How to Really Leverage Social Media in 2021

We may be bruised and tired but we made it to the other side. We survived a difficult year and many of us are ready to make a difference in 2021. And difference is what we are ought to make!

With the rise and almost fall of TikTok, perpetual changes in Facebook advertising and reporting, and our internal shifts, the New Year requires us to drop down and rot rather than rise up and spin.

We must drop down and rot rather than rise up and spin.

We were spinning all 2020! Many lost jobs, sanity of even lives and many rediscovered selves, their strengths and passions.

Many established not for profits and for-purpose businesses rose to their highest selves, innovating and supporting like never before.

All these experiences are going to make our 2021 a different year.

Right now, more than ever, we must look within and guide our work from there.

Social media can help us reach wider communities, share important messages, connect deeper with those who are in need of our work and build donations and relationships. Social media can help us be our truest self or drag us down the rabbit hole of guilt, exhaustion and inadequacy. We have a choice!

Before you jump into content production and social media design, advertising and Instagram Stories, feel for who you are and what you want to create.

Feeling is the key here!

Social media helps create the feeling of belonging and relevancy, just like it can create many other feelings within us.

You must feel your work and your mission before telling the world about it.

As your feelings change your work shifts, your messaging sharpens and your results soar.

As I took some time with each of my clients at the end of last year to perform annual social media audits, I collected a bunch of important data that helped us see how we had tracked over the last 12 months, whether we were still on the route to the goals we set up and what can be done even better in the New Year. All of that was possible to see because we had been tracking those numbers consistently, only comparing them with the previous numbers, never anyone else’s.

We looked within, identified our goals, created the path, persistently followed the route despite the global pandemic and canclled events, arriving at meaningful results that today help us track further.

I believe that in 2021 social media is going to be the necessity it wasn’t before.

While the world continues to move in and out of online operations, many meaningful organisations and driven individuals quickly realise how they can leverage social media to really power their work. Right now, when uncertainty is more obvious, good social media helps creates meaningful results and more change.

If you are looking at strategising your social media efforts in 2021 to help you achieve extraordinary results in the next 12 months, start from within.

1. Look within:

Take a moment (it can be an hour or a day or a week!) to be honest with yourself. Ask yourself what is creating the most results in your not for profit or service business right now. Make a note of everythig that works, how it works, check-in with yourself to notice if you love how it operates and whether it requires streamlining, and allow yourself to see where you need help. Sometimes it’s the smallest shift that makes the biggest difference. We just don’t always see where to make the changes. I often come in to help people see.

2. Identify your pain:

Just like you learn about your community’s pain when offering a solution, realising your own pain is important.  So many passionate people lose their drive through exhaustion. They are wearing so many hats in their organisations, social media becomes a distraction rather than a supportive tool of change. From here, a lot of effort is done in a hurry, poorely or not at all, confirming the illegitimacy of social media technology. It saddens me to see so many impactful organisations miss on the opportunity to really power their mission because they ignored their own pain.

3. Strategise!

Strategising isn’t as obvious as it seems. It is impossible to plan your work before looking within and identifying where you need help. Many passionate people find it difficult to ask for help, thus don’t investigate enough that what requires support. We thrive by doing what we love and what we are naturally good at. And we suffer and burn out when we try to do it all. Once you identified that social media is the tool of change in your not for profit of service business, start with understanding your benchmark by analysing all the past data. Make sure it’s meaningful to you!

I ocassionally offer social media audit support on its own, if you are seeking to understand how to read your social media data. My full program helps you delegate this part, so you don’t have to take away from the impact you are creating already. When you know where you start, it’s a little easier to see what is possible and you can set up realistic goals. Here, I help all my clients create a stategic pathway – from the bigger picture to all the nitty & gritty – to help serve their mission. With short and long term goals, gems and bottlenecks, and identified benchmark we are armed to the teeth and ready to create amazing results. And we always do

4. Be kind to yourself:

Social media is often sold as a guarantee. Marketers, competitors, socia media creators and numerous Facebook Group members tell us that there is a million-dollar secret – a success formula – which will make all your dreams come true. Whenever we are testing a new solution, carving out a different path for ourselves, doubt can creep in and make us listen to everyone else but ourselves. Be kind to yourself. You looked within, identified your true needs, created a pathway that suits precisely your goals. You are doing great!

5. Collect meaningful data:

Understanding social media data becomes a lot easier when you know your benchmark and already indetified what matters to you. Whenever you go back to measure your efforts you measure the results against the benchmark, not someone else’s work. Your data will tell you how well you are tracking, what changes are required and what else is needed. No one else can tell you how well you are doing, only your data can.

6. Be ready to part with your expectations:

Sometimes we love our social media design more than it loves us. If data is telling you to let go off anything that isn’t serving you, take a moment to thank it and part with it. You are measuring your success against your own goals and your mission, nothing else is needed.

7. Repeat and amplify what works:

As you are reading your data regularly, trends and patterns arise. Those are the only trends you need to care about. The socia media trends on the Internet have very little to do with your work, despite what many marketers are saying. You looked within, you identified your pain and goals, created the pathway specifically for your mission and you are tracking your success against the history of your work and the impact you are creating in the world. What do they know about all that! Only you do. Keep moving forward. Repeat your work enough to know it works. And amplify whatever repetition served you.

I believe that in 2021 we are going to improve our understanding of socia media technology, while many channels will continue evolving. And we can play a part in their changes as we continue shifting within as well. As we are learning more about the intricacies of  social media tools and our own indoctrinations, I believe, we are going to shift how we use technology all together. We are going to create more ethical and impactful social media campaigns that save lives, change minds and governments, raise awareness and help distribute resources and support all around the globe. Our changing relationship with social media will create more meaningful relationships, fruitful collaborations and partnerships, creating a ripple effect grander than we have ever seen.

And you have a part to play!

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here how I can help you leverage social media technology to really power your mission:

I design simple and effective social media and Facebook ads strategies helping gifted not for profits and businesses for purpose leverage their social media technology and loyal community to really power their mission, building more donations and creating impact. My work is custom solution aiming at the specific needs of your work.

There are many ways you can reach out to see if I am a good fit for your goals.

Check out the Facebook Messanger bubble on the bottom right, contact page on the top and/or a form and a calendar, if this type of communication suits you better.

I look forward to supporting your vision of the future!