Notification Mania

By James Tapp

Oh no! I lost a follower! Well no need to stress, Debate's media coordinator is here to help. Social media is now something which none of us can avoid anymore no matter how hard we try. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and whatever else you use, they all contribute to our perception of life. And now we’ve all got this number, followers. The people we cling onto oh so dearly, even though chances are we wouldn’t even stop to chat to them in real life. So should we really panic about our followers? Yes, but not over how many we have, but instead how much they actually enjoy our content. That's right, engagement rate. While social media may seem like an online distraction or a procrastination platform, it is also a place that enables us to foster meaningful relationships which we would otherwise not encounter. So here are a few tips and tricks on how to really utilise your socials in order to build that online community.

Followers

Now before we get to the real nitty gritty, it’s important to say followers are needed, as they’re your follower base. You can say you have 100% engagement rate, but if all of that engagement is from 10 other accounts you made, then I’m sorry but your chances of being an influencer are pretty low. That being said, everyone has their goals, and while they're important, it's also about the process. Part of that process is losing and gaining. What's the point in having a follower who decides to vomit every time you show up on their feed? Pointless. The value is in those who value what you post, whether it's a picture of your lunch or another overly dramatic tweet.

Likes

The famed thumbs up. The bright red heart. A true craving, but also a cause of panic, something I know first hand. Having started a photography account a couple years ago, I was hitting 300+ likes on some photos, an insane reaction to something I saw as only a hobby. Where am I now? 50 if it's a good day. What's the moral? Algorithms. Now these are far too complicated for any of us to understand, but I've got a simple solution if you want more likes. Post more! And while you may not be able to control who sees your posts, it’s important to keep track of how many there are, and how this compares to your followers, aka your engagement rate. Depending on how big you are this can change what a good rate may look like. For an influencer on Instagram, 3-6% is considered pretty good, but that could easily be 20-30% if you have a smaller follower base and post high quality content. For any other platform though, 1% or above is generally considered a success.

Comments

LOOOVVEEEE! YES HUNNY WORK IT! Firstly, here are a few common phrases that you'll need to use to dominate the comment section. While comments can be a place of spam and hate, it is also where your ego will get the most loving or take the biggest hits. There’s no feeling of gradual disappointment like posting a bomb ass selfie to have no one say anything about it. Comments are so much more than this though, because they allow you to communicate with your followers on a personal level. There’s nothing like having a role model make the time to like and reply to your comment.

Analytics

Now we’re getting into really fancy shmancy stuff. Analytics are definitely fun to look at, but are also one of your best tools if you’re wanting to look at specifics. While likes are a good signal of how well you’re doing, analytics tells you, the who, what, where and when about your followers without being an absolute creep. And while maybe right now you post whatever you want, but to get instafamous, you have to know your audience, and this can go two ways. Firstly, you can really hone in on a specific demographic, for example 20-25 year old males, so you post content you think relates to them and see how it goes. Alternatively, you might see you’re only bringing in this demographic, so you try to make your content broader. Easy said, easy done. Right???