SOCIAL MEDIA “TIPS & TRICKS” PORTFOLIO FOR A COMMUNICATIONS PROFESSIONAL Sioned  Seeley-­‐Cavers    

March 8, 2015 Royal Roads University Comm330 Chaseten Remillard

The new digital era of Social Media has many benefits for professional communicators. It can connect an organization to wider audiences, start conversations, and increase awareness of an organization. However, there are also some downfalls. Because everyone and anyone can upload information into the digital sphere, an organization’s message can often get lost amongst all the noise. As a professional communicator, it is your job that this doesn’t happen, and thankfully, there are tricks that will help. If done well, you can help organizations reach a wider audience, increase online visibility, and generate greater traffic across their social media platforms. Here are a few platforms and tips that can dramatically improve an organizations digital footprint.  

TIPS & TRICKS

TWITTER is a social media platform that allows people to share information in a 140-characters message. It is a great resource to “discover news as it’s happening, learn more about topics that are important to you, and get the inside scoop in real time.”1 Twitter also allows for people to participate in global conversations through commentating and sharing posts. People opt in to twitter because they want keep in touch with information as it’s happening around the world. This is incredibly valuable for any communications professional. It means that you can attract an audience that chooses to listen to you, wants to hear what you have to say, and creates a community around the knowledge you share. Twitter’s most valuable feature is that it allows for different kinds of people to connect with one another. Twitter has over 200 million users, including celebrities and political figures. This platform, therefore, gives you a direct way of contacting people who you may not otherwise have access to. A simple message, or a “tweet”, to someone can get you in contact with some of the most influential people in the world. Of course, it doesn’t always work, but there’s still a chance they will message you back- especially when it’s in a social sphere. Indirect communication can also have a powerful effect, because it allows for a connection and conversation with people on the same subject. “It’s the place where new ideas can get their first airing, and where advice is willingly offered, and where endorsements are freely given, and where new partnerships are made, and where new projects are launched,”2 So how do you know what information will gain attraction from wider audiences?

How To Use Twitter effectively

1. Build a voice. Create a persona before you start using twitter and stick to it as you retweet, replay, and react. Crafting a strategy will make your life easier for you and your followers to understand your brand.

2. Be consistent but not persistent. There is a balance between maintaining an online presence and being annoying, and unfortunately I can’t tell you what the threshold is. Just keep it in mind as you’re tweeting each day.

3. Follow people relevant to your organization and its overall message. You’ll become part of an online community and will attract the type of people you want to have following you.

4. Mention other’s in your tweets. The point of twitter is to spread your message to a wider audience. Including someone else in your tweets will cover two platforms instead of one!

5. Be creative. Make your account interesting so that people want to follow you. 6. Most importantly, if you’re not to keep it up, don’t bother using it in the first place. It’s

important to maintain an online presence so that you don’t become irrelevant. There’s no point in having a twitter account if you’re not going to keep it up to date, and it can jeopardize your image more that way, then not having an account at all.

                                                                                                               1  https://support.twitter.com/articles/215585-­‐getting-­‐started-­‐with-­‐twitter  2  http://www.business2community.com/twitter/why-­‐twitter-­‐is-­‐one-­‐of-­‐the-­‐most-­‐powerful-­‐communications-­‐tools-­‐available-­‐096744  

TIPS & TRICKS

INSTAGRAM , created in 2010, is a phone application that allows users to take edit and post photos and videos to a global network where others can like and comment on them. It also had a feature that enables users to distribute their photos on a variety of other social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler and Flickr. The distinct feature of this application is that it constrains all photos and videos to a square frame. Users can also apply different “filters” to their images, to give them an original or distinct look.

