Wednesday

5 tips for using social media: Twitter and Instagram

Over time, I've become quite dependent on social media. Twitter is the big one for me, and I've had some amazing opportunities from the platform. Remember when I was in Metro? Twitter! How I met Leona? Twitter! More and more, I'm getting into Instagram too and I thought it might be helpful to share some of the things I've learned over the last 2.5 years. Considering my strengths are Twitter and Instagram, most of my tips will be relevant to those two platforms, but you may be able to apply them to others too. 

1. Use relevant hashtags

Hashtags are important on both Twitter and Instagram, for different reasons. Most Instagram users are looking for great visuals, so think about what they might be searching. Hashtags like #beach, #London or #blue are useful here. On Twitter, it's slightly different. Users are more likely to search specific phrases to see what other people are saying. If you've written a blog post about a certain TV show or film, use the official hashtag. Don't forget to target other bloggers with hashtags such as #bbloggers for beauty, #fbloggers for fashion and #lbloggers for lifestyle. Just don't hashtag everything. Nobody wants to be the #cute #girl #blue #eyes #f4f #s4s person!


2. Curate defined areas

I have to admit I'm not amazing at this. I tend to cross-post on Twitter and Instagram, but I'm trying to keep the areas more separate. For me, I'm developing Twitter as a more personal, off-the-cuff platform, whereas Instagram will become more considered and aesthetically pleasing. If you post the same content on every platform, there is no need for people to follow you on all of them. It's boring and redundant. Make sure each platform has a clearly defined place.

3. Same username on each platform

I cannot say this clearly enough: Use the same username everywhere. Your blog name, your domain, your Twitter username, Instagram username, YouTube username etc etc etc. They all need to be consistent. If somebody already has your name, think about adding underscores to it. When names are consistent across every platform, it makes it so much easier for other people to find you. 

4. Quality, not quantity

When I first started blogging, I tried to use every single social media platform I could. Needless to say, it didn't work well. I just don't have the time to create quality, varied content on 11 different platforms. Instead, I stripped back and focused on just the two: Twitter and Instagram, although I'm hoping to push my YouTube further too. It's much better to have two or three updated, active and interesting social media accounts and 15 neglected ones. 

5. Be helpful

Particularly on Twitter, there will always be people asking for help. If you can, give them advice! Somebody looking for a pair of pink flats and you've just seen some in Primark? Tell them! Someone hoping to find a great designer like the one you've recently worked with? Share their details. If you make a name for yourself as somebody helpful and wise, you will soon see your following grow. Plus it's good karma! What goes around comes around and all that! 

If you have any further tips, or if you have any great advice on other social networks, leave them in the comments below. Let's help each other out! 

15 comments :

  1. great tips as ever! hanna x

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  2. Aaaaah thank you for this! I'd love to be better at tweeting, so this is a great help. :)

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  3. This is such a great post! I really want to start pushing my Instagram account and need to try to take some of these tips on board - especially your tip about keeping your Instagram and Twitter separate!

    Thanks for sharing :)

    Steph xx
    Lay It Bare

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    1. That's definitely something I'm trying to do more of!

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  4. Number two for me, I need to work on this. I hate that when you share from Instagram to Twitter you can't see a picture. I know one of my good friends on Twitter, she can't use the Instagram app on her phone, so I think of these poeple when I double post. But I want to make my instagram more photography based, and I tend to upload photos that I have taken with my camera to there and I want twitter to be more me right now. At the same time, I find I get more engagement from Instagram with pictures than I do from Twitter, I don't know that's the same for you. It doesn't bother me and I'd still post but I just noticed it. Obviously Instagram is only photos but if I compare a double post, I see more response from Instagram. It's possible that it's because they have made it so simple to "like" a photo on Instagram now, I don't know. Just my initial feels about this.

    Wow, that's a lot of writing for one simple point you made ;)

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    1. It drives me mad that you can't see the photo! I agree with you about the differences between Instagram and Twitter and I get more engagement on photos from Instagram too.

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  5. Wonderful Tips! I am just starting to become more consistent in the social media network (Twitter and Instagram) After almost 2 years of blogging under one name, I have decided to rebrand so all these are quite helpful when redesigning & changing everything.

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  6. Great tips! Thank you :) x
    www.aletterfromem.blogspot.co.uk

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  7. Good tips! I recently changed all my pages to match - my pinterest and youtube now have the same name as my blog so it's easy to find.

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