Social Strategy

When it comes to social media, we all have our little tricks — posting at certain times, ideal filters / editing tools, using hashtags, etc. But do said strategies work for everyone? Let’s do a little digging.

I briefly touched on this subject a few years back but I’ve been wanting to write about it more in depth for a while. As time goes on and ChiCityFashion gets older (and I start using more and more Retinol products), blogging becomes further away from what it originally started as…at least for me. Writing to write, and promoting said writing on Twitter (plus Twitter chats, making Twitter friends…man I miss those days). I’ve always thought about social media as just being a supplemental way to promote my blog, which is what I spend the most time on. But I have to come to terms with the fact that things change and the blogging / social media landscape isn’t what it used to be. You know those mom and pop shops that have been around for 50+ years that probably think Instagram is a form of measurement? I’m becoming that mom and pop shop…

I’ve mentioned in some interviews, as well as here on CCF, that I have a really hard time thinking about social media in a strategic way. I’ve had Twitter for about 7 years, Instagram for 4-5 years, a business Facebook page for 3 1/2 years (only made one when I took CCF full time…thought I should at least try and look professional) but I’ve always just posted on them as I please. Never at certain times of the day or days of the week. The only analytics I use is Google for ChiCityFashion.com. Basically…I’m the worst blogger ever, right? (I promise I’m getting somewhere with this…)

This topic has been brought up a few times during a couple episodes of Fashion Friends (especially more recently as my latest guest Jen Worman actually wrote an e-book about how to get more Instagram followers). And every time I’m involved in one of these conversations, I’m like damn I’m so behind. Like still using a Motorola Razr in 2016 behind…

So I thought I’d share the strategies I do use (which will take all of 23 seconds for you to read as there aren’t many) then the ones I’ve read about and I want to know 1) do you use any of those? 2) do they work for you? and 3) how would you feel if you saw them on @chicityfashion? So first, my “strategies”…

The first is not even for social media but an SEO plugin I use on my site. Honestly I have no idea if it works but I feel better about life when I use it. For social, I started promoting old content (mostly on Facebook and Twitter) throughout the day to increase traffic. Instagram and Snapchat have really killed blog traffic so I thought that was a good way to overcome that. And just because I wrote it two years ago, doesn’t mean it isn’t still relevant! Lastly (to me it’s not necessarily a strategy) but I do tag the designers I wear on Instagram just because I think they want to know who’s wearing their creations (I would if I were in their position) and followers want to know that information as well. And that’s about the extent of it. Honestly, I’ve always just posted what I wanted, when I wanted…and just hoped for the best. But that’s only going to get you so far in the crazy world of social media today.

Lately, I’ve done a little research (for the first time…I realize, very late in the game) on best social media practices. I actually have tried implementing a few, but from what I’ve seen so far…they don’t seem to be working in my favor. So let’s take a look…

• Hashtags — I’ve never been a huge fan of hashtags. They’re invasive. They can be overwhelming. And I never thought people actually clicked them (I don’t…unless I’m looking for other #whiteboxers on Instagram like my boy Lennox). But it looks like I’m not the norm here. It seems like bloggers who use several hashtags (specifically on Instagram) have a ton of followers and really high engagement. So does this mean I should start hash tagging the shit out of my posts? I can go the fashion route with #ootd #ontheblog #aboutalook, I can even get a little spammy with #instafollow #likeforlike #followback or keep it generic with a little #instagood #love #photooftheday. What do you think?

• Tagging accounts — this is different from hash tagging…this is actually tagging the photo with various accounts (like how I mentioned I do with designers). I actually learned about this last summer and have done some more Googling since then. There are Instagram feature accounts (across all categories, mostly photography and travel but fashion is definitely not excluded) and if you tag them, they might feature your photo. I say might because some of these accounts you have to pay to have them tag you and feature your photo. I have no idea how to tell if one is a paid account or not but check out handles that include “street style” “ootd” or “outfit” and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Also @liketoknow.it seems to be the most popular tag…but we’ll get to that in just a moment.

• Like To Know It — if you follow a lot of fashion bloggers, I’m sure your feed consists of @liketoknow.it #liketkit and a link that you still so frustratingly cannot click on because Instagram is evil that way. If you haven’t figured it out by now, LTKI is part of rewardStyle (an affiliate marketing company pretty much every blogger, including myself, uses to make money through affiliate links). So when you like those #liketkit photos and you get details about that outfit sent to your inbox, and you buy something from that email, the blogger makes money. I tried using LTKI when it first came out because it’s an easy way to respond to “where did you get those shoes?” and “who makes that dress?” I used it for a month or two and saw little return. I wasn’t doing many personal style posts at the time, so that could be a reason. I also started a little early. Now there’s many more bloggers using it meaning more people are actually signed up for the LTKI emails. Maybe a few months isn’t long enough for this thing to really kick in. But regardless of the reasoning…I sort hate how it looks in the caption anyway. So if you want to know what I’m wearing, either come over here to chicityfashion.com or leave a comment somewhere in the social media world, and we’ll figure something out 🙂

• Engagement — Another way to gain more followers is to like and comment on other people’s photos. Seems simple, right? Some of the research I read said that you can get around 6 new followers for every 100 photos liked. WOW HOW GENEROUS. That seems like A LOT of double tapping just to get a few new followers, don’t you think? Apparently there are also “bots” that you can pay to do this for you. But I figure, if I want to show you I like what you’re doing…I’m going to do it myself (no offense to the robots).

• Timing — this one is tricky as this is the one I haven’t found very useful on my end. Apparently the best times to post on Instagram are 2am and 5pm ET and Wednesdays have the highest engagement. Instagram is funny to me because I’ll post something I think is great (well…I think it’s all great if I’m posting it ?) and it will get little engagement. Then I’ll post something that I don’t think is as exciting and it will get a ton of likes. I DON’T GET IT. It could have to do with the timing…but I know I’m definitely not up past 11pm and whenever I post photos in the late afternoon / early evening, they don’t seem to be all that popular. Before work (7-8am) and later (after 9pm) seems to be best for me.

• Other tips — there’s other little things you can do like ask questions in your caption (to encourage more comments), geotag , filter / edit photos with a lighter cooler hue (as opposed to darker / warmer), conduct loop giveaways (which hurt my eyes to read)…but I think you have to test them all yourself to see what works for you!

So at the end of the day, I’m torn here. In one sense, I’m kind of proud I built my social media following by really doing nothing except being myself. On the other hand, now that brands pretty much only care to partner with those that have a large following (specifically on Instagram, at least for fashion) it would be beneficial to have more followers / engagement. Plus, when people ask me “how do I get more Instagram followers?” (which happens surprisingly often) I can actually have a real answer!

Now I turn the conversation to you. What do you think of these strategies? Are there any that you use and recommend (featured here or not)? As a follower, how do you feel when you see some of these strategies implemented on the accounts you follow? Should I get with the times and actually do some of these? Like if I started using a ridiculous amount of of hashtags, would you be like #UNFOLLOW? Or if I attempt Like To Know It Again, would you be annoyed to see yet another #liketkit tag on your feed? Don’t be shy…I spilled it all. I hope you’ll do the same!

Images via…you guessed it…INSTAGRAM