SNAPCHAT , although also it is an image and video sharing application, is very different from instagram. Snapchat allows users to “snap” photos or videos and send the image to a select group of friends. The application also has text and drawing feature so that users can exit their photos with captions or doodles. However, the unique quality to Snapchat, that other media platforms don’t have, is that users can set each photo is set to a timer. Once the timer is out, the image disappears and can’t be viewed again. Instagram has over 300 million followers and 37% of all Internet users, between the ages of 18 and 29, use the application regularly3. Snapchat also has a mega database of over 100 million followers, and according to a recent study, 77% of college students in the United States alone use Snapchat daily4. Both of these media are a great platforms to build brand engagement and reach a wider and younger audiences. They can be used to promote a business or organization through giveaways, event promotion, and general marketing. However, the key to both of these media is the images used. How To Use Digital Images effectively

1. Use captions to give more context to the images. They say a picture worth a thousand words, but sometimes it’s important, to narrow in on the message you want readers to take away from the photo.

2. Use images as a persuasive tactic. “What we see can have a profound effect of what we do, how we feel, and who we are,”5 so use images that are likely to either elicit some sort of emotion, give more context to the overall message, or reiterates the overall message.

3. Use colour to its advantages. Colours themselves have deep-rooted meanings and can elicit specific emotions. For example, research shows that the colour red makes people feel energetic and is known to increase heart rate and breathing rates. Red, in our culture, also has a symbolic reference to power, and status. So if you want your photos to make a statement, keep in mind what meaning the colours themselves bring to the image, and use that knowledge to be advantageous to the overall message.

                                                                                                               3  http://www.mergeagency.com/digital-­‐marketing/quick-­‐guide-­‐for-­‐higher-­‐ed-­‐social-­‐media  4  http://mashable.com/2014/02/24/snapchat-­‐study-­‐college-­‐students/  5  http://www.billiondollargraphics.com/infographics.html  

TIPS & TRICKS

FACEBOOK is one of the longest running and most popular social networking sites in the worlds and connects people from all over the world into a type of global community. Currently, Facebook has over 1 billion users. Because of this, Facebook can be tremendously valuable to an organization as it has the capability to spread awareness to a wide spread of audiences. The site itself combines all the different aspects of other social media sites into one. It allows for users to post photos, video, text, or all of them together. People can then share that content directly to friends, in private messaging or as a personal post for everyone on the network to see. Most importantly, everything that you post, or that is given to you, is put onto a profile to create a personal identity. The site was originally created for individuals to connect with friends and family, but recently companies and organization have recognized the value in facebook as a way to promote themselves in a more interactive and personal way. The goal of all Facebook posts, especially in marketing or promotion, is obtain positive feedback from your audience and avoid the negative. Facebook defines positive feedback as, “a rating based on the number of times your audience took a desired action after seeing your ad, such as shared or liked it, or helped you achieve your objective, such as visiting your website. When positive feedback is high it means people are responding well to your ad.”6 What you want to avoid is having your audience hiding or reporting posts. Everything you do should be a strategic move to gain audience attraction. How To Use Facebook effectively

1. Know your audience! Create a clear message, and a clear call to action that specifically target your audience. This is the most basic principle for using any social media sites; however, because facebook incorporates so many elements within one platform, this is especially important so that your message can break though the chaos. Many blogs also recommend that organizations create personas, or fake customers, who they can create specific content for. This is part of initial market research, but can help with knowing what kind of content is most likely going to be seen and give positive feedback by your viewers.

2. Mix it up. Consistently posting the same kind or content is boring. When audiences see the same thing repetitively, they tend to pass right by it in their news feeds. By switching up the content, it keeps your Facebook page exciting and interesting. Although, make sure that your straying from the overall message or goals of the organization.

3. Create membership for your organization. Make it so that your audience has to like your page in order to view certain content. This is valuable in two ways. For starters, it allows you to see who, and how many people are following you and build content based on who they are and who you’re trying to attract. Secondly, and more importantly, it creates a sense of exclusivity in your organization- only those who are important get to be in the know. This is also a great way to make your audience feel that they are part of a close-knit community.

