Another day, another post – and very often – another update on one of the many social media channels you manage. Social media channels change as often as we change our hair colour (and let us tell you – that’s a hell of a lot). This makes keeping up, or (in your case you social media samurai, you) staying ahead in the social media game a daily part of your job.
We’ve got several dealers of social media news, plus some little hacks that have us always ahead of the proverbial curve and we’re going to share them below.
Here are our tips and tricks on how to always be up-to-date and on top of the game:
Stay alert with Google alerts 😉
Google has a handy little function when it comes to trying to stay on top of a topic – Google alerts.
All you have to do is enter relevant keywords to what topics you’re looking to track, like ‘Instagram algorithm,’ and then Google will (yep, you guessed it) alert you when content featuring the keyword is published.
Tip: don’t go entering too many keywords as you’ll be kicking yourself when the email notifications start rolling in.
Fill your feed with relevant news on the platforms
While the thought of following the Instagram account on Instagram may make you cringe at first, consider where the info regarding changes to Instagram will first show up. Yep, you get it. And the same goes for all the channels aka. follow TikTok on TikTok, Linkedin on Linkedin, and so on.
While doing so will fill you in on the latest features, and updates on the channel, these parent accounts will also often explain the latest trends and how to jump on them.
Other accounts we follow on the socials for news about the socials include Ad Week, No Good, Digital Marketer, and Sprout Social – just to name a few.
The accounts of companies in the social media game, like Later, Hootsuite and Canva are also not to be ignored. Pack all of these players into your feeds and stay ahead.
When it comes to TikTok, you should definitely follow the accounts TikTok Trends, Gerardo and Plai, just to name a few.
And while for a lot of marketing pros, hashtags are just something you slap underneath the caption of a post, they can be super helpful when looking for content on a particular theme eg. #trendalert and #newtrendalert
To get the complete list of accounts on the various platforms to follow, keep an eye out for our ‘Complete social media pro kit’
Look over your competition’s fence
For some, looking at what their competition is doing is like checking out their ex’s Instagram profile. However, you should certainly start looking at what your competition is doing and follow them everywhere you can.
It only makes sense. If another brand or agency is creating content and playing a pro ball game when it comes to social media, you should keep an eye on them for inspiration, to ensure you’re not missing some new cool thing on a platform, and to keep up with them.
This is the only way you’ll have them following you and feeling that pang of pain when you see your competition doing something better than you are. Don’t pay any attention to that pang. Think of it like learning from each other, or like when you were in a school test and you checked out what your neighbour had written for some answers.
Also set something up internally at your company that encourages the team to share news regarding the social media channels eg. a slack chat group, or a Monday morning social media muse moment where everybody is to scan the net for news. This is obviously assuming you have a team. If not, find yourself a social media buddy with whom you exchange insights with.
Regularly scan the WWW
As indicated in the last point, staying connected online and offline is key when staying ahead in the social media game.
Meanwhile, another way you can stay informed and remain an early adopter is by scanning these publications on a regular basis:
Marketing Natives, Der Brutkasten, OnlineMarketing Social Media Today, Social Media Examiner, Mashable, The Next Web, Wired, TechCrunch, HubSpot und TheVerge
Also, go ahead and sign up for the following newsletters: SmartBrief on Social Business, The Hustle and Digiday Daily for updates in the tech and web world.
