Why Staying Up-To-Date in Your Industry is of Utmost Importance
Social media is a fast-paced and fast-changing industry.
Tactics that work one day, might be useless to a social media manager the next day.
Updates will disrupt work-flow, interrupt strategies and unsettle even the most seasoned marketer if caught unaware.
What is a social media manager to do?
As a social media manager it is of utmost importance to stay up-to-date on the social media industry as that will give clients the best possible outcome for their social media strategy and marketing.
In this article, we will discuss ways social media managers stay up-to-date on social media trends and updates.
Where Do Social Media Managers Get Their News?
There are three main places social media managers get their updates and the latest trending news about their industry.
This includes
- Blogs and announcements from each native social media platform
- Active industry blogs
- Social media influencers
We will look at each of these next.
Follow All Social Media Platform Blogs
It should come as no surprise that many new updates and features are first announced by the platforms themselves. Therefore, we recommend you follow their blogs.
- Instagram Business Blog
- Facebook Newsroom
- Twitter Blog
- Pinterest Business Blog
- YouTube Blog
- LinkedIn Blog
- SnapChat News
- Google Blog
- Whatsapp Blog
Often, announcements about new features will be published with screenshots and how-to instructions.
Want to stay in the know?
We recommend you follow them all.
Follow Active Industry Blogs For Social Media Updates and Trends
Next, we recommend you find industry blogs to follow. Not only will these blogs alert you to the latest new features, they often will publicize discoveries of hidden features, case studies and their own take on the latest updates.
Here is a list of industry blogs we at Social Media Pro follow to get the latest updates and learn about trends.
- Adweek
- Social Media Today
- SmartBrief
- Social Media Examiner
- Content Marketing Institute
- Social Chefs
- Buffer
- Tech Crunch
- SproutSocial
- Social Bakers
- Tailwind
just to name a few!
We invite you to also follow our blog here at Social Media Pro! We write about all things Social Media Management!
Connect with Industry Leaders and Influencers
Now here's the ‘catch'.
It can be quite a bit of work to identify and then connect with social media industry leaders and influencers.
But fear not!
We have a great solution.
We recommend you join their Facebook groups. More often than not, their Facebook community is where they are present and share their best and most current information.
Just like our very own Kate Buck Jr. and Jesse Jameson started the Social Media Managers Facebook Group, many of our industries' leaders have their own Facebook groups as well.
Are you looking for the latest about Live Video, Growing your Speaking business, Instagram Updates?
Yes, there are groups for all of these topics.
Ways to find these groups include
- asking your social media manager friends for commendations
- doing a Facebook search for groups by keyword
- going to the page of an influencer you admire and finding their group
Do You Prefer a Daily Digest of Latest News?
If this all seems like a lot of work, we can recommend two tools to make this process a bit easier!
Both Pocket and Feedly are feed aggregators who pull in the latest articles from websites you choose.
We recommend you pick one of these tools, start a list of sites you want to hear from and adding the sites to the tool.
Then each day – or twice daily if you want – you just go to the tool on web or mobile (both Pocket and Feedly have apps!) and read about your industry news.
PRO TIP:
As a social media manager, it is your job to also stay on top of your client's industry news. May we suggest you add industry news outlets from each industry you manage to your preferred tool, and never be at a loss again as to what to post?
Latest articles and news and trends are great content to post to Twitter or LinkedIn and to start a conversation on Facebook.
Hands-On Learning Happens at Industry Conferences
We'd be remiss if we we not mentioning the importance of attending industry conferences.
Conferences are a great place to not only learn about the newest industry trends but to see the updates in action at the same time.
Social media influencers will be in attendance at conferences like Content Marketing World, Inbound and Social Media Marketing World, and most influencers are approachable (and happy to connect) right after they've spoken, so take this as another opportunity to gain access to their online community.
I am a Certified Social Media Manager, Strategist, International Keynote Speaker, Organic Specialist and Agile marketer! Blogging is my creative outlet. Running, hiking and skiing are how I recharge. You'll recognize me on stage and online by my always present orange glasses, a nod to my Dutch heritage.