                                                                                                               6  http://www.jonloomer.com/2015/03/03/facebook-­‐ads-­‐relevance-­‐score/  

TIPS & TRICKS

GOING VIRAL is the term used when Internet content circulates at a rapid pace on all social media platforms. It is rare for content to go viral and, in fact, most viral content never had the intention of doing so in the first place. There is no rhyme or reason why some content goes viral, and why some does not, so there is no simple guideline to help make your content become one of the lucky ones… sorry! However, if you use these “STEPPS” when crafting your content, people will be more likely to share it, and thus making your content travel further. How To Make Content Go Viral

1. Social Currency: Social currency refers to the social responsibility a person conveys by sharing certain content. For example, sharing an article about racial sensitivity would paint a picture of the sharer as a socially conscious person, thus granting them social credibility. However, social credibility doesn’t have to come in the form of social consciousness; it is applied to any time a person shares something for the sake of their image. To encourage your audience to share your content, try to ensure that doing so will reflect well on them by making them look “smart, cool, or in-the-know.”7

2. Triggers: Using “triggers” essentially means appealing to things that are already on your audiences’ mind. This can come in two forms: timeliness and timelessness. A timely trigger would be anything referring to new research, Internet trends, pop culture, or any other kind of fad. Timeless triggers could refer to anything that is a staple in people’s lives, like budgeting or trying to get enough sleep. By associating your content to things that are already prominent in people’s lives, they will naturally be more engaged and connected to your cause.

3. Emotion: It’s said that content that makes people happy gets views, but content that makes people angry gets shares. Either way, having your content elicit emotion in your audience s extremely powerful tool. Use that you’re your advantage by sharing content that makes people feel more positively towards your organization, or feel angry about what’s happening in the world that your organization is working to change.

4. Public: People look to others before making decisions about what to do or what they want. Show content that models what you’d like your audience to do. The more they see others doing it, the more likely they are to do it as well.

5. Practical Value: Simply put, people like information that will help them in some way or another, and will share it if they think it’s useful for others to know as well. This is one of the reasons why “life hack” videos and blogs are so popular. Use this same idea into your content as a communications professional. Turn your ideas into practical knowledge that your audience will appreciate and feel the need to spread- the more relevant the information, the more impact it will have.

6. Stories: People relate to stories and are more likely to share a memorable story than facts and figures. Use them as a meaningful way to convey your message.

                                                                                                               7  http://talent.linkedin.com/blog/index.php/2014/10/6-­‐stepps-­‐to-­‐making-­‐your-­‐employer-­‐brand-­‐go-­‐viral    

TIPS & TRICKS

CONTENT CURATION is process of finding, organizing, contextualizing and sharing information with the public and it works as a way to sort through vast amounts of information and present it in a meaning way that represent the organization. It helps in two ways. Firstly, constantly having to create original content can be difficult and time consuming. Content curation allows people to maintain an online presence without having to come up with new information on their own; however, it is still incredibly important that the generated content you post is still relevant to the overall message and goals of the organization. The second reason content curation is useful is because it establishes you and your organization as a reputable source of information, thus driving traffic to your media platforms. If done well, content curation can create a strong media presence, build relationships, open sharing opportunities with other websites, and reach larger audiences. As number of webpages increase, the quality of average webpages decreases. In order to be a resource for quality information, and a leader in your field you, here are some things to keep in mind when curating content... How To Use Content Curation effectively

1. Make the content original. Even if you are using other peoples ideas you still need to

contextualize it in your own way and relay your interpretations to your audience what did you take away from the original content? What were the key points? Your audience comes to you for information in your opinions so there is no use in just copying and pasting someone else's content. Your audience will value you more if you show that you have taken the time to dive into it yourself.

2. Make the content interesting. No one wants to spend the time reading stuff that is boring, so if the content you are taking ideas from is practical, yet dull, try to represent it in an interesting way. A simple way to do this is to make the ideas relatable to the audience. This will help them personalize it, remember it, and ultimately share it with others.

3. Make the content visually appealing. I catching images or videos capture audiences attention. They also help to break up text heavy material and add a memorable element to the content. Experiment with different visuals and see which kinds draw your targeted audience.

4. Make the content engaging. So much of social media is about trying to spark discussions and conversations around your content. Share content that plays into that concept. The more engagement there is around your post, more awareness there is to you and your organization

Since one of the goals of content curation is to bring organization more traffic through social media platforms, it’s important for the content to capture audiences and make them want to share.

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