Social media can be a low cost and fast way to reach your target audience. There are many examples of third-sector, community and charitable organisations using it to great effect.
According to the latest data from Ofcom, adults in the UK spend around four hours online a day on average. Much of this time is spent on social media. Facebook is the single largest platform with more than 60% of the UK population as active users, but other platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn and TikTok, to name a few, boast similarly large user numbers.
Social media is a central part of how people communicate, find entertainment, consume news and do business. So the potential audience is huge… but it’s also a crowded space. Your message is competing with thousands of others vying for a few seconds of attention. And with a growing and constantly changing list of popular platforms it can be hard to know where to focus your attention.
Success depends on going back to the first principles of communications - being crystal clear on your audience and your objective.
Top tips for social media
Think audience first rather than platform. There’s a wealth of information available for free online which describes how different groups of people use social media channels. The Ofcom website is a great place to start for that insight. You may also have your own local insight on what platforms your target audiences use. It may involve a little trial and error but if you want to use social media chiefly for networking for instance, then you may wish to focus on developing a strong presence on LinkedIn. If your aim is to use social media for organising your community or volunteers, then you may wish to explore Facebook Groups or even Whatsapp broadcast lists to complement your approach.
You don’t have to be on everything. It can be tempting to set up accounts on every platform but it’s likely the time you are able to spend on your social media is limited, so focussing on the platforms that work best for you is essential. Be realistic about capacity and skills within your team. It’s easy to underestimate the time, effort and creativity it takes to build an audience. Before you set up your platforms establish who will be responsible for creating content, posting and responding. It’s also a good idea to set realistic expectations for how frequently you’ll post. That will also depend on your chosen platform(s).There are many low-cost tools on the market that can help with scheduling to lighten the load but be weary of bulk-sharing posts to fill space. It’s much better to focus on creating fewer quality and engaging posts your audience will value over filler.
Use original images and video. While it’s great to share images and video provided by other partners, try to make sure they’re relevant for your audience locally. The best accounts create their own original content and tailor it for their audience and platform of choice. Of course, content creation and videography are specialist skills, but simple images of the impact your work has, or simple pieces to camera are often the most impactful on social media, and achievable for many people. There is a wealth of free and reasonably priced training out there and lots of affordable software options for basic video and image editing.
Be inclusive and representative of your audiences. It's important to showcase voices and stories of people from diverse backgrounds that are representative of your audiences. The Government Communication Service have written this useful blog with guidance on How to Make Your Campaign Imagery More Diverse. You may also this blog on How communicators can be better allies for neuro-divergent people heplful when creating your content.
Be authentic. People respond to human stories that relate to their everyday experience. As community and charitable organisations, you’re uniquely placed to talk authentically about the issues that matter to you. Showcase your people and the people you work with. Tell their stories. We try to always ask ourselves three questions before posting content:
Is it inspiring? Is it entertaining? Is it informative? If the answer to all three is ‘No’ then perhaps we need to go back to the drawing board. The best content may answer a resounding yes to all three of these, but you should aim for at least one. Remember - when featuring people it's important to have informed consent and that the person featured understands how their image, video or words will be used. You can use a form like our template Consent Form in the Download section for this.
Engage with your audience. Social media works best when it’s a two-way conversation. And many of the algorithms will favour content that sparks discussion. This is most often positive, but it can also have pitfalls. Constructive criticism and feedback is welcome but it can sometimes become overly negative or even abusive. For these situations it’s a good idea to have some house rules on how you expect people to behave and how you will respond if those standards are not met. Each platform has moderation tools to help such as blocking and reporting abusive users or spam. You can check out our own rules of engagement on our website.
Remember all social media platforms are a public forum. Make sure all the content you post is in line with the values of your organisation. Anything you post on social media can be taken as your official comment or position on an issue. Posts on social media are often used by journalists in their stories. This doesn’t mean you can’t have fun and be accessible with your content. Being conversational doesn’t have to mean unprofessional – after all, you have professional conversations in real life all the time.
Evaluate. Almost all social media platforms provide a wealth of data that’s readily available to show you how well your content is performing. You’ll be able to understand crucial things like how many people you are reaching, how many people are engaging and who they are. Use this to your advantage to help understand what content works best for your audience.
Follow us! Make sure you’re following our Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care System accounts using the links below. We’re always keen to work with our community partners and to amplify your voice to our audiences