Case Study: The Londoner

First of all everyone: acquaint yourselves with the Facebook page belonging to today's case study, a blogger: The Londoner. (this is not a sponsored post. sigh.)

Here I presume to list 5 reasons why this lady has a following of nearly 54,000 people.

1. She's aimed for a big crowd:
Rosie has chosen to blog about things that appeal to a huge number of people: fashion, travel and food. These are all cultural big-hitters (anything 'lifestyle' is generally a winner) but, while not all brands have the luxury to sell such things, anyone can apply the basic wisdom to their own strategy.

What we should learn from this:
Gauge which elements of your brand message appeal to a prospective majority. Then use these as touch-points in your SM strategy. E.g. If your brand sells garden furniture, you might identify: summertime, family/social occasions and outdoor activities as your key hooks. If you sell fitness holidays you might identify: exotic locations, current fitness trends and healthy food as your hooks. See?

2. She gives a little to receive a lot:
Rosie hardly ever writes a post without an accompanying photo. This adds immediate interest to all her information thus making it easy to ingest. But vice-versa, she makes her content work for her: lots of her photos include a bait-link to her blog on her website. This exposes her monetised url to a social demographic thus increasing traffic, SEO and advertising impressions. AKA - rakin' in the chips.

What we should learn from this:
Make sure wherever possible you can add a visual element to your content. Don't just slap up a photo to tick this box though - oh no, my friend - your visual content must comply with points 1 and 5. i.e. - it must leverage popular emotive hooks (point 1) as well as appear engaged in the message it's delivering (point 5).

3. She writes amusing captions for her photos:
 Many of Rosie's posts include puns or playful references to popular culture.

What we should learn from this:
Well, this.

4.She shares photos from Instagram:
This means Rosie's Instagram account is linked to her Facebook so that, at her choosing, she can post a picture simultaneously to 2 separate social networks while directing the combined following of both to her website. 3 birds; 1 stone.

What we should learn from this:
It doesn't work all the time - people use different networks for different things - but, often, once a formula has been worked out as to what types of content can 'do the double', it is an administrative masterstroke that can save you precious minutes everyday while allowing you to drive traffic from multiple networks.

5. It always seems like she has a good time creating and posting her content:
Rosie is always having fun. It looks like it's her job to have fun - which is fun to follow.

What should we learn from this:
This is key - if SM output has a poor energy behind it, this percolates through invisible gaps in the strategy and, online, you'll be unmasked quicker than you can say 'sod this'. You have to have an achievable, realistic strategy that keeps you inspired. Your brand might not be about having fun - it might be about selling digital consultancy services (oop, guilty) - but there will always be some way you can develop a vibrant SM personality. If you employ a staff of people, your work-culture is a great place to start with an SM strategy. Create a buzz in the office and relay it on your social networks.

NB: The above tips are really helped along if you/your team also happen to be as good-looking as Rosie.