Photo: Courtney Jones Photography
In the more than 20 years since social media has been in existence, it has completely altered the way we interact with others and perceive the world around us. However, in recent years, social media has shifted away from just being a way to stay connected and has transformed into a way for businesses to market themselves, build community, and make sales.
While social media can be a game-changing tool, it can be daunting trying to navigate all the platforms and to know which features you should be taking advantage of. To take the guesswork out of your own social media journey, we turned to 10 brilliant female entrepreneurs to learn about the social media hacks that worked—and those that didn’t—to build a following, create content that others love, and effectively get the results they’re after.
Hack #1: Lean Into Quality vs. Quantity
Sonali Nigam
Founder and CEO of Petminded
My Experience: We offer virtual events and activities to pet parents, so we don't often get the chance to meet them in person. When pet parents come to our events we ask that they share their IG handle with us so we can follow them and engage regularly. We also take a quick Zoom photo with the group at the end of the event and tag all of them so they can connect with each other, and potentially reshare with their followers too. By doing this, our audience has become more of a community and more engaged with us.
My Advice: Pick one channel and focus on it. Also, the number of followers is a vanity metric—engagement is more important. So instead of following and unfollowing people, I recommend talking to them and really getting to know them. If that means you have a smaller number of followers initially, that's okay! The people you engage with will come to love you and become your best ambassadors.
Hack #2: Focus on ROI and ROT
Kelsey Specter
Owner of Wild Side Design Co.
My Experience: Switching our full focus to Pinterest and away from other media sources was a game-changer. We are able to build long-term keyword equity and double up on our SEO strategy that we already used for other search engines. Our Pinterest strategy now takes less than 10 minutes per day and yields better results than 4+ hours a week spent on other platforms.
My Advice: Focus on what brings you the best ROI and ROT. If something isn't bringing you measurable results, it's time to switch up the platform or the message. It may be something you never considered before, like Pinterest.
Hack #3: Build Community First
Michele Heyward
Founder and CEO of PositiveHire
My Experience: As a founder, I’ve focused on building community first. This meant me sending personalized messages to hundreds of women to invite them to events and discuss their career questions and struggles. I learned early on not to be generic or high level when engaging with my community about workplace diversity and inclusion issues on and off of social media.
My Advice: Don’t go for large numbers at first. First, focus on successfully addressing the problem of just a few people who’ll more than likely become your unofficial brand ambassadors. They will help amplify your voice and grow your following.
Hack #4: Create Video Content
Kristin Jekielek
Founder of Simple Video Training
My Experience: When I was launching my coaching business, I immediately turned to creating videos to get the word out. Within just a couple of weeks, I was getting the attention of my network I hadn't talked to in years, and complete strangers were coming in as warm leads. Putting myself on video did way more for that business than blogs or regular social media ever did.
My Advice: Start making videos—today. Putting yourself on video can be way simpler, less expensive, and more imperfect than you probably realize, while still being great at bringing in leads. It's about giving people an experience of you, to turn lurkers into warm leads.
Hack #5: Create Video “Listicles”
Rana Good
Founder of Naïra NYC
My Experience: Written listicles are a snooze, but video listicles do well on TikTok and now in Instagram Reels. One of our most successful videos is “5 Dark-Skinned Models to Know," and it resonated so well on both platforms. People like to see multiple faces and learn about a specific category—it keeps their attention for the full 15 seconds.
My Advice: Think of an informative video "listicle" that fits into your niche and develop a visually captivating sequence for 15 seconds for TikTok or Reels.
Hack #6: Build Genuine Connections
Kelly Hoey
Author of Build Your Dream Network
My Experience: It's been 12 years since I stepped into networking on social media platforms, and the hack that still works is showing up consistently for your network. Being genuinely interested and paying attention to what others are interested in, and being responsive—it's the human hack. Isn't social media really about genuinely connecting with other people?
My Advice: Fads—whether a filter or an influencer—come and go, but genuine connections persist. Be who you are IRL on social media.
Hack #7: Deliver Value to Your Ideal Audience
Xi Chen
Founder and Creative Director of Sonderlier
My Experience: What has worked for me is a fun challenge. For example, I knew a lot of us were stuck at home and a dressing rut consisting of only gym clothes or pajamas. So I did a week-long "no gym clothes" challenge. Not only did I increase my following by almost 10%, but I also delivered value to my audience.
My Advice: Really take the time to understand the pain point of your audience, and then help them address it in an interactive and fun way. I think authenticity is crucial here, as well. So find a way to let your genuine care shine through.
Hack #8: Create Shareable Content
Stephanie Burns
Founder of Chic CEO
My Experience: People share different things. If your goal is to create visibility for your company, sharing is vital. If you have a piece of content that you want to be read and shared, create infographics, videos, quote images, etc., that you use to promote it. Create your content once, then use different types of media to promote it through all of your social channels.
My Advice: Don't expect social media to sell for you. Create a relationship, show off your personality, and use it to create a brand.
Hack #9: Define Your Business Hours on Social Media
Ada Chen
Founder and CEO of The Cultivate Method
My Experience: If you get a lot of questions or support-type requests through social media, make a separate support-focused handle! This will help you focus and prioritize between your brand's main social media handles and customer issues. If you're growing, this will also set you up for success in the future because you'll be able to more easily hand off social media support responsibilities!
My Advice: Juggling multiple social media handles for your business can be time-consuming and stressful. Make sure you clearly define your business hours so customers know when they can expect a response from you, and so you can take breaks regularly. You don't have to be on social media 24/7 to be a responsive brand!
Hack #10: Utilize Giveaways
Sarabeth Perry
Founder of Bace
My Experience: One of the most powerful hacks that have worked for us to help grow our page is giveaways. Granted, we've had dramatically different results with different people— the key is to make sure the influencer/ambassador you're doing the giveaway with has consistent high engagement. If their audience is engaged, then you'll garner a lot of interest in the giveaway—sometimes, engagement is more important than the number of followers!
My Advice: Pace yourself—it's so easy to get emotionally tied to every post, every story and every follow (or unfollow!) but the best thing to do is to come up with a plan for consistency, track what's working, and then set up a few experiments to run. That way you can know you're doing what you can while testing what can help propel you to the next level. Everything doesn't have to be perfect! The best way to grow is to post content that's relevant and timely to your audience. We've learned that while posting beautiful product photos might be great for an aesthetic grid, relatable tweets actually get people much more engaged with the message we're trying to spread!
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