Wow, hard to pick just one social media hack. But if we're looking for something that isn't widely known, how about MailChimp's Social Profiles feature?

If you're on any MailChimp paid plan, you can add the Social Profiles feature and MailChimp searches for social profiles of your database subscribers and ranks their influence.

This means you can quickly identify who amongst your existing subscribers is (a) active on social media; and (b) influential on social media, allowing you to reach out in a very targeted manner to people who have already connected with you and identify ways to leverage their social networks.

You can also run targeted email marketing campaigns, for example encouraging Twitter or LinkedIn users to connect with you online, while avoiding harassing those for whom your email would be irrelevant - as they say, "discretion is the better part of valour", or in marketing parlance, "only send information that's relevant and wanted, to the specific people who will value it".

And did you know you can export your LinkedIn contacts so that you've got a nice CSV file with all their names and email addresses? Of course you may not be allowed to email them through MailChimp if they haven't given you permission to mass email them, but that doesn't stop you importing their names into a special list for the purpose of matching their social profiles.

And am I allowed to mention one more 'social media hack'?

If you've exported that fantastic list of LinkedIn contacts, you can import it into Facebook (and Google Remarketing for that matter - but that's not really social media) and then target ads to those users. Even better, you can now also build "lookalike audiences" - in other words, target ads to people who "look like" your LinkedIn contacts list. There are some conditions, one being that if your list is too small Facebook won't let you use it for privacy reasons.

If you're concerned that your list isn't big enough, here's one more 'social media hack' to grow it rapidly: Provide a content giveaway (e.g. free report) and offer it on LinkedIn or Facebook with the request/instruction that they need to comment "Yes" and then click the link which will collect their name and email address before allowing them to download. The advantage of the comment "Yes" is that it shows your post to all their friends/connections, helping extend the reach dramatically.

Ok, I'm done! Sorry for running off at the mouth!

This may not sound like a hack, but actually connecting with your followers.

Seriously. I don't automate any of my twitter feed. Why? It can sound hollow or insincere. I look at profiles and try to connect with them about something they've already listed or something they've said or asked of me.

Also, manually doing things gives you the goal of being timely. If you send an automated response to someone and they don't get a legitimate response from you (or whoever is running your social media) they may become frustrated.

I often reply back in whatever language they reach out in (or visible associate with) so long as I understand the language well enough to respond (English, Spanish, German, French, Italian and Portuguese). I can promise you I'm not fluent in all of those languages but I have learned how to thank them in their own language. It usually drives more follows that speak that language as well (or at least that is my experience)

Lastly, if you want to really engage with your followers, give them a reason. Post thought provoking content or ask them questions. If you only speak in statements you aren't giving them a reason to reach out.

I hope that helps.

Did you know that you can send up to 15 private messages to people in the same group without using the InMail service? If you are not familiar with InMail, it is a paid service that lets you send private messages to LinkedIn members.

How?

1. Choose a group you are both members of.

2. On the member's area, search for the person's name

3. Click the envelope icon next to the member's name.

It’s a great way to establish a relationship with potential buyers without having to pay for the InMail service.

Hi, Jhosa.

It's always good to uplift others; therefore, my favorite social media hack is to spotlight what others bring to the marketplace. Mention a helpful book, article or item -- as well as its author, writer or creator. Explain how it helped you and/or your company grow.

Spotlighting shows you understand it takes more than you to keep your company going.

It's the height of community-building.

Hope this helps.

Hootsuite is great. You have all of your social media platforms in one dashboard, you can schedule posts, and plan your topics. Best of all, it is free.

https://hootsuite.com/

One service that I find few people seem to be aware of, therefore I think it's 'hack-worthy' is Quuu. Its basic offering is to help you curate your social media accounts.

But even better QuuuPromote allows you to promote your content via other people's Facebook and Twitter accounts. This is great for your content obviously but it also gets you significant exposure, shares/retweets and follows on social.

Well, here's a hack for growing your followers on Instagram (Or any other social media platform, for that matter...but works wonders for IG)

This is called the Follow/Unfollow technique

1. Find an account similar to you.

2. Go through their Followers list

2.1 Follow that follower

2.2. Like a photo

2.3 Comment on that photo

2.4 Make sure you make a list of whom you follow

3. Wait for a couple of weeks.

4. Unfollow those in your list.

Those who remain interested in your IG account will keep on following you even though you've unfollowed them. Those that aren't interested will unfollow. No harm done.

This is a good, but time consuming way to grow your followers. Still a better hack, than buying fake followers.

Facebook lead ads all the way!