Facebook 2.3 billion

YouTube 1.9 billion

Instagram 1.0 billion

Qzone 531 million

TikTok 500 million

Where is social now?

What is the current state of social media, and what should you be looking out for?

From myspace to TikTok, social media has exploded over the last 15 years. A digital space with almost no rules, or a true definition of what it is and where it’s going. It was the unknown, and still is.

Fast forward to 2019, and social media is mammoth, with huge personalities presenting to an even bigger audience, insane data and gurus. With all this change, structure, and specialised careers coming out of the past 15 years, there is one thing you should always know – social media will always change, and you’ve got to move with it.

Right now, as a brand or person of interest entering into social media for the first time, it may be daunting. How are you meant to compete with those giants who seem to have it sussed? Social media works in mystical ways – ok, not so mystical, but more on the algorithmic ‘understanding your audience and finding your voice’ side of things.

Although these giants may have teams of creative, copywriters and strategist, you will always have your personality. No large team can recreate that. Being authentically you has never been more desirable, and enables your audience to create a more meaningful connection to your brand. you don’t need to bring them into your personal life, but let them see you, hear you, and find out what you stand for through your content and tome of voice. Don’t be scared to push those boundaries. How far you push is up to you.

Not every piece of content or story will be a home run, and that’s ok. It will take time to build up a network of people who are genuinely interested in what you have to say. So don’t be discouraged – it may also be that you are just not telling it in the right place or to the right people. Keep looking for your audience. They may be in places you don’t expect.

The question that comes up all the time is ‘how do you measure success?’ this has had people up in arms figuring out what’s important. What do you want to achieve form your content? Was it to grow your audience or create engagement? Let the intention be engagement rate or like for like. Social media is powerful, but it can be incredibly fickle. Don’t let your stats entirely define what to create. If something doesn’t work, go back and look at why. Review, Rework. Re-publish and review again. Once you are able to determine what your audience enjoys, where they are and how you would like to show your personality, build on that. Social media is all about escalation.

Pinterest

How can Pinterest help increase traffic back to your website with a few simple pins?

With 250 million monthly active users, it’s not a platform to ignore. The question is, do you need an account, or can you just be present by introducing better sharing functions on your website? How about both?

Users come to Pinterest to find pins for inspiration, aspiration and motivation purposes, which you can work to your advantage by pinning against these points to seed content throughout the platform, creating links back to your website.

Start small and build up. Work with what you have. For example, if you’re an illustrator and have a bank of work on facial expressions and features, use those files and start. You could organise them and create sections within your board to separate it by categories – eyes, smiles, happy or sad. Show a potential pinner your expertise, and provide them with inspiration.

As mentioned earlier, Pinterest is an image search tool, so use those general keywords in the description, including relevant hashtags, a title to summarise, and always include your website. The optimisation is important – take the time to fill out the small details, as it will pay off in traffic and awareness.

You can also use Pinterest to promote your back catalogue of work for inspiration and awareness. Be sure to work In those keywords when you do, avoiding words like “my work” or “my portfolio” instead “illustrations” with such as ‘botanical’ or typography.’ Be creative. Make your work easier to find by potential clients.

If you are willing to invest, spend some time in Pinterest. You could look at creating some templates, inspiration pieces or how-to-style guides. These pins are a great way to build up awareness for your expertise, provided motivation for a pinner. Instead of sharing it as a native upload, pin this work directly from your website, ensuring you are getting traffic back to your page.

There are no real rules on how much you can upload to Pinterest and when the best time to post is. Just think about the quality of your pins, and keep a close eye on your top pins, clicks and audience affiliates to better understand what your audience engages with. Discover further opportunities, and find what drives traffic back to your website and why. New pins may take a while to show any results, but check back on those older pins – they may surprise you and receive more attention.

Also, if you do decide to pin from your website, make sure you’ve set up your account as a business page and claimed your URL by adding a meta tag to your page.

In summary, Pinterest is slow and steady, but each pin is an investment in traffic to your website and brand awareness.