Popularity and social media. The two go together like peanut butter and jelly. People are always concerned by how many likes, how much reach, and how many comments their posts get. Who sees what they post? How much attention do they get? Is anyone paying attention?
Attention is the New Currency
It’s not just that we crave attention. Getting someone’s attention is what makes them think about our brand, and possibly consider buying our services or products. Attention is the true value we place on everything we do online. What are the most popular sites? These are changing all the time, but here they are for 2019: Top 15 Social Networking Sites for 2019. Facebook is clearly the winner, with 2.23 billion users. But take a look at YouTube, with its nearly 2 billion users. And my favorite, Twitter, is finally in the black.
The Secret Sauce to Gain Popularity on Each Site
Every social media platform is different, and gaining popularity is different on each site. On Pinterest, for example, you would post beautiful images that are longish. You might like my last article on Why Pinterest Isn’t Social Media–and Why It Is. And feel free to put up lots and lots of hashtags. Same with Instagram–with many recommending 10-12 hashtags per post. But do that on LinkedIn and you won’t get the reach because hashtags turn people off. People on Facebook, similar to LinkedIn, do not like all the hashtags.
How Often to Post and What to Post
Although people differ widely on how often they post and what they say, one thing is certain: You’ll gain popularity by engaging with others. If engagement is an issue for you, you might like my book 21 Ways to Total Social Media Engagement: That Will Make You Look Like a Pro. There are some simple ways to engage, and you won’t break the bank to get it.
Vanity Metrics and Popularity
If engagement is what you’re after, then a vanity metric like the number of followers you have, won’t matter so much. And yet many brands and newbies to social media pay attention to followers and even buy followers to appear more popular than they are. And yet if you look at their engagement, they’re not talking to anyone.
Do You Value Popularity?
How important is popularity to you? It’s good to have a few followers so you can have conversations and engage with people, but do you need a million? Let me know in the comments! And thank you.
Follow Carol!