense ways to use social media for marketing

Don’t fret! I’m here to help with blogs, social media and search.

This time I’ll show you how to do it right!

Here are the best ways to use social media for marketing purposes!

They are based on my 20 years of social media usage for business.

This way you are building trust and maintaining credibility doing it.

These are the techniques in no particular order – use them all at once!

Share only few high quality updates per week.

In the past it was the more the better.

Now with social media algorithms being picky less is more.

Share no more than 3 to 5 updates a week on LinkedIn e.g. or you end up flooding.

You have a fixed number of views assigned to you by the algo.

Unless they get popular quickly the updates fight for a limited number of impressions.

Ideally you add an explainer summary to each link you share.

Make the update valuable by itself without having to click a link.

Algorithms across the board prefer onsite content now. Users do too.

Share only the most valuable posts.

Limit the shares from your blog or website (do not share each and every post)!

Do you publish daily? Do not just endlessly self-promote.

Several links shared a day are too many!

Even the most ardent followers will get tired if you serve them your selfish updates over and over.

I rather follow blogs on Feedly (a feed reader) instead because of this.

Some publications repeat the updates several times.

This annoys your most loyal users IMHO.

Share only the best posts and add something new to the description each time you share again.

Do not just recycle what you said already.

Crowdsource your posts.

Let others contribute to your blog or social media posts!

Do it by offering links or mentions of your contributors.

Ask genuine open questions to get feedback from your following.

Credit those who contributed on the post you publish.

Quote them with name and link in the best case.

Or simply mention them when you refer to their work they shared elsewhere.

Ask and answer questions.

Respond to questions from your followers or followees (the people you follow).

When in doubt just ask “How can I help you today?”.

Often amazing threads will ensue.

Interact as much as possible. Be truly helpful.

Don’t just ask to stir debate or worse rage bait!

Look up their questions on their feeds as well.

Track your most important keywords.

Also make sure react to those updates that matter most especially when they don’t mention you yet!

For example I tracked popular “content is king” mentions to clarify the meaning of the quote for a while.

There are specific tools to track mentions of your brand etc. for various platforms.

You can track mentions on Reddit for example, even with free tools like f5Bot.

Also general tools like Alertmouse and the venerable Google Alerts are your friend.

Follow people mentioning you.

Look up and follow those mentioning you or your site!

Follow and/or reward them otherwise (the easiest way is saying “thanks”).

X Pro (formerly Tweetdeck) checks that automatically when you choose to on X e.g.

Socialize with active, positive and inspiring social networkers.

Connect with real people no matter whether they are “relevant” – even when they are “off topic”.

I do with a few wonderful graphic design, green and self improvement people. I call them engagers.

You see, there’s no voodoo involved in here.

This way I gained some very valuable followers on social media over the past 20 years. People who really engage matter.

Engagement is easy – just rethink your marketing

Most people don’t want to be inundated with self-promotional material! Even those who follow you.

No joke! It could be so easy to “build audiences”. Yet people like it hard.

Just listen, respond and get a following that way! Engagement is paramount!

Most of the techniques I use are very easy to implement and low effort.

To track mentions of your keywords you can use various tools by now. Some are more expensive than others.

Free tools are good enough for a start though.

Social media engagement is not difficult once you stop talking at people.

Sadly to this day most marketers tend to broadcast.

Do it right from the start! Marketing does not have to be top-down.

Are you too busy or caught up in business to engage even for a few minutes a day?

Then you might want to contact me and let me write for your social media accounts.