Social Media: Building a following!

Social networking is one of the biggest inventions towards socialising, there are plenty of these things around, most notably; Facebook, SnapChat, Instagram and the list goes on. Although these things are supposed to help us stay in touch with one-another, it can be a rough time trying to build a following for yourself. Now this isn't a guide on how to do so, but there will be some notes that could be taken to a practical use from it, this will include my tips on which platforms work, to what you should post.

With that said, I'd like to talk about a few things that seem to be a common misconception when setting up your profile. With this example, I'm mainly directing it towards YouTube, however, the concept applies to any network.

1. Becoming famous over night
A lot of people seem to think that uploading a photo, video or post will make them famous overnight. A large portion of the time, that is not the case at all, you may sometimes not even get a single view or like. I feel that this has become a thought to a lot of people because it has been possible before, don't get me wrong, it would be anyone one's dream to wake up in the morning and have over 1,000 new followers on-board to follow your journey. This only usually works if you're already famous, have a decent following already or you just were in the right place in the right time.

2. Gaining followers
Building a following is hard work, to do so you have be actively making an effort to post content and communicate with people when you do gain some following. Not all the time you will know what you want to be known for, if you're coming in and just wanting to gain followers, it would be a good idea to think of some talents you have obtained. The easiest way to post content is if you can create something, do some cool things or just go nuts! But be warned, the platform you're on, may not result in the right following you're looking for or even a following at all. Choosing the right platform for you is something that should take some thought, for example, if you love to make films/movies then YouTube is your best place, love making graphic designs, sketches, paintings? A platform like instagram or snapchat could be for you. The captions/descriptions of your media can also change how you gain your following, on snapchat and twitter, hashtags are used to help 'categorise' your content and can help send it towards the audience you're reaching out to. For my media, I tend to stay around the #GameDevelopment and #Programming as I create games and do some programming.

3. Posing "the right content"
Posting content can be a bit of a pain, but based on what was mentioned earlier, it all depends on what you want to be known for and what talents/skills you have. It should be noted that a lot of the time, your work may take a long time to create, but why should that stop you from posting in the meantime? In my short experience with a creative profile, I found that people tend to like progress shots, finished products and even shots of a released product. So if you're working on a new sketch/design for example, take some shots of your design in the making and some when it's completed. Taking a progress shot can attempt to build hype, which will make people want to come back for more! It is also worth mentioning that you don't always have to post about what you're currently working on or the finished product, but you could potentially post about what you are currently doing and/or what you have done for the day. It is great to know that what content you post, is entirely up to you, just be you!

4. When should I post?
The time and frequency of your posts are something that helps with your following, but it can be the make or break of them. So when should I post? Posting is something that is a bit difficult to decipher, as it can vary. Some creators are able to post once a month and gain more followers than they lose, while others may lose more than they gain with daily posts. When I say posting can vary, I mean that based on the content you produce, people may be inclined to stick around for longer before thinking about un-following. It can usually break down into a few reasons; cluttered feed, rare post or change of content. Now these things aren't all the reasons for an unfollow, but they are common. A cluttered feed is when your content is seen on a viewers page in an overwhelming fashion, this is from spamming your posts and rarely leaving a gap in between each. A rare post is when you may only post once a month or every few months, you may be a very busy person, but when a viewer sees a post from someone after a long time, they may forget who you are and/or not even remember following you. A content change, people often follow someone because of the content they post and they may not always like a content change, which could result in an unfollow. Someone who creates games and films may get away with a rare post as content is hard to create on a regular basis, an artist may be able to post regular content, it all comes back to what your content is and if your community understands the time needed for your content. BUT, I would recommend that if you wanted to keep your audience, try for a weekly update regardless and if possible, daily updates! But not too many, you don't want to clutter someones feed :)

A quick little disclaimer, everything said is based off of opinion and some things mentioned are what have and haven't worked for me in my time using social media.