Celina De León

Happy New Year! By now you have probably read a good number of blog posts and articles on what you should do differently in 2015: what posts to try, when to post, and what apps to download. Before you rush off to embark on a whole new social media you, don’t forget to look back at what you did well in 2014, including:

• Your most shared Facebook posts
• Your most retweeted tweets
• The photos that got the most hearts

Pat yourself on the back. Well done! Now, look further and ask yourself:

• When were these posts shared?
  • Are Friday evenings the best or Tuesday mornings? For which platform?
• What visuals did you use, if any?
  • Do your Twitter followers retweet more when there’s an image attached? What kind of image?
• Did any of your popular posts coincide with real-time events?
  • Do holiday posts get more traction on Facebook than Instagram? Which holidays?

Tally this information up, or have your service of choice do the job such as Sprout, and make a cheat sheet to use and grow from in the new year. Make resolutions to: 

• Post during the best days and times of 2014, according to each respective platform, and experiment with the days and times you didn’t pay much attention to before;
• Use the types of images that received the most engagement, according to each particular platform, and try some new types; and
• Continue commemorating real-time events and holidays your followers care about, and research ones that might pique their interests.

If you’re not able to gather this information because you fell behind in the analytics department, 2015 is the year to start! Your social media strategy–and success–are only as good as the lessons you have learned.

Happy 2015!