A common issue when working in social media day in, day out, can sometimes be a lack of perspective. We’re too close to the action. We can be so focused on chasing that elusive engagement that we forget to step back and think about what it is we’re doing. As a helpful reminder to all of us, I’ve put together some of the most common things that get lost or forgotten when working with social media every day:

It’s about quality, not quantity.

There’s already too much content being churned out online every day. There are new blogs and videos and podcasts and stories and articles on every channel available. It goes on and on. It’s just not possible for us to consume the amount of content being produced. When you’re posting new content on such a regular basis, the quality can really drop. Instead, produce less and spend more time on the content you are creating.  Would you rather people consume something of quality that you worked hard on or get fed up with too much poor content being thrown in their faces?

The Social in Social Media

Sadly, it’s often the social and interactive aspect of social media that gets neglected. When things get busy, it often feels like new content must be produced on an almost daily basis. When that happens you run out of time to actually talk to people. It means the main social media channels just become a place to broadcast information and you don’t really get to know your followers. What do they want to see more of? What value could you add to their social media experience? Don’t just wait for people to come talk to you either, go find them! You’ll be amazed at how much more interesting and engaging social media is when people actually have conversations!

It’s not about how many followers you have

Keeping an eye on your follower count can be quite addictive, especially as it nears a milestone number. But we need to remember that we might have 10 highly engaged followers or 100,000 followers who barely interact with the account at all. A follower with just 100 followers might not seem like you would need to give them much attention. But what if their followers were all influential people? Follower counts might be an easy key performance target to add on to strategies and senior staff might be happy with the results but in the end. But we need to remember that the number of followers we have is meaningless if they don’t like and engage with our posts.

Social media does not live in a vacuum.

It might feel like that sometimes, but social media should always be part of a wider plan. Sometimes it can feel like an add on extra or that it’s completely separate from the rest of your communications strategy. If you’re running a marketing campaign you need to think about what’s on your website, what physical products you might need to create and how it all works together. For example, a poster for an event should promote a hashtag or include social media handles. Look for ways you can bring the online and offline worlds together in a more holistic way and you’ll find that you’ll have a stronger and clearer message.

It’s not a competition

Does another account have more followers than you? Or maybe they publish more posts? It’s so incredibly important not to get caught up in what other accounts are doing. Knowing what other organisations are up to is a good way to be inspired but don’t turn it into a competition. It’s so easy for senior managers without a good understanding of social media to push you to compete but don’t let them. What is working for them might not work for you. You don’t know what budgets and resources they’re working with. If you’re constantly trying to be like another account, you’ll never truly be focused on what’s best for your account and your followers.

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Do you agree with my five? Got any more to add? Let me know in the comments below.