Your success on social media depends on how well you know and understand the platform you are posting on, your target audience, and especially, the content you are posting. Creating multiple high-performing posts can be challenging if you are crunched for time or if outside of your comfort level.
If you are posting and not getting the engagement you hope for, consider expanding your strategy. MailChimp https://mailchimp.com recommends using a variety of PR techniques such as:
- Blogging,
- Links to external content,
- Images,
- Videos,
- Video Stories,
- Live stream Video,
- Infographics, and
- Testimonials and reviews.
Blogging
Advantage: Blog articles show your Toastmasters communication and leadership knowledge, making you an expert, which builds your club’s credibility and reputation.
Disadvantage: You need to find the time to write your article.
What to do: Reach out to members to write about their Toastmaster’s successes. By supplementing your articles with theirs, you will have ongoing blog submissions.
Tip: Once you have posted your article or theirs, take short snippets, or a sentence or two of the article with the link to where the blog article resides, and spread it across your other social media channels. This will help drive traffic to your site.
Links to external content
Advantage: If you don’t have time to finish a blog post or do a bunch of social media posts, you can always link to relevant articles, resources, and websites from other sources such as Toastmasters International, District 86, a Toastmaster Thought Leader, or another external site.
Disadvantage: When you link content by another organization outside of the Toastmasters organization, you’re creating a path to another person’s or business’s platform. Viewers may find the other source better suited to their needs than your page.
What to do: Balance external content links with more original posts. If you are regularly pressed for time and unable to consistently post, invite others in your club to supplement your posts.
Tip: If linking to external content, stay with known Toastmasters platforms. Use them as marketing tools, even if just the links to the content, then offer readers a call to action to visit your next club meeting to learn more.
Images
Advantage: Good quality images increase engagement. People are less likely swipe past your post if your post has more image than text.
Disadvantage: If you want a stronger quality image beyond your cell phone’s capacity, a professional camera and editing software can be expensive and time consuming to learn and use.
What to do: Images work well on every platform. A virtual meeting screen grab or a cell phone photo is easy to do. Be sure to get permission from the subject before posting to social media.
Remember that the photography style should reflect the Toastmasters environment, where people look engaged, empowered, and supported, as portrayed in meetings, presentations, speeches, networking venues, conferences, training venues, and speech contests, as per the toastmasters Brand manual.
Tip: Use more photos with faces in them. Posts with people-heavy images get more engagement. If you are not comfortable taking photographs, download the free, professional photos from the Toastmasters website https://www.toastmasters.org/resources/brand-portal/stock-images.
Videos
Advantage: Making a video on your smart phone is becoming easier, and there are many free how-to tutorials on You Tube if you need help with how to shoot and edit your video.
Disadvantage: Costs and time can increase depending on what you are trying to accomplish, and if you need to buy additional editing software to meet your goal.
What to do: Videos are more engaging, and similar to images, video production has a range of difficulty. How you approach video creation and editing will depend on your skill set and equipment.
Tip: YouTube is the best place to park longer video content. Shorter videos do well on Facebook and Instagram.
Video Stories
Advantage: Stories are images and short videos that last 24 hours before disappearing for good. They’re available on Instagram and Facebook. Video stories are quick to shoot, and you can post directly from your smart phone.
Disadvantage: Their short life span means that you could miss many of your viewers.
What to do: High-quality production is not needed, making them easy for you if you are a beginner.
Tip: Keep your target audience updated about club events or other announcements.
Live stream Video
Advantage: Live video posts don’t disappear like a video story; your viewers can watch livestreams later if that is more convenient for them.
Disadvantage: Great WIFI connection is extremely important. If your connection is poor, your video quality will be poor.
What to do: You need something to stream, such as an event. Facebook Live is a popular livestreaming platform. You’ll see a preview of what your audience will see, which gives you the chance to make sure everything looks good before you go live.
Tip: Be mindful of audio and lighting. Test everything in advance. Doing a test run first will help you find and smooth out any glitches and ultimately, save you time in the end.
Infographics
Advantage: Infographics are visually impactful.
Disadvantage: Creating infographics requires knowing your chosen infographic maker platform and having both copy and graphics ready.
What to do: Choose a layout or template that fits your information.
Tip: Images should reinforce the key messages. Be as concise as possible.
Testimonials and Reviews
Advantage: People trust the opinions and experiences of others, which is why testimonials and reviews are super valuable for getting your PR message out to potential guests.
Disadvantage: Content isn’t in your control. There in no guarantee what the person will write.
What to do: Simply ask people personally if they would be willing to write a testimonial for your club. Members are a good place to start.
Tip: Ask people to keep their testimonial is short. Long testimonials are less likely to be read.
Make you club stand out. To create more audience engagement, use a variety of PR techniques in your PR strategy such as:
- Blogging,
- Links to external content,
- Images,
- Videos,
- Video Stories,
- Live stream Video,
- Infographics, and
- Testimonials and reviews,
What success has you had in building your club’s social media presence and enhancing your audience’s experience? Let us know! Email your ideas to publicrelationsmanager@toastmasters86.org
Created by Nancy Movrin DTM Public Relations Manager 2021 – 2022