Many organisations are delving into social
media as they are realising the power of this free, public online space at a
means of communicating with their target audiences.
For not-for-profit organisations such as
Relay for Life- Cancer Council, social media is an attractive tool to reach the
community as it does not require significant advertising or marketing costs
that are simply unaffordable.
Many organisations and myself included,
have underestimated the amount of time and energy required to successfully
create and manage social media accounts. Drawing from my experience, time
management has been difficult in terms of putting 100% into the internship,
whilst trying to balance university assignments and a part-time job.
REALITY CHECKS:
- You cannot just put a few hours a week into your social media platforms and expect any kind of success.
- Social media may be free, but it isn’t easy. The more you put in, the more you will get
- If you’re going to take social media seriously, it will require a full time position!
1. Choose the right
platform
- Depending on your target audience, choosing the right platform is crucial
- Eg. if you have a younger T.A, it may be worth focusing on Instagram and Facebook rather than all of the platforms.
2. Post regularly
- Post at least 3 times a day.
- Most successful companies post up 5 times a day.
- However, also remember QUALITY > QUANTITY.
3. Schedule posts
- APP: ‘Pages’ – allows you to manage multiple Facebook pages on the app, scheduling posts, responding to messages, checking reach of posts etc.
- Hootsuite: manage social networks, schedule messages, engage your audiences, and measure ROI right from the dashboard.
- Get your free trial here: https://hootsuite.com
4. Curate content
- Use a variety of photos/ videos/ quotes etc. that reflect your organisation/ brand image.
- Create a consistent theme (use the same Instagram filter).
5. Review stats on a
daily/ weekly basis
- Ensure you are reaching your targets.
6. Respond to comments and
messages quickly
- Aim for 100% response rate as this is visible to the public.
- This reflects on your customer service.
More to come,
Chermaine Leo
xx
3 comments:
Hi Chermaine,
I 100% agree that social media can be a full time job! From my experience with my internship, it's definitely not just picking a pretty picture and posting it. You definitely need to research what generates the most interest, decide on tasteful posts and even plan out times to post. I also with your reasoning that social media is extremely important, not just for businesses by for non-for-profit organisations too. It's a powerful tool that can reach a substantial number of people in a short amount of time and with minimal to no cost involved at all.
What did you find most challenging about operating social media channels?
KIndest,
Brigette
I feel the same Chermaine, social media management is a full on job! I think it's definitely easy to underestimate the amount of time needed to successfully utilise social media channels for a brand, particularly when so many of us are on these social media channels multiple times a day. It's easy to think of them as 'easy' and 'free' but they're actually really hard work! You've thought of some great tips! I think one of the hardest parts of social media management is measuring it's affect. This can be super time consuming and it's often hard to know exactly what is and isn't working well for a client.
Hi Chermaine,
From my experiences throughout my internship utilising, monitoring and controlling my organisation Facebook page, I would have to say it is an organisations most important communication channel to external stakeholders. If managed well like you mentioned 3 times a day, communication between the public and the organisation remain timely and informed. If neglected the many existing and potential clients would quickly become dissatisfied, creating issues that won't just affect your current business operations but eventually your entire corporate image and reputation. Employed at the Perth Arena, I have spoken to reception who dedicates almost entire days to monitoring comments and providing feedback and acknowledging comment of the Arena's statuses. It is this sort of commitment all organisations are going to eventually have to commit to if they are to maintain a good relationship with their external stakeholders, as well as identifying existing and potential publics (active, aware, latent and non-public).
All the best, happy Facebooking!
Ben Dillon.
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