Welcome to the social media growth 2018 report!
To get right to the point, the purpose of this report is to find patterns that lead to smart social media marketing strategies.
Through analyzing blog traffic and social media growth monthly, I have become much more savvy about growing an online community. It speeds up the learning process when you can connect page views to marketing activities.
Overview of the Month
Twitter and Pinterest continued to show consistent growth, and Google+ added 1 new follower.
In addition, an Instagram account was added to the social media channels. Overall, the RTC social media team believes that Instagram is a good fit because RTC has a personal interest in photography. Whether the photography is good or not is a different story. But Instagram provides another creative outlet to connect with a different demographic.
As for the marketing strategy, I’ll flat out admit that I’m not a skilled Instagram marketer, nor do I consider myself a skilled photographer. However, if blogging has taught me anything, it’s that I can improve at most things with small steps.
My initial strategy with Instagram was to publish photos in sets of 3, similar to how the RTC Pinterest channel publishes content. However, after reaching out to more savvy Instagram users, I decided to change that strategy. For now, I will publish original blog photos and Pinterest images I’ve created. But I could end up personalizing the approach down the road.
Social Media Growth 2018
**As of August 14, 2018**
Twitter — 2,230 followers (Up 31 followers | 1.41% increase compared to July 2018)
Pinterest — 642 followers (Up 36 | 5.94% increase compared to July 2018)
Google+ — 18 followers (Up 1 | 5.88% increase compared to July 2018)
Instagram — 99 followers (New social media network)
Total social media followers —2,989 (Up 167 | 5.92% increase since the most recent update)
RTC Community Growth – August 2018
Email subscribers — 50 (The end result was no change after some movement)
Total community growth for August 2018 — 3,039 (Up 167)
Analysis
RTC surpassed 3,000 followers across all channels in August, but the majority of new followers were a result of a new platform.
Aside from the micro-blogging channels, I am focussed on consistency to grow the community. Ultimately, the best method to build an online community is to produce new content. As such, I have committed to publishing 1 new blog post per week, and 1 dividend income update per month.
Furthermore, it’s important to be consistent and strategic with how content is shared on different channels. For example, the photos you share on Instagram will not translate well on Pinterest. In addition, there are optimal times per day for posting, and it’s important to keep each channel unique.
I have been using Pinterest to share in sets of 3 and to collaborate on group boards. Twitter is best for sharing links, sharing similar content, and connecting with like-minded bloggers. As for the other platforms, I’m still learning the best ways to utilize them.
Strategic initiatives and thoughts about online marketing
One of the best ways to market your blog is to have unified branding across all channels. Of course, unified branding will not generate instant traffic like SEO. But over time it will help your content become more recognizable.
If all of the comments I write on other blogs have the same brand image, it becomes more memorable. Sooner or later another reader of that blog will be intrigued enough to visit the RTC website.
In regards to the social channels, the goal is similar to advertising through TV commercials and billboards. To sum it up, the goal of a TV commercial is not to create an immediate purchase. The goal is to plant a seed for the brand/product/service in your head. A couple days later you might be driving and notice a billboard for that brand. In reality, you might not have noticed the billboard if you never saw the TV commercial, but it’s that connection that makes the brand interesting. Next you’re scrolling through Instagram and the brand appears in your feed.
Based on what I’ve learned through blogging and studying business marketing in college, creating brand awareness is about developing a series of reminders across multiple channels. The end goal is to establish a connecting message to represent the brand, and the purpose for the message is to funnel the target audience towards the main purpose for the brand.
E-mail subscriber idea
Admittedly, I’m still learning how to grow and maintain an e-mail subscriber list. But I have a new idea.
Most large e-mail subscription lists were built through the blogger offering value in exchange for an e-mail.
Frankly, I haven’t offered something in exchange for e-mail addresses because I haven’t felt as though I had value to offer. However, I believe that I’ve come up with an idea that would be beneficial for the reader and for the list. Best of all, this idea occurred organically through blogging about my interest in dividend investing.
In exchange for an e-mail address, I could send more detailed information about my dividend portfolio. For example, I could send a spreadsheet or PDF that highlights the companies I’m holding.
I can confirm that the e-mail subscriber concept is being considered by the social media team. But no commitment has been made to execute on the idea.
Page Views increased by 76% | July 2018 Blog Traffic
