Guest Blogger: Rachelle Morris, DEMA Membership Marketing & Communications Coordinator
As DEMA’s Membership Marketing and Communications Coordinator, one of my responsibilities is to maintain our social media pages. Sound like a Millennial’s dream-come-true? As it turns out, giving social media followers what they want is a HUGE responsibility and requires much more thought and strategic planning than simply reposting the latest “Cute Kitten Meme.”
With social media trends ever-changing, I have spent countless hours trying to find THE answer to making our social media sites the best they can be. And after much research, I finally found the answer: There is no answer. No 10-Step Process. No “one-size-fits-all.” No magical equation. Pretty anti-climactic, huh?
There are plenty of great tips out there, but no one has the universal answer for guaranteed success. You can bet that in all my research I NEVER found a guaranteed step-by-step process for how a non-profit trade organization can best engage the professional Diving Industry.
However, my research did uncover a number of themes that seem to push most social media campaigns in the direction of success. In an effort to spare you from hours of grueling research, I’d like to share some of my discoveries with you over the next few weeks. I am not saying that these are the answers to your social media woes, but instead may they serve as food-for-thought. It is my hope that something you read here may be of some help in your social media efforts.
Let me start off by discussing the heavy hitter which may very well have replaced the timeless tradition of the High School Reunion:
Facebook. While my research suggests there are many things that can help keep your followers happy and engaged, here are my five favorites:
1. The 80/20 Rule: Did you ever (or maybe you still do) have that annoying friend that ONLY ever wants to talk about themselves? Don’t allow your Facebook page to be that friend. Nobody wants to follow a Facebook page that is going to entirely self-promote, so don’t or you may find your page getting dropped like a bad habit. The 80/20 rule suggests that 80% of your posts should be providing valuable content that supports the lifestyle/interests/concerns of your followers while 20% should be promotional.
What DEMA is doing: DEMA’s Facebook page “80%” contains stories that we believe diving professionals will find interesting. Whether it is news on the 1900’s ship wreckage discovered by divers or a great business tip – we want to pass it on to you to enjoy. Our “20%” is providing our followers with Association-specific news, Member benefits, important reminders and other DEMA tid-bits.
2. Don’t post too much: On my personal Facebook page I have one friend in particular who – and I am not even exaggerating – on any given day will LITERALLY have 15-20 posts IN A ROW in my news feed. As much as I want to connect with them on social media, constant updates like these put them at risk for being “de-friended.” My point is this: if people are following your page, that means they are interested in what you have to say but that doesn’t give you a license to be annoying. My research suggests that your business page may see higher engagement rates if you post 1-2 times per day and that you may (remember this is not an exact science) get the best results during the hours of 1:00pm and 4:00pm. My takeaway from this: Moderation is key; post regularly enough to stay top-of-mind, but not so often that you turn people away from your brand. Know your audience and be mindful of how often they want to see you in their newsfeed. Combining this pattern with quality content should keep your followers intrigued and loyal.
What DEMA is doing: We try really hard to follow the 1-2 times per day rule. Sometimes it’s more, sometimes it’s less. But more often than not, you are probably only going to hear from DEMA on Facebook a couple of times a day.
3. Visuals are KEY: Timeline was designed with visual stimulation in mind. Some love it, some hate it. Either way, take advantage of this trend! Post photos. Share photos. If you can, turn your content into visuals. If you can create a viral image…then gold star for you!
What DEMA is doing: We update our cover story weekly to visually communicate news released that week. We have even experienced these images being shared as our followers spread the news to their friends. We’ve also created a special “Industry News” photo album that essentially acts as a news archive including links to the full articles. If we see a fun, diving-related viral image – we share that with our followers. And we have developed a little game we like to call, “Mystery Pic of the Week.” We have other fun visual ideas coming down the pipe, but I don’t want to spoil all the fun quite yet. :)
4. Tell people what you want them to do: Do you want someone to “Like” or share something? Tell them! Telling your followers what course of action you want them to take is sometimes the only little nudge they need to engage with your content.
What DEMA is doing: We’ve used this little golden nugget in a number of our posts. Over the past few months, the post to experience the most engagement ASKED for follower participation: "LIKE" this status if we will see you in 79 days at DEMA Show!” How’s that for delivering results?! ;)
5. Talk to your followers: Ask people questions. Ask for their feedback. Create a poll using Facebook’s fancy little poll feature! RESPOND to post, questions, direct messages and comments. After all, social media is all about COMMUNICATION – make sure you are communicating with your followers and show them that you care about what they have to say.
What DEMA is doing: Here at DEMA we check our Facebook throughout the day and respond to comments, questions and direct messages as soon as we see them. Sometimes we will post questions or polls on our Timeline to prompt conversation. Posts that are left by followers might even receive a “LIKE” or comment from us as well.
So there you have it! If you aren’t already, think about how some of these ideas might work in your social media plan. Next week, I will share ideas for how to track and determine the success of these efforts (and how DEMA is doing it ourselves).
So, until next Monday and in the spirit of today’s post, I’d like to know:
I invite you to share them here with me and the rest of the Diving Industry!
Have a great week!
Rachelle
Just a tiny sample of my findings:
