I am a Social Butterfly online but as boring as hell in real life!! My real life is made up of routines, sometimes very strict, to keep me sane and productive. But for me to make a name for myself and Fashion and Style Police, I needed to be very social online.

Social media is the shortest route to your target audience as almost everyone has a phone and most times they’re on social media.

It’s one thing to be on social media, it’s another to use it effectively. Although social media brings people together, it’ll take some skill to form a close connection, because you don’t have the opportunity to speak to your audience face-to-face. Consequently, people find it easier to consume content instead of engaging.

For freelancers, this may pose as a problem. If you don’t engage with your audience, then no one will know about you. Engagement is where there results are.

The good news is that you can learn how to be more social on social media. It all starts with challenging yourself to take deliberate guided steps to being more social. Here are 4 challenges to help you get started today.

Challenge #1 – Be genuinely interested in individuals

This is the foundation of being social on social media because it creates a bond that will grow into a relationship.

Genuine interest sparks conversation which is continuous, fun and engaging. It inspires questions to ask and it will help you get to know the person you’re speaking with.

Action Step: When you login to any social media platform, be genuinely interested in your target audience. You can ask them how they’re doing and what they’ve been up to and build the conversation from there.

Challenge #2 – Comment more

Tapping on the little heart icon on Instagram or the thumbs up icon on Facebook is so much easier than thinking of something witty or interesting to say about the post. For those who comment, they could just drop one-word comments like “Yes”, “Good” or “Truth”. That’s not socializing, that is spamming!

Socializing requires you to create conversation. Type out what you like about the post. Get the conversation going with a question that will get a response and tell you more about the post.

Action Step: Every time you hit the like button, make the next action you take be a comment. With continuous practice commenting will be like second nature to you.

Challenge #3 – Send a message

We get carried away with acquiring friends, followers and fans that we forget to speak to them.  How many friends/followers do you have? Compared to the number of people you speak to daily, I can guarantee that it’s nowhere near half the number of friends/followers you have.

Action Step: Send a private message to at least 3 people a day. Check on them and catch up on their lives.

Challenge #4 – Join discussions

Another way to get social, is to hop into conversations on social media like the ones on discussion threads. It makes your job easier as all you have to do is to participate in the conversation giving your contribution. Twitter is a great social media platform to practice this through Twitter chats. Facebook groups are also excellent.

Action Steps: Scout around for conversations on social media you can join in and make positive contribution to keep the conversation going.

Are you a social butterfly? Do you have any tips to share?