I'm Not the Social Media "Power User" I Thought I was

Well folks, before reading the first ten chapters of "The Art of Social Media" I thought I was basically a social media whiz. I mean I've used Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, and even VSCO for several years so I should be a certified professional by now, right? As it turns out, I was very wrong (and if you read my last blog post you're probably starting to notice a trend here). Guy Kawasaki discussed more tips and strategies for social media in 136 pages than I ever could have imagined in my entire earthly existence.

I found a lot of the things Guy discussed to be very thought provoking, but for the sake of time and length I will put my new knowledge to use and list my biggest take away from each chapter below.

1.  Use one picture as your avatar on all platforms. Typically all of my avatar photos are the same across platforms, but I never thought of it as the, "social media logo," Guy refers to it as in the first chapter. 
2. There are SO many more social media platforms out there than I knew about. Something that confused me in this chapter though is the mention of RSS feeds. I attempted to gain an understanding of what these are and what they are used for through a Google search but it's still a little unclear to me.
3. Reposting the same tweet will substantially gather more attention than not reposting. I've always thought that reposting the same content would annoy followers and lose attention for the account in the long run so this was interesting to me.
4. Only argue with a commenter for three rounds.
5. Enrich social media with a blog that has more lengthy content.
6. Grab new platforms to gain more followers before you know if the platform will have high success. I never thought of this strategy, but I think I might give it a try!
7. Use hashtags to promote events. I have never been one to hashtag, mainly because it seems like too much for my personal accounts, but I will admit I love a clever wedding hashtag.
8. Plan for Hangouts on Air. I'm still a little unsure about the purpose of HOAs I won't lie, but planning is always good in my eyes so I won't argue with it.
9. Speed is crucial to a Twitter chat. Replying to any form of message with speed has never been my forte so I definitely am going to have to start working on this one.
10. There is no meaning or long term benefit of buying followers.

Although a lot of the information presented seems obvious, I'll admit that a lot of the topics Guy talked about are things that I really never put any thought into before. Now that I am aware of these basic strategies, I will no doubt be putting them to good use on my social media platforms. Contrary to what I anticipated, the book is far from dry and has been a smooth read with valuable information so far.

Comment below if you've read "The Art of Social Media" and tell me what your favorite tips from the book are!

See you next post,
Casey