Our recent research into our members’ social media use shows you don’t have to be a big organisation to have an effective and influential social media presence.
Here are our tips on going back to social media basics.
1. Put links to your social media on your website. It seems obvious but a surprising number of our members’ websites don’t mention or link to their social media platforms. Make it easy for your audience to share information on your web pages with their social networks and help them follow, like and connect to you with a click.
2. Use your organisation’s other communication channels to promote your social media presence. Ask all staff to add the details to their email signatures and business cards. Review your signage and promotional materials.
3. Make your organisation easy to find on social media. Use consistent and informative names that are easy to remember. And be wary of using acronyms. For example, WAEC doesn’t tell us anything about your organisation but Wallaby Adult Education or even the shorter Wallaby Adult Ed is much more effective.
4. Replace default Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn page addresses – that long and ugly string of letters and numbers – with a name that is shorter and easier to recall.
5. Have a plan and set goals for your social media and track your progress. All of the major platforms offer free analytics, including data about growth in followers, post popularity and the best times to post.
6. Don’t spread yourself too thin. Focus your efforts on those social media platforms your target audience uses.
7. Don’t just broadcast news of your organisation, it’s a turn off. Be social. Interact with others, be helpful, offer answers, praise and humour. On the other hand, you can ask for advice, do research, and get suggestions and tips from others as well as developing your networks and community.
8. Share great content – things that are timely, helpful, funny, informative and interesting from blog posts,photos, news stories, surveys, videos, and infographics that you know your audience will appreciate. Comment on what you’re sharing or ask questions to promote conversation and interaction.
9. Use tools to help you find content for sharing. Free tools like Google Alerts or Talkwalker track keywords you input and send alerts any time new content is published.
10. Check out the competition. Analyse what organisations similar to yours are doing in social media and what works for them.