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The Power of Social Media May Shock You

Photo by NordWood Themes on Unsplash

Published on April 17, 2020, at 7:01 p.m.
by Hannah Fogus.

As social media integrated itself into our lives years ago, most of us looked at it as a fun way to interact with our friends and family, post funny material, or share what we did over the weekend. Early social media platforms, such as Myspace and Facebook, paved the way for what is now a world run by social media followers, likes and comments.

Our world’s heavy use of social media today allows people from all walks of life to transform themselves into whoever they want to be. It’s not just famous singers, actors or celebrities who walk the red carpet anymore — it’s vloggers and social media influencers.

From light-hearted to businesses-minded
Social media soon went from a place to connect with friends and family to a key public relations and marketing platform. Brands commonly use Instagram to post brand content, such as campaigns, announcements and collaborations. Posting on social media accounts for business purposes allows for a steady stream of two-way communication between brands and their followers. Two-way communication is vital for businesses because it allows them to respond directly to their customers in a way that shows their audiences that they care and can be trusted.

When people started to figure out that they could use social media to their advantage, it quickly changed the game. Today anyone can pick up a camera, start filming, post their video and have the potential to reach thousands upon thousands of people. All you need is something interesting to say and an effective way of saying it for people to follow you — thus birthing the age of social media influencers.

Photo by dole777 on Unsplash

Social media influencers
A social media influencer is someone who has a generous following on social media by the content they post. They have the ability to reach a large audience with the click of a button. Brands are attracted to social media influencers because of their reach, and it results in a number of brands deals and sponsorships. As an influencer, you can easily make six figures by posting a picture for a brand on Instagram or Twitter. Making that kind of money with one post makes the job of an influencer seem very appealing to people, so there’s a large number of people fighting to become one. With that being said, how do you stand out?

To stand out on social media against other competitors, make sure your content is different. If others are posting pictures of their healthy meals, post a step-by-step video of your meal. Think outside of the box. Posting unique content helped graphic designer Zachary Chatham stand out among other graphic designers on Instagram.

The Graphic God
Chatham started his graphic design page, @thegraphicgod, in early December 2019 and now has over 2,000 followers. His page is an NFL jersey swap account where he uses Photoshop to swap NFL jerseys on current college football athletes.

Courtesy of @thegraphicgod on Instagram

“I like to do jersey swaps that people don’t usually expect,” said Chatham. “When people see someone like Tua in a Detroit Lions jersey, it sparks a lot of engagement.”

Something Chatham does that is unlike many other jersey swap accounts is his video tutorials going through the process of using Photoshop to swap athletes in different jerseys.

“When I started posting the video tutorials, the engagement on my page blew up,” said Chatham. “My last video has 62,000 impressions and over 15,000 views. I started doing videos because my followers kept asking for them, and it turned out great for my page. Listening and engaging with my followers has helped me generate better content because I know what they want to see from me.”

His account shows that by having something interesting to post and engaging with your audience, you can drive high social media impressions. Chatham’s total impressions on his page last week reached 250,000. Social media is a seriously powerful place.

FitBet
Elizabeth Baldwin runs a fitness page called fitbet_ where she posts all things nutrition and fitness. She stands out because of the intensive workout videos and meal plans she posts to both her page and her story.

“It’s so important what we put into our bodies, so I love to share how to properly take care of them,” said Baldwin. “People really like to see my daily meals and how to make them, so I post my meals and ingredients on my story every day.”

She reaches hundreds of people with each post, and her numbers are only going up from there.

“My stories reach at least 500, sometimes 1,000,”said Baldwin. “One of my workout videos has 1,300 views. It’s crazy to see how many people are watching my videos, but seeing those numbers only encourages me to keep posting more.”


Whether it’s posting video tutorials about Photoshop or giving meal plan advice, your voice on social media has the potential to reach thousands, even millions of people.

Social media has evolved into a place where you have the power to not only create a business, but be your business. With hard work and consistency, you could be the next social media influencer with brand deals coming in left and right.

So, has the power of social media shocked you?

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