It’s Time to Refresh Your Social Media Presence

How often do you refresh your social media profiles and content?

Once a quarter it is a good idea to review and refresh your social media accounts. This keeps your introduction to new community members up-to-date and relevant. It is also a way to review what you are sharing and how you are showing up online.

Here are some simple ways to refresh your social media accounts and presence.

Review where you are sharing your content.

It is easy to get into a habit of auto-sharing content because it is a part of our routine. However, if we are not getting engagement on those social shares, it is time to shake things up.

• Step 1: Identify the accounts you are sharing content.
• Step 2: Are you only using that account to share content or are you engaging in other ways? Other engagement could include: having conversations on Twitter; taking part in Twitter chats; uploading videos or going live on your platforms and sharing evergreen content and images that you or others have created.
• Step 3: Review your stream to see if you are getting engagement. Are you putting things out there and not getting a response? There are quite a few reasons this could be the case, but acknowledging it is the first step.
• Step 4: Is there growth on your account? Look at your analytics to see if your account is growing, declining or staying stagnant. Sharing content consistently should cause account growth. Unfollows are normal, but you don’t want them to be the overall trend.

Do you enjoy where you’re showing up?

Seriously, do you enjoy engaging on the platforms you’re putting most of your time and energy? If so, great! That makes engaging and growing your community easier. If you don’t, it’s time to reevaluate that platform. If it’s a “chore” than the way you show up may not be as engaging and genuine as it could be. Your community can tell, and it resonates in how they respond to what you post.

Review your photos, bios, and information on your profiles.

When’s the last time you updated the information on your social media profiles? It is good to review your profile photos, bios and other information highlighted on your accounts regularly.

At the end of last year, I changed my hairstyle. Many people in my community were used to my “big hair” and I realized that I had not updated my profile images to reflect my fresh look. This is important to me because when I attend conferences and networking events, it is easier to connect my online self with my in-person self. If someone is looking for my social media profiles, they will easily recognize my image because it looks like the person they just chatted with.

I, also, updated the hashtags I used in my social media profiles to reflect shifts in the dialogues my community and I were having. Did you know you could use hashtags in your bios on Instagram and Twitter? And they are searchable! Include topics you regularly post about, where your community could find your information and any hashtags unique to you.

It’s my preference to have my bios be similar across each platform. Consistency is important and helps your community easily connect with you on different platforms.

Poll your community.

As you are working on your refresh, ask your community for feedback. If you use stories on Facebook or Instagram, you can use the interactive tools (polls, ask a question, etc) for feedback.

If you do not use stories regularly, this will not be very effective because you won’t get much reach or engagement. You can also go live to have a Q&A session asking for feedback, create a simple survey to send out to your newsletter subscribers or ask on a post on your social media platforms.

Check your tags.

This one is specifically for Instagram. Users can tag you in their in-feed posts and they show up on your profile. There are two key reasons it is important to check these tags. First, to engage and support those who are sharing how exceptional you are with their communities. Also, from time-to-time you may notice spammy tags. It’s easy to remove yourself from being tagged in those images and remove them from your feed.

Declutter.

This step may take some time, but decluttering your social media accounts can help streamline what you see and how you engage.

Take a 10-15 minutes a day for a week to:

• unfollow, un-like or snooze profiles and pages that you’re no longer interested in seeing content from.
• remove yourself from groups you no longer engage in.
• move connections from “friends” to “acquaintances” on Facebook so you see less of their updates.
• create Twitter lists to see content from connections you regularly engage with easily.
• look at which apps, games, and websites you have granted account access to and remove those that you no longer use.
• look at who you are following and whose following you to make sure they aren’t spam accounts.
• if you have given administrative or editor access to your pages, review who has access and remove anyone that should no longer be on there.

Doing these clean-ups regularly will help to keep your feed fresh, inspiring and engaging.

Create a plan of action.

Having a social media strategy that aligns with your business goals and focus is important. Ask yourself why you are showing up online and what takeaways you want your community to receive.

You have taken the time to refresh your social media, now create a plan to continue showing up consistently. Creating a content calendar, scheduling series and launches, and showing your face on video are ways to continue providing the great content your community connected with you for.

About The Author: Michelle D. Garrett

I blog full-time over at Divas With A Purpose and am passionate about helping fellow female entrepreneurs show up authentically on social media for their communities. Feel free to connect online and see me in action on Instagram, Periscope, Facebook, and Twitter.