10 ways curating your social media presence is like taking care of plants
- Follow a schedule for watering and re-potting that works for the individual plant.
Don’t flood your social channels with multiple posts per day. Post regularly on your channels, following optimum posting guidelines and think about what your audience wants. - Choose your plants wisely. If you don’t have time (or are forgetful), don’t get high-maintenance plants.
Don’t spread yourself too thin and choose to post on social platforms where your audience is. - Use fertilizer on occasion or top up your plants with new soil to help them grow.
Paid social ads will help grow your reach and will help the effort you put into your organic content pay off. - Check on your plants every day, even if you don’t do anything to them. This gives you time to get to know your plant and recognize if they’re doing well or poorly.
Check your channels every day, even if you don’t post to them. This gives you time to engage with your followers and see how your posts are doing. - Don’t overwater your plants. Overdoing it is worse than under-doing it.
Don’t abuse hashtags. Hashtags can help increase your online visibility and followers, but overusing them looks spammy and is ineffective. - Get plants that you’re excited about.
Be authentic in your content. Share relevant expertise, tips and information about your services. - Know your plants’ needs. One might need more sunlight, another more water. Don’t treat them all the same.
Don’t post the exact same content to every one of your channels. Tailor your post content and style for the audience of the channel. - Don’t get new plants without researching them first and ensuring they meet your needs – if you have kids or pets, make sure you don’t buy toxic plants.
When you share information (especially in your field of expertise!), make sure you do your research and back up your information. Your audience is relying on you for expert information. - Grow plants that are beautiful to you, not just because you gain something from them.
Help more than you sell. A good rule of thumb is sticking to an 80/20 rule. Keep 80% of your posts educational or entertaining and stick to only selling your goods or services a maximum of 20% of the time. - Everything blooms in its own time. Be patient if something doesn’t blossom immediately!