How to Boost Your Social Media Presence Instantly

Who should listen: If you’re an entrepreneur and you want to increase your social media presence while encouraging more engagement, then this episode is for you.

Key point: LinkedIn, Pinterest, Quora, and Clubhouse are less saturated social media platforms that you can use to get and give educational value while cultivating potential leads.

Action item: These platforms are hubs for lively, cooperative, and productive engagement. Become active on at least one of them, and experience a new way to garner attention.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of social media has increased beyond any previously anticipated projections.

Quarantines created a need for new ways to connect with others. In 2020, the number of worldwide social media users was 3.6 billion, and by 2025, is expected to increase by nearly another billion. In Q3 of 2020, Pinterest alone grew by 37% year-over-year to 442 million users.

In the US, we now spend just under two hours a day, on average, using social media.

Remote workforces created as a result of the pandemic have caused shifts in social media engagement and best times to post. According to SproutSocial, the best times to post to all social media platforms has changed. For example, take a look at LinkedIn:

Marketers are taking notice of social media statistics, adjusting their KPIs, and putting social media marketing dollars toward platforms where users’ demographics make the most sense for their brands.

This week, Luke and Josh put aside the bigger social media platforms that are saturated with users (the six largest each has more than a billion users) to focus instead on four platforms with less competition and better-defined audiences that will boost social media presence for entrepreneurs and smaller business owners.

Of the four platforms, LinkedIn and Pinterest are especially useful for cultivating leads. The remaining two, Quora and Clubhouse, provide the best opportunities for educating your audience and learning something yourself. You’re encouraged to listen to the episode to get the inside scoop on each of these social media platforms. Here, we’ll simply hit some of the highlights.

LinkedIn

As you probably know, LinkedIn is used by people with a primary interest in business. It’s a great place to find well-educated users and in-depth discussions about industry-specific topics.

There are a reported 63 million LinkedIn users who are in decision-making positions within their companies, 10 million of which are C-level executives. There are another 90 million users who are senior-level influencers.

And you can find them all using LinkedIn’s ability to conduct hyper-focused searches. For example, if you’re a real estate agent or financial advisor, you can use LinkedIn to find CEOs, COOs, and other C-level executives in your area who may be interested in luxury real estate or who could be persuaded to move some assets.

Pinterest

“Pinners” use Pinterest to explore; they use it like a search engine. They are looking for ideas, projects, and opportunities to try new things. A potential proof point is that an astounding 95% of searches on Pinterest do not include a brand name.

While Pinterest’s audience has always had more female users than male users, in 2020 the audience of men grew by 40% year-over-year, as did the Gen Z audience. The number of Millenial pinners grew by 35%. This growth between the two generations undoubtedly contributed to why 82% of people use Pinterest on mobile.

You can set up a business account for paid advertising, including video advertising targeted to a demographic and/or category. With your business account, you can watch trends and see how your content is performing.

Here’s a social media hack: Pinterest is a treasure trove of shareable content with a big focus on eye-catching images. Search by topics of interest to your demographic and repost it to your social media account with a comment. For example, agents can search spring decorating ideas, repost what they find on their own social media pages, and start a conversation to engage their sphere.

Quora

If you’re looking for how to improve your social media presence as well as your reputation as an expert, Quora would be an excellent place to do it.

Quora is a question-and-answer website that is a hybrid between a social media site and an online research library. Users post and answer each other’s questions, and the site has attracted professionals of all types from a myriad of industries.

Traffic to the site is growing, and it’s high-quality and self-selected. Of this traffic, 71% is from search engines. Given that adults who use LinkedIn spend twice as much time using Quora, and more than half (54%) report making more than $100,000 a year, this is a group of users who have money to spend.

The key to using Quora is to provide the best possible answers to users’ questions. And the answers have to be real explanations—users don’t tolerate copying and pasting links. The better answers are continuously pushed up the list, making it easy for users’ competitive streaks to emerge.

This is a perfect place for you to showcase your expertise. As you share your knowledge in the service of others, people begin to notice. Inevitably, they’ll start checking out your website and other social media profiles. Include a hard-to-resist lead magnet on these other sites, and soon you’ll be adding interested leads to your email list.

Clubhouse

As Josh calls it, Clubhouse is the “darling of the day” among social media users. It’s the newest of the four platforms, and it’s certainly the one generating the most buzz.

Clubhouse is an audio-only social media app that enjoys an air of exclusivity—you need to have an invitation to join. But once you’re in, you can move in and out of different chatrooms, listening and joining in on the conversation as if you were strolling from circle to circle at a highbrow cocktail party.

With more than 10 million users and growing fast, Clubhouse is a place where you can network with like-minded individuals and professionals in your own industry. Many participants exchange handles to continue conversations and to connect at another time on platforms outside of Clubhouse.

Like Quora, you can share your expertise by participating in conversations and build a reputation. You can also learn from industry powerhouses. Its growing popularity means it’s not unusual to hear a respected industry expert has jumped in with his or her two cents.

If you’re looking to increase your social media presence, or if you are simply wanting to try something new to connect with potential clients, try one of these less crowded social media platforms. The pay-off may be dozens of new names to add to your list of relationships.

Connect | Resources

Episode 185: Create a LinkedIn Profile That Will Have Prospects Calling You, with Jimmy Coleman

FREE Social Media Bundle: Download this free collection of motivational quotes, and share them on your social media platforms to inspire engagement.

FREE Social Media Analytics Tracker: Like everything else in marketing, you need to track your social media activity to know what’s working. This free tracker will help you keep tabs on your social media efforts and get you organized.