How to stop being boring on social media

You’re active on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook—but being active and being engaging are two very different things. If you’ve spent any time on these platforms, you know that your business colleagues can be downright—shall we say it?—BORING. Don’t fall into this trap.

While it’s easy to fill your Buffer queue with new articles or link your company’s RSS feed to your accounts with IFTTT, easy doesn’t mean engaging. Easy is boring. Everyone is doing easy. You need to take it a step further.

Here’s a five-step action plan to take the boring out of your personal—or brand—social media accounts. Do us all a favor and stop being boring. Here’s how:

1. Figure out where you’re missing the mark

Look back over your social media updates with an analytics tool or just a quick run through your last several months of posts. I use IFTTT to backup all of my updates to Evernote, and I can search through my posts easily on all platforms. Look for boring patterns that you’ve fallen into, like sharing posts related to just one or two topics or oversharing about your lunch habits. Would you want to follow you? Be honest.

1. Come up with your key content areas

Variety is the spice of life, but when it comes to social media you need a few key content areas to focus on. Your key content areas help to brand your account and keep you from getting too scattered. Your audience is getting bits and pieces of you throughout your social media presence, so you need a few consistent threads. What do you want to be known for? What are you passionate about sharing? What type of content do you like in your free time? Choose three or four main key content areas—like digital advertising, pumpkin spice lattes, brain training games and coloring pages for grownups.

1. Take a varied approach

Lest you think your key content areas will keep you limited, don’t forget to vary your post types. Buffer founder Joe Gascoigne advises to choose one “staple” type of content—either a link, picture, reshare or quote—and then for every four “staples,” throw in a different post for variety. So if you’re going to share links about digital advertising trends, make every fifth post a picture of your daily pumpkin spice latte.

1. Use pictures whenever you can

Speaking of pictures, social media is made for images—so be sure you’re using them! Instagram and Pinterest are naturals for your images, but even a platform as “boring” as LinkedIn can benefit from some visual interest. Take your own photos, or visit a royalty-free image site and tweak your pictures with PicMonkey.

1. Get involved with your community

Social media is social, and having a one-sided conversation is the worst way to be boring. Thank your commenters or retweeters. Find ways each week to engage with your community. If you find yourself spread too thin, pick one platform so you can really get involved with your audience. Not only will you be less boring, but you’ll reap the real benefits of social media—making new connections.

Stop being yawn inducing! Take this five-step approach and engage on your platform of choice.