The best campaigns achieve the farthest reach and highest impact, but only if strategic communication professionals have a solid understanding of social media, and also know how to best employ it. As communicators and storytellers, we’ve learned how to do this pretty well and have gathered some key tips to increase awareness or position your brand on social channels:
Make a plan
Spend time researching which sites make the most sense for your campaign. Which platforms best match your message and audience? Study similar campaigns and learn from their strategies.
Understand who your target audience is, and which platforms they frequent
In the planning process, identify the preferences of your audience. Are they incessant tweeters, or would they prefer to pile up lots of likes on Instagram? Brainstorm the types of posts and messaging that are most effective for this specific audience.
Craft salient posts
Think carefully about what you want to say on social and how you can make it most interesting. Make sure that you are weaving core messaging throughout your posts, without being redundant. Strike a balance of timely issues and evergreen content.
Use images and video
If a picture is really worth a thousand words, it’s worth even more on social media, where tweets with images receive 150% more retweets than those without, and Facebook posts with images garner 2.3x more engagement than those without. To ensure that your message sticks, create eye-catching images or include short videos, a trend that has proven very effective.
Post frequently and build credibility
To get your message across powerfully, you must have a consistent presence on social. Create an editorial calendar to help organize your posts. Be informative and relevant, but definitely avoid spamming your audience. Finally, make sure that what you’re sharing and posting is factual and timely to those you’re trying to reach. That’s how you build credibility as a source.
