Are you looking to improve your social media skills? As online marketing evolves, it’s not just marketing managers and influencers who can benefit from upskilling. As we become more adept at posting stories and updates and managing our online brands, everyone must have the right soft skills to manage their online presence.
Soft skills are an essential part of a competitive skillset. In the realm of social media, they also play an integral role in helping us engage with our audience and ensure that our marketing efforts are effective.
To help you learn more about what you can do to create a better profile, we’ll outline some of the most critical soft skills to develop to enhance your online presence.
Communication
Good online communication might seem obvious when creating social media posts. But how good at communicating are we? With easy-to-use tools at our fingertips, writing about our thoughts and sharing them might seem straightforward.
We often think we’ll always have the results we expect, especially if our audience has responded positively in the past. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, as our posts can get drowned out in a sea of sponsored content.
If you’ve already developed a dedicated and responsive following, that’s great! If not, it’s essential to take some time to think about how you’re communicating and who you are communicating with. Specific posts require a different approach, especially if you’re looking to gather support for a cause or you’re looking for help with something.
Communication also isn’t just about words. Storytelling can take many formats, including images and video, which can all help to share your objectives more clearly. Even if you’re just a fan of posting mirror selfies, being more aware of your communication style can go a long way to growing a supportive following.
Empathy
Empathy and emotional intelligence (EQ) are becoming more recognised as highly in-demand skills. Conflict and miscommunication can escalate quickly, especially in a competitive and fast-paced world. Unfortunately, in a world of “trolling”, there is a distinct lack of empathy online, which can lead to cyberbullying and hate speech.
Developing empathy and awareness of others’ feelings can help you create better content to avoid miscommunication or sending the wrong message. If we go back to the basics, why do we use social media in the first place? It’s to share information and to connect with others. We can do these things better online and in person by developing empathy.
Of course, it’s human to post impulsively and comment without thinking. But, by developing more awareness, we can limit problematic online interactions and maintain a healthy personal or professional brand.
Collaboration
It’s tough to build a successful social media presence on your own. You only have to look at the number of collaborative competitions on Instagram that ask you to follow several accounts to see how simple and effective working together can be.
However, we need strong communication skills and empathy to collaborate with others, which we already discussed. By developing these competencies, we can build mutually beneficial relationships and help build thriving online communities, another fundamental social media goal.
Interpersonal skills come into play when developing these relationships, whether you’re trying to raise money for charity or sell your products. For this reason, it’s valuable to improve how we interact with others, for example, by improving our listening skills.
Problem solving
As technology evolves, we all need to find ways to stay updated with algorithm changes and other evolving trends. Without soft skills like communication, empathy and collaboration, we won’t be able to navigate a sometimes overwhelming online landscape.
While we need to develop our capacity to create engaging content by better understanding our audience, we must also learn how to solve problems and respond to negative feedback. We candevelop tools for dealing with inevitable mistakes, which is part of building a resilient and successful online brand.
Technical issues or setbacks can arise when building a company or brand online. By enhancing how we work with others and communicate with them, we can ensure that every interaction is handled with integrity and not impulsively, as that might damage reputation or brand in the long run.
Improve your communication skills with SACAP Global
If you’d like to learn more about developing a well-rounded set of interpersonal and communication skills that can help you improve your social media profile, take a look at two of our most popular micro-credential courses:
These online courses will equip you with tools to improve your interpersonal relationships by working through course content and practical examples. You’ll have a chance to reflect on your experiences and learn more about communication challenges you might face in everyday life and the workplace.
For those interested in more related Applied Psychology courses, browse our range of specialised short courses.