My top three social media tips

I’ve spent a lot of time on social media throughout my internship. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter… you name it, I probably did it! Here’s some tips I picked up that might help you execute a social media strategy. 

 

Be a consistent poster

Social media is not a static tool, it’s something you need to update regularly. I updated each platform once every two days to keep content fresh and different each time a person sees it. I also started a post series called “Pearl Tip Tuesday” and each Tuesday a new tip about pearls and their care is posted. I thought this would be a good way to get a sense of regularity and get people looking back through older posts. It’s been a good strategy so far, and will likely become a great tactic to keep in mind. 

 

A picture says a thousand words

Did you know that including a picture in a Facebook post increases engagement (likes, comments, shares) by 39 per cent*? I was lucky at my company to have a big bank of beautiful photos to use in social media. Almost all of my posts had a picture attached as well, which makes the social media profile much more interesting and varied. If a posts pops up in someone’s newsfeed as well they’re much more likely to look at it if there’s an interesting picture as well. 

 

Prepare in advance

Although social media has an advantage in being current and great for news updates, it’s really time consuming to post every day and it will often get pushed by the wayside when there’s other more pressing tasks. As such, I used Hootsuite to schedule posts to the company’s Twitter profile and Facebook’s scheduling feature to save time down the track. I ended up scheduling three months of posts in one sitting, which was a much more efficient way of doing things. We also posted more recent content from events and media as they happened, to make sure the page also had a sense of currency. It was a good strategy overall.

Do you have any social media secrets? Please feel free to share in the comments.

*7 Powerful Facebook Statistics You Should Know About: http://www.fastcompany.com/3022301/work-smart/7-powerful-facebook-statistics-you-should-know-about

Social Media is the new Black

Social Media is the new Black
 

After two and a half months at Scitech I finally am feeling the groove of the workplace and my spot in the office. There is always something to do which is either challenging or exciting and this really has calmed my initial nerves of working in the ‘real world’.

There is one thing about the ‘real world’ which everyone should have a strong grasp on and that is the crazy world of SOCIAL MEDIA. This can be anything from facebook, twitter, blogs and hootsuite which I have found to be a massive eye opening experience in its self. If my sole role in Scitech was to just monitor, adjust, post and create social media stories and information I would have my hands full. The fact that these women in the communications department are able to get any of their other jobs done astounds me. That being said I have been given the administration ‘master key’ to Scitech’s entire social media sites and I take this responsibility with both caution and excitement.

 It is amazing how much there is to know about the world of twitter (which up until recently I have only used to stalk the Kardashians and Justin Beiber) so with this in mind I asked my supervisor for a crash course introduction to the social media site. All these hashtags and handle things that needed to be understood have taken practice but I have to say I am now nearly a twitter convert! I still don’t post much on my personal one (I prefer to stay the silent type) but I now can receive the most up to date news information, fun facts about anything and follow what is happening around Perth. This homework is necessary in the real Public Relations world and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is as computer redundant as me.

Hootsuite however has blown my mind, for anyone who has not heard of it look up http://hootsuite.com/ and prepare to be amazed. It is basically a dashboard which allows you to manage and measure your organisations social media. With one login you can view, update, measure and even draft upcoming posts which are schedules to come out in the future. It has your facebook and twitter on the same window and so you can easily view what is being said about you, what you are saying and what you want to in the future. Highly also recommend this as homework to all!

From uploading pictures of events, giving people a heads up to upcoming things and just interacting with our stakeholder, social media is amazing and we should never underestimate the power of it. If you want to see fun and factual things everyday add us on facebook or follow @ScitechWA (even a video of the baby chickens hatching!)

Feel free to comment, until next time! J

Brooke