(social media hustle – 5 minute read)
Some days you gotta hustle. When those days are spent on social media, you hustle even more.
OK ok, wait.
Hustle?
What does that even mean?
According to Oxford Language (provided by Google – thanks Google Overlords!), Hustle means to:
- Push roughly or jostled
- A state of great activity
- To obtain via fraudulent and/or forceful activity
Ok.
So why the social media hustle?
It fits all three definitions quite perfectly.
In social media you are digitally pushing/jostling with other content creators/businesses out there to get your stuff out and in front of your viewers. In trying to do so, social media hustlers are in a state of great activity, planning content and engaging with audiences. And yes, in the grand social media hustle, the hustler is trying to pick out and exploit gaps in algorithms (not necessarily fraudulent, but it has been used to great unethical effect with regards to misinformation) to push their content forwards.
Social media is a hustlers’ business.
Welcome to the hustle.
What can I do about the social media hustle?
If you’re reading this article, my guess is that you want to get on top of the social media hustle. Now, we’re by no means experts in the social media hustle, but we’ve managed to grow a decent following in our 2 and a half years running this blog, so here are some hustling tips we’ve picked up:
Hustle – pushing and jostling
The first tips is that social media demands consistency over quality. Quality content is important, it solidifies your brand. However, consistent publication of different types of content will keep your audience engaged. The key here is to PUT SOMETHING OUT EVERYDAY. Like, it doesn’t even have to be your best work.
Starting out, it will be hard to put something out everyday. So the challenge is to create a body of work that you can re-post from. When starting off, challenge yourself to publish something new everyday for the next 30 days. It sounds crazy, but it can be done, (like The Comic Accountant did back in 2020). Remember – it doesn’t have to be your best work, but it should be consistent with your branding.
Once you have that body of work, you can simply repost and share your older stuff as you accumulate new fans and followers – this ensures that you have something to push out and jostle for your audience’s attention everyday.
Hustle – be in a state of great activity
Ok, actually you don’t have to be in a state of great activity for social media. You just need to be consistent. Initially, you will be working hard to build up a body of work. Once you have a body of work, set up a publishing schedule to work out when your posts are going up.
Publishing schedules can be automated. These schedules will then create the IMPRESSION of being in a state of great activity. Audiences love this. They love following a brand that is seen to be busy. A busy brand is a current brand and current brands are seen to be newer, more hip and more attractive.
If audiences are commenting and engaging with your posts, make some time to drop in a comment on the post as well. It lets them know that you appreciate their feedback and are busying yourself talking to them.
And of course, make time to engage and comment on other people’s posts in similar social media groups. This helps establish you as an expert in your field.
Hustle – to obtain via fraudulent/forceful activity
Errrrrr…..
Look, as a company we pride ourselves on a high level of ethics. So we never would spread misinformation nor would we ever encourage our readers to do something illegal/unethical.
BUT.
We’re not above producing content that we know will generate engagement and reactions. Our activity in social media circles is not limited to simply commenting and leaving good advice. We are looking for trends, analysing themes and trying to pick up what is the hot button topic of the moment. At the same time, it’s important to not be simply repeating a topic that other people have talked about to death, rather picking a different approach to the topic.
Example: The COVID-19 Pandemic is still a hot topic; but do we really want to read ANOTHER ‘working from home in the pandemic’ article??
Doing a quick Google auto-complete search will also help understand what trends are in your field/area
And uh, *cough. This article was inspired by a Google search crawl as well. *cough *cough.
In other words, be smart about the content you put out. Put out stuff that you know people in your audience will want to read. Be ethical about it and ensure that you are spreading correct information!
Just keep hustling
Social media is no different to running other parts of your business. You just gotta keep hustling. Figure out what is it that people want to read about, put your own spin on it and just keep putting it out there.
Experiment with different forms of content – blogs, short form videos, long form videos, memes, comics, etc etc etc. Whatever you do, never stop hustling and you’ll stay on top of your social media game!