By Colton Zirkle, Education and Communications Coordinator for Conservation Federation of Missouri
Why do you need to be on social media? You’re already in magazines, newsletters, newspapers, and radio shows… Here’s a basic introduction to the world of social media. If you’re already engaged on social media, I would bet there is new information here that might still be of use to you.
Oh, the intimidation of social media! There is so much out there and so many options. Where to start? Which platform should I dive into? By technical definition, I guess I am a social media “professional” because I get paid to do it, so I will try to share with you what I have learned. This will be a quick “basics” lesson where I’ll walk you through the beginning stages of jumping into social media. I will also be sharing some possibly new terms with you, so be ready!
Identifying your target audience is a good place to start. Who would you like to reach with your media publications (this is usually considered “content” when sharing on social media)? Where is your target audience most likely to consume your media? Would you like to expand to new audiences? All of these are important questions to ask when getting started.
Another important thought before you start downloading apps and creating profiles is to consider your “handle.” This is a short, unique title for your media channels. It’s wise to choose the same handle for all of your social media channels so your audience can search and find you quickly. For instance, at the Conservation Federation of Missouri, our handle is “@confedmo” on all of our channels. All you have to do when you jump on a platform like Instagram, is type “@confedmo,” and our profile will be the one that comes up. We also have several unique “hashtags” that we use, but more on that later… I also suggest separating your media channels from your personal profiles for safety and privacy. You may have noticed, but it’s a crazy world out there and people don’t tend to follow the same rules and courtesies online that they would in face-to-face interaction.
Now that we’ve considered our target audience and chosen a handle, it’s time to choose a platform or two to share your content. Are you already on a social media platform? It’s wise to begin with something where you’re already familiar. Your target audience and your comfort level with specific platforms will determine where you will begin.
Facebook: This is where most of us will be most familiar. Facebook is one of the longest-standing, most used, and best recognized platforms for social media. Here you can share videos, photos, links to external webpages, and short stories; you can receive feedback from your followers and engage them with back-and-forth communication. You can host a page and an accompanying group. A page is where you send out your messaging, whereas a group acts more like a web forum where your followers can share their content with each other.
Instagram: Easy to integrate with Facebook because they are owned by the same company which recently renamed itself to “Meta.” Using Facebook’s (or Meta’s) Business Suite or Creator Studio, you can easily create and schedule posts that will automatically cross-post to both platforms. Instagram tends to lean more towards beautiful pictures and less toward informative content. This is a good platform to “lure” folks in, then direct them to your website or other media channels. There is a newer feature on Instagram called “Reels.” Reels are a short video with engaging and trending content. These are analogous to videos on Tiktok or a now extinct platform called Vine. Reels are a fantastic way to reach out to thousands of new users and rope them into your content.
YouTube: this is a platform for longer video content. YouTube has recently started to allow photo-postings and status updates, but is still best utilized in the long-form video, basically anything greater than 3 minutes. Videos from this platform can be shared on others, but typically, places like Facebook will downregulate or not promote videos that are not posted on their own pages. However, if you have a website, YouTube videos are easy to upload and then embed on your own website so your users do not have to leave your site.
Twitter: this is a personal opinion but Twitter seems to be waning as a platform. It is utilized for short status updates of 280 characters or less, meaning, whatever message you want to share with folks has to fit within that limit. Twitter is used a lot by politicians and celebrities to share information with their audiences. Many people are very successful on Twitter, but I do not have much personal experience on this platform and don’t know many people who use it.
Tiktok: This is the up-and-coming platform and in reality, it’s here and it’s big. There have been some safety concerns over who sees and tracks the information on this platform. I am uncertain if that has been resolved, so always be sure to do your own research to know what data you are comfortable in sharing. If you want to engage a younger audience, this is the place to do it. Like I mentioned before, Tiktok is for short-form videos, 3 minutes or less. This is attractive because it’s little investment with a great possibility of high return. The success depends on how you design your content.
There are many more platforms and we could go on and on, but those are the main ones to consider right now. There is an emerging market of alternative platforms coming onto the market right now under the branding of “free speech.” It’s too early to tell the longevity and success of these emerging platforms, but as a reminder, it could be a good idea to reserve your handle on those platforms if nothing else.
Another thing we should touch on is the use of hashtags. Hashtags are used in this format, “#confedmo #conservemo #conservation,” and can be used within a post, at the bottom of a post, or in a comment on the post. These are used to draw audiences to your content outside of your regular followers. For instance, if I follow “#conservation” on Instagram, I’ll see posts from people who use that same hashtag. You can also search posts by hashtag on many platforms. You will want to choose both unique and generic hashtags that match your branding. As an example, if I or my followers post something using #confedmo, those posts will show up anytime anyone clicks on that hashtag, searches, or follows it. It’s a great way to unify your content and engage your followers. It’s also a good way for you to see and share your followers’ content if they do not tag you in a post but do use your hashtag. Generic hashtags like #conservation, will have a much larger base of people to see a post with that tag. When on Instagram, it actually shows you how many people times the hashtag you’re using has been used in other posts. A word of warning: ALWAYS SEARCH YOUR HASHTAGS. There are many things you could use as a hashtag that seem innocent, but on the internet, have alternate meanings. Before you use a new one, search it and see other posts that would be associated. You can also search words or phrases on UrbanDictionary.com to see their meanings. For example, the hashtag #trapping could be used for trapping animals but also for selling drugs…
The final aspect to touch on is moderation. When hosting pages on social media, it is important to monitor your content for questions, comments, and shares. Not only can you filter out negative interactions, but engaging with positive interactions makes your followers feel valued and improves your base. Like a store sells product, your product is your content, the better your “customers” feel, the more likely they are to share it with others.
I hope I’ve shared some insider tips from my training and some valuable information to get you started or to expand your network. If you ever have any questions feel free to reach out.
Stay social,
Colton Zirkle
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