Best Practice In Social Media Posts

The following considers industry context, demonstrating an understanding and application of industry standards through a discussion of best practice in social media.

My role as Social Media Manager has granted me insight into the best practice for producing successful social media posts.

Initial research into my role highlighted that copy needed to “initiate conversation with [the] target audience” (Brandi, 2018), ask “engagement driven questions” (York, 2017) and show “brand personality” (Shaw, 2019). Translating this into my own digital marketing strategy for the magazine would assist in increasing engagement, establishing trust from an audience, lead to growth as well as investment from the wider publishing community.

I followed the advice gleaned from my initial research.

As my role developed, I settled into my own rhythm of sharing written content. I adopted a tone of voice that was fitting for the predominate student demographic of the magazine. I ensured copy was short, splitting text with paragraph breaks to make it more digestible. Indeed, research highlights that the attention span of digital consumers is increasingly shrinking (Ennis, 2018), meaning that copy needs to immediately snare an audience. I made the decision not to make use of emoticons in copy, finding these to be immature when trying to build a lasting community with the professional publishing industry.

In terms of producing “organic content” (Brandi, 2018), best practice suggests that visuals need to be interesting, valuable and high quality. This is because “graphic elements stick in minds faster and more easily” (Foster, 2017). Images will also “cause definite emotions” (Foster, 2017), leading to further engagement with a brand. I took this best practice on board and ensured the visual content I created met such standards, whilst also relating to key messages of the magazine that needed promoting.

The two Key Performance Indicators (Reyes, 2019) I decided to focus on were the increase in followers and the number of likes per post. In reflection, I can see that the number of followers has grown by 41% since my role began in October of 2018. The average number of likes per post has also improved since the last run of the module, growing from an average of 35 likes per post to an average of 54 likes per post. I believe this is due to my consideration of best practice for digital marketing strategies, as well as the high quality of visuals I’ve created to be shared on social.

As Lyfe Marketing states, “followers and engagement become more than a vanity metric: they’re opportunities for leads and sales” (Brandi, 2018). Although the latter part of that statement is irrelevant to milk, it highlights that considerations to best practice for social media present an opportunity for audiences to become invested in the magazine. For milk, this will lead to increased subscriptions, website traffic and greater awareness of the publication.

Bibliography

Brandi, J. (2018) 8 Social Media Best Practices You Should Incorporate Into Your Campaign. Available at: https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/social-media-best-practices/ (Accessed: 2 May 2019).

Ennis, G. (2018) The truth about social media and our attention spans. Available at: https://www.nsdesign.co.uk/social-media-attention-spans/ (Accessed: 2 May 2019).

Foster, A. (2017) The Importance of Visual Elements in Social Media Marketing. Available at: https://socialnomics.net/2017/09/30/the-importance-of-visual-elements-in-social-media-marketing/ (Accessed: 2 May 2019).

Reyes, A. (2019) 12 Social Media Best Practices For 2019. Available at: https://www.e-marketingassociates.com/blog/12-social-media-best-practices-for-2019 (Accessed: 2 May 2019).

Shaw, A. (2018) Three Social Media Best Practices For Business Development. Available: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2018/10/16/three-social-media-best-practices-for-business-development/#2b6e7da95d31 (Accessed: 2 May 2019).

York, A. (2017) 5 Social Media Best Practices Every Marketer Must Follow. Available at: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-best-practices/ (Accessed: 2 May 2019).