With coverage from the traditional media becoming ever increasingly rare, Social Media remains one of the primary tools in our Public Relations arsenal for “spreading the word” about our organization. So often, however, we’re pulled in so many different directions that it can be hard to develop quality content consistently. For some organizations or individual artists with a smaller following, it can also feel like the time commitment isn’t worth it.
First, I’m here to say that not every piece of content has to be an “A+” to be useful. Second, there are a number of strategies and tactics you can employ to make content generation easier and more organic. Third, sometimes a smaller following is the most engaged and dedicated. Below are some of my recommendations for generating content, growing your presence and keeping your followers engaged. This will be a three-part series, broken down by platform. Up first is FACEBOOK.
While some have started to call Facebook “dead” or “dying,” it remains the single largest platform and one of the most versatile. Plus, many of the people we want to reach for concerts and events still use the platform extensively.
It's not all about you
Find and share relevant content from other sources! There are many benefits to doing this, including:
It establishes you as a source of useful information.
It helps you become a “thought leader” in your field because you’re spreading the word about cutting edge research or information in your field.
When it’s from a reputable, well-known source, it usually widely interacted with and allows your page to expand its reach to new audiences.
You save time trying to write, edit and distribute content that may not achieve the same results.
Creating content with the help of others
Create generic questionnaires for various internal and external constituencies. For educational institutions, there are a plethora of possibilities: students, alumni, faculty, donors, prospective students, staff, etc. Benefits include:
Housed in the blog or news section of your website, and shared to your social media to drive traffic to your website.
Creating a more close-knit internal community by engaging your “people.”
Allows those “outside” your circle to get to know and become part of your circle.
Again, it allows for time-saving as these usually only require light editing.
Helps you find and identify bigger stories for pitches to traditional media outlets.
Be ready to chat
Interact with people as quickly and frequently as possible! As your content becomes better and people begin interacting with it, make it a two-way conversation. Benefits include:
Others see the engagement and join in the conversation.
It helps you read sentiment about content and if something seems to really resonate, find or create similar material in the future.
This is just a sampling of some of the strategies I’ve discovered to increase engagement and page reach when your social media audience is smaller. There are whole other realms of possibilities using Facebook Events, Groups, and paid options. More to come!