5 Ways You Can Rock Social Media—Even If You’re Not Social Media Savvy

By Rafael Romis

Some people—almost always young people—are what you would call naturals with social media. They have no problem tossing out pithy one-liners on Twitter and sharing their thoughts on Facebook almost in real time.

I’m not one of those people. And, I know a lot of business people who struggle with the “social” part of social media.

For us, writing a 140-character message is akin to writing a novel. We sit there staring at the screen for 20 minutes wondering what exactly we should say. At least that’s been my own personal experience.

I used to just give up after sitting there and overthinking it, letting my social media accounts languish un-updated for days at a time, which is the equivalent of months in internet time. When launching a startup, it’s imperative that you keep your social media accounts active. You are trying to connect with people and an inactive Twitter account or Facebook page isn’t going to work.

In the interests of keeping those social accounts active, here are five ways entrepreneurs who are social media un-savvy can keep their accounts active while they start their businesses.

1. Use your social media as a running business journal

Starting a business involves multiple steps. From conception to execution, it’s a journey. So, why not document that journey by using your social media accounts as a running journal? Each step of the way, put up a post about it and allow the followers you pick up to share in your company’s startup journey.

It gives you content to post, it’s something you don’t have to put a lot of thought into, and it helps you to connect with would-be customers as you build your business. Things like getting your permits, looking for a location, etc. may seem like they’re not social media post worthy, but they are exciting for new entrepreneurs and what better way to connect with people than sharing your excitement?

2. Quote the things you read, watch, and listen to

If you like to read, books and articles are a great place to get social media posts. Any lines that you come across that strike you as being worthy to share will give your followers a little window into your personality.

If you read a lot of articles that have tips for people, a tip per day will keep your social accounts active and they’ll even be useful for your followers. Always remember to give credit where credit is due. If you borrow a line or a tip from someone, make sure you credit the original author in your post.

If you’re more of a TV or movie watcher than a reader, you can always borrow lines from shows and films, as well. And the music you listen to probably has some good lines in the lyrics. Obviously you’ll want to make sure the lines you’re quoting are appropriate for a business account, but they can be fun and frivolous or more serious depending on how you want your brand to be portrayed.

3. Solicit help

As long as your friends and family don’t mind, you can ask them for suggestions. Of particular value would be any friend or family member who are of the social media savvy variety. We all have that one friend who seems like a natural on social media, always posting insightful things that stick in your memory for hours afterward. You might be able to borrow something from them—with their consent, of course.

Your own followers could be a great source of content. One thing that successful social media managers do is ask simple questions of followers like “What is your favorite [insert holiday] tradition?” People love sharing things on social media and they’ll respond to simple questions. People appreciate not just having links shot at them from corporate social media accounts.

4. Share what you see in your neighborhood

While you’re out and about in your own neighborhood, you can post about things you see like a new store opening, a funny poster, or even a particularly nice piece of graffiti (again, this depends on what type of brand image you are trying to portray). These types of things are particularly good for posting images.

Plus, you might also make a few new friends if you post about new businesses opening up or getting a facelift, etc. Obviously you’ll want to make sure you’re not promoting a competitor, but if you post something about a non-competing business, you might prompt them to return the favor when you’ve got your business up and running.

5. Grab some cookies

If you want short, tweet-worthy bits of advice and wisdom to share, you can always pick up an inexpensive bag of fortune cookies. Crack one open when you are stuck for something worth posting and simply share what the little slip of paper says. True, the fortunes are usually little more than sage pieces of common sense like “Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst,” but there’s nothing wrong with sharing some good old common sense advice.

If, like me, you overthink the whole social media thing, these five tips will help make sure your social media accounts can stay active and interesting. Best of all, they don’t take a long time. Use a social media posting tool to post to several sites at once and you can master this whole social media thing without having to take big chunks of time out of your day.