Happy New Year everyone.

As we head into 2018 I wanted to share, and remind you of a few tips to gain social media reach, interaction and followers.

General Tips

Tell A Story

People are tired of merely being spoken to, so as part of your 2018 social media strategy, make sure to focus on telling a story.

I know I brought this up last year, but the tip still stands. When you develop your posts or campaigns think about the story behind your brand or the specific campaign. This should help you craft ideas around content and messaging for your channels.

Incorporate Video And Live Videos

Videos are still getting so much reach and interaction, so I'd suggest adding more videos to your 2018 social media strategy to gain more reach, interaction and followers.

You don’t have to get too crazy, simple videos still deliver great impact. I’ve been camera shy, but live videos will definitely be in the mix for my strategy this year.

You can go live on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and all social media networks now allow video uploads.

Create A Feeling Of Community

in 2018, I think we’ll see more people seeking to connect online to offline.

Creating a feeling of community will be important - this can be offering physical products that connect to online products, creating Facebook Groups (more about this later in this article) or even going as far as to creating in-person meet-ups and events.

Test Social Media Ads

If you haven’t tried social media ads, 2018 is the time to start.

Boost your popular Facebook posts, try promoted pins on Pinterest, and take a stab at LinkedIn’s robust ad platform.

You don’t need to allocate a huge budget to see results from social ads - just remember that your audience targeting is key in driving favorable results.

Retargeting

Along with social media ads, take a dive into re-tartgeting those who've visited your website as a segment to advertise to.

…and a few of the classic tips:

Use high-quality images - Keep your images as high-quality as possible, or use stock imagery where appropriate.

Keep Consistent - Remember that consistency is key and letting an account go dormant or not posting enough will not help your presence grow. My rule of thumb is to post at least 3 times a week.

Have fun and test new features - Surprise and delight your audience (and show them you know how to use the network) by not being afraid to test new features that roll out. They may not always work out for your business, but if you can use them effectively they can add an extra element to your social media presence.

To give you some more to think about in your planning, here are some platform-specific notes to consider in 2018. 

Instagram

Strategically Comment On Posts

To gain exposure and increase followers organically, you should look to get out there and interact with accounts from other brands, and people in your target audience. Choose five brand accounts that are similar to yours and leave one genuine comment on their three most-recent photos every week. Commenting will help expose your account to people who are interacting with content that's similar to yours.

Like Post Comments

Instagram recently rolled out an update which lets you like comments – just as you can on Facebook. This adds an extra (and easy) opportunity to get some more interaction going for your account. Popular accounts can get hundreds of comments. Remember that list I suggested you make for the tip above? Look for posts on those target accounts that'll resonate with your audience and go through and like the good comments. This will bring visibility to your account and help you gain social media followers organically. Don’t forget to like comments left on your own photos as well.

Use Instagram Stories and Live stories

Instagram Stories and Live Stories can seem a little scary, but they should absolutely be part of your 2018 social media strategy. Not only will you be able to add more context about you, your posts and/or your business, but creating this kind of content can also push you to be featured in Instagram’s Explore section – imagine all the exposure you can gain from that. 

Instagram Stories Highlights

2017 brought us Instagram Stories Highlights. With the Stories Highlights feature you can now extend the life of your Instagram Stories for – forever AND they live at the top of your profile. This opens up a world of possibilities when it comes to telling your brand story, getting a little more traction from your Instagram Stories or giving your followers some more value.  

Follow Hashtags

Another new Instagram feature we got in late 2017 is the ability to follow hashtags. This makes it so much easier to not only keep track of how many people are using your hashtag, but the feature can be used to bring more visibility to your hashtag as well.

Facebook

Use Live Video

Again, video is a big deal, and live videos get the most reach by far compared to other content formats. There are so many ways to use Facebook Live videos – click on that link for a few ideas you can tailor to your business. Facebook also lets you upload 360-degree videos and photos.

Facebook Groups

Like I mentioned earlier, creating a sense of community will be of more importance in 2018. Facebook groups are such a great way to connect more directly with your audience and let them interact with each other. Facebook Groups got a few new features in 2017 including group insights (so you keep track of the performance of your group – yay) and the ability to schedule group posts.

Twitter

Use live video

Tired of reading that yet? Live videos add a layer of personality and an element of surprise and delight for your fans. You can create a live video on Twitter directly from the app and the video will stream on your Periscope account as well (which will only help your following on that platform simultaneously). Twitter also recently launched the ability to post Live 360 degree videos for those of you more advanced content creators out there.

Take advantage of the 280 Character update

Twitter also recently released its 280 Character update - so much more room for your tweets. Take advantage of this new update to tweet lists, multiple links and more. For more ways to take advantage of Twitter’s 280 character update read this post: 8 Tweet Ideas for Twitter’s 280 Character Limit.

Participate in Twitter Chats

Twitter chats are the best. They're a great way to create a feeling of community, interact with your audience, grow your following, and show expertise in your field – all in one. Research relevant chats within your industry, or start one of your own. After participating in Madalyn Sklar’s #TwitterSmarter chat I saw a big boost in my impressions and overall account stats.

And last but not least - keep going

It can be frustrating to try things and not get the results you want right away but keep going. Consistency really is the key to seeing improvement.

This post was first published on Dhariana Lozano's blog.