As a business owner or business professional, social media is a demanding place. You must put yourself out there, create content and stick to a predictable schedule. This can feel like a full-time job within itself!
Things get even trickier when you’re an introvert. Even though social media may appear to be an introvert’s paradise, it doesn’t always work this way. There are times when introverts don’t care to be on social media or engage in long discussions. But, you don’t want this to hurt your brand perception.
If you are an introvert, it’s important to know how to use social media to your advantage. You have strengths to share with the world – and social media is just the place to do it. Here are some tips to get you started.
Establish Social Media Goals
As with other aspects of business, it’s important to set professional goals. What do you hope to achieve on social media? Set manageable goals that you know you can reach. For example, if it’s not in your personality to lead a group and start discussions, creating a LinkedIn Group won’t be for you. Instead, you may benefit from joining LinkedIn Groups and chiming in on the posts you can relate to, when you’re in the mood to do so.
Also, social media is not intended to exhaust yourself. While it’s important to be active and engaged on these channels, you don’t want more energy going into them than need be. Don’t change yourself just because you’re sitting behind a computer or phone. You can succeed at your goals by being an introvert.
Choose the Right Platforms
The rule of thumb is that your business should be on the channels your audience is on. But, you should also consider the channel and how it fits with your introverted nature. Instagram, for example, is highly visual. This doesn’t mean it’s about selfies, but it does mean that people expect to get photos of your business, your products and services and your employees.
Twitter is built on real-time communication, which means you can’t schedule posts. If you join this channel, you’ll need to be prepared to post updates several times a day. Facebook and LinkedIn offer more flexibility in terms of when you post and the types of posts you can create. When starting out, stick to 2-3 channels.
Brand Yourself
While you may shy away from putting yourself out there, you must control your brand image. Otherwise, other people will do it for you. As a deep thinker, you know what makes you and your business different from others. If you’re not sure how to articulate this through words, take some time to write down a few sentences about what makes your brand unique.
Once you have a few taglines, also choose your background colors, photos, videos, links, etc. Add these to your social profiles so that your brand image is consistent across all of them. This way, when a person visits you on LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram, they get the same brand experience.
Schedule Your Posts
If you have a social media content strategy, you can plan ahead for your posts. Schedule them to be posted every few days so that you don’t have to sign into your accounts on a daily basis. This will preserve your energy so that you can use it for other relationships.
Of course, don’t forget to set aside dedicated times for checking your social networks, responding to comments and finding content to share. To help manage your networks, there are a number of social media tools you can use, such as Hootsuite, Sprout Social and Zoho. Most offer free trials – so check them out!
Consider Your Personal Life
Do you want to keep your personal and professional lives separate? Most social media introverts do, but it’s important to realize that this is hard to do. If people have your name, they can easily search for your personal profiles. To keep these two lives as separate as possible, be sure to change the visibility settings on your personal pages. Also, use good judgement when posting to your private channels.
Focus on Quality, Not Quantity
It’s easy to get caught up in the numbers. If you have 100 followers and your competitor has 1,000, you might feel discouraged. But, what’s important is the quality of followers you have. If those 100 followers are engaging with your posts and care about what you have to say, this is far better than having 1,000 people who don’t care.
While you’ll want to continue growing your fan base, put quality first. Develop a customer persona so that you have someone to tailor your messages to. Always post valuable content that your audience will want to read, which can include links to your blogs, contests, memes, quizzes, infographics and more.
Show Your Social Side
Just because you’re not the first one to dive into discussions or share your viewpoint on a particular issue doesn’t mean you’re not social. You’re probably not in the mood to have a long discussion is all. However, since this is online and not in person, being standoffish can come across as being unfriendly.
To show your social side, you can do other things like remember people’s birthdays on Facebook and congratulate connections on their work anniversaries on LinkedIn. These simple gestures go a long way in showing people that you care about them and the things they do.
Join Relevant Groups
Social media groups can be a great opportunity for introverts. Many of these groups are small and include a select bunch of people who all share something in common. As you get to know the people in your group, you’ll feel more open to engaging with them. This is a great way to keep on top the latest trends in your industry while staying in your comfort zone.
Some of the best groups to check out include LinkedIn Groups, Facebook Groups and Twitter Lists. It’s a good idea to be in a few groups on each social media platform, but do what’s comfortable for you. You don’t want to overextend yourself.
Being an introvert is part of your nature, and you’ll find yourself feeling the same way on social media. There will be times when you’d rather not look at other people’s posts or engage in discussions. That’s OK. But you still need to have a strategy that you follow to ensure consistency across your channels.
Are you looking to share your talents on social media? Contact WSI Net Advantage at 510-687-9737 or fill out our contact form for a consultation.
