Social media 'how-to' guide

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Social Media


Social Media By the time you’ve read this first page, over 20.8 million messages will have been sent on WhatsApp and 69,500 hours of Netflix video watched

120 New LinkedIn Accounts

Already 120 new LinkedIn accounts will have been created

250

60

Two hundred and fifty people will have joined Facebook

A lot happens in 60 seconds. The choices we make to read or delete, to watch or skip are done in an instant.

New Facebook Members

seconds

Social media, at its highest level informs, educates, influences behaviour and opinion; it brings people together into virtual communities. It can destroy brands, reputations and relationships by a few single taps. It’s a powerful communication tool that demands respect. For us, at the British Horse Society, Facebook is our number one social media platform of choice. Facebook is the place our members find out what we are up to... It’s how they stay connected with us and how they feel part of our equestrian family.


Why Facebook is so Important to us Why Facebook is so Important to us If our members have one social media profile it’s Facebook.

Two-way conversation We use Facebook to share information and news and to have a direct contact with our equestrian BHS community. Our members like to contact us privately on Facebook (Direct Messaging or DM) about a whole range of issues, from exams to welfare concerns. Our job is to listen and act.

How we use Facebook to campaign for change A great example of this is our current ‘Dead or Dead Slow’ campaign which is aimed at changing drivers behaviour so they slow down to at least 15 miles per hour when they drive past horses and riders.

6,000 new people started following us

Our video has reached 7 million people globally

We were the top trending story on Facebook UK on Good Friday

Video Content Videos are incredibly popular with our audience and a useful tool to break the monotonous flow of messages read from different sources during a day. Our Dead Slow video has been watched 2.6M times.

Humour Whilst we have some very serious messages to convey, we also are British and our brand has a lighthearted side which we use appropriately to gain brand awareness.


Suggested Post Length

40 characters

71 - 100 characters

25 words

Think about your own use of Facebook when you’re scrolling/swiping through your newsfeed, do you stop and read essays?

Maximum six characters for hashtags e.g. #horses

LinkedIn is aimed at professionals so keep it on point

An image and a link is more valuable than an essay

Images

If you want to use a hashtag, try to incorporate it into a sentance instead of shoe-horning it in at the end - but hashtags aren’t actually that important

Hashtags on Facebook are unecessary

Including a link costs 23 characters - but this is more important than including a hashtag

Pictures increase engagement

Pictures increase engagement

Some competitors’ high engagement relies VERY heavily on pictures - literally, a picture of a horse getting hundreds of likes

Currently, a picture costs 22 characters - but it’s worth it

Make sure you get BHS branding in Avoid pictures of people wearing sunglasses

An image can be used to include further information beyond the character count but remember: no essays!

As with Facebook, hashtags work on LinkedIn, but are not suitable here

Pictures increase engagement Competitors aren’t very active on LinkedIn, so using strong images that stand out is good for the BHS High quality images are best rather than phone pictures

Avoid “Share if you agree” and inspirational quote images - it looks desperate Avoid posters - Facebook will shrink it and the text will likely become illegible

Spelling/ grammar

Although Facebook is how you’d informally chat to your friends, when Facebooking for the BHS, remember you are representing our brand Telling yourself nobody cares isn’t the same as the audience not actually caring A study has said that errors can cut online sales in half - that means spelling and grammar must be good

Non-BHS posts

Do promote BHS stuff e.g. membership, exams, fundraising etc Feel free to promote our approved centres and registered instructors Don’t promote non-BHS stuff, even for yourself or other charities The BHS isn’t a free ads service

Politics/religion

Have a well-crafted short sentence, with a strong image, and a link.

Keep things on point and accurate

Don’t sacrifice literacy in word length for the sake of a hashtag

LinkedIn has professionals who get very judgemental about such things, and could cost the BHS networking opportunities, so be aware of the bigger impact

You’ve only got a few words - don’t make it a challenge to read

We can afford to be a little looser on Twitter - posts don’t have as long a life cycle Liking and retweeting people thanking us is always great

Keep posts relevant to the BHS Posts for other organisations may get confusing for the audience when they see a BHS post, they should immediately identify it with us

Don’t promote stuff that’s nothing to do with us, even for yourself or friends, or other charities

If you’re sharing from a BHS approved centre,make sure you say that it’s for a BHS approved centre, so people know why it’s being shared

Don’t. Just don’t. We’re a non-sectarian charity and anything related to religious or political leanings is not reflective of us or our work.

Personal vs Professional

Whatever social media platform you’re using to represent the BHS, always remember that’s what you’re doing – representing the BHS. It can be useful to have a dedicated browser for BHS business, and another one for personal activities. Don’t let personal views encroach on professional representation of the BHS. Get your superhero on and have two online identities – one for your friends and family for personal stuff, and one for representing the UK’s largest equine charity in the more professional way!


Suggested Post Length

Think about the format of how people receive a WhatsApp message Whatever little chance you have of people reading an essay on a desktop device, it’s greatly reduced on a little smartphone screen Be careful about setting up groups - people may not want to be bombarded with other people’s messages that aren’t relative to them

Images

Spelling/ grammar

One or two hashtags is plenty

Three minutes

Hashtags can make it more difficult for people to read - nobody learned to read sentences interspersed with hashtags, so it’s a bit unnatural

A video’s retention rate means how much of the video people are actually watching, and is just as important as the number of views

Research shows reduced engagement with excessive hashtags

Make sure it’s good quality and to the point The newest fad is to add subtitles Audio needs to be good

Images on WhatsApp need to be downloaded

Obviously, an image focused platform will work best with high quality images

Not everything needs to be superglossy and corporate

This is an extra task and takes up space on the recipients device

Logos and posters will perform poorly

People appreciate a short video from a phone, as long as audio is decent and they can relate to it

This may put them off, so make sure any images you send are very relevant

Make sure you explain what’s happening in photos and how it relates to what we do

As with Twitter, think of a short, well-crafted sentance

As it’s image focused, a short, on point sentence will be plenty

As with Facebook, although WhatsApp is normally used for informal chat with family and friends, when using it for the BHS, you are representing the BHS and need to communicate accordingly

People are there for the images, not for the essays and pointless hashtags A quick “where and when” is probably sufficient

It’s very useful to subtitle your videos Make sure the transcription is accurrate Make sure the text is legible against the colours on the video

Emojis are fine as long as they’re relevant - three of the crying laughing one is plenty ;-)

Non-BHS posts

As it’s not public facing, and very much personal comms there’s a little bit more flexibility If you know of a local horse show that your local contacts may be interested in, it’s ok to let people know, but make them aware it’s not a BHS event Be mindful of recipients - we don’t want thenm associating the BHS with spamming

Be careful of what non-BHS images you use - they may be copyrighted and we don’t want to get sued

If you have a BHS YouTube channel, posting videos of non-BHS stuff might be confusing for the viewer


Useful Links How to get more likes on Facebook a comic from The Oatmeal that takes a humorous look at growing your Facebook page - http://theoatmeal.com/comics/facebook_likes

Are You Using The Ideal Length of a Blog Post, Facebook Update, Email Subject Line (… and 12 more)? an article from Digital Marketer highlighting quality over quantity on social media posting - http://www.digitalmarketer.com/ideal-length-of-blog-post-social/

Spelling mistakes 'cost millions' in lost online sales an article from the BBC highlighting the importance of good spelling and grammar in digital comms - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-14130854

Smart Insights the website of Dave Chaffey (the Jedi Master of digital marketing), useful for trends, analysis, and reports - http://www.smartinsights.com/

Econsultancy a useful archive of reports about digital marketing - https://econsultancy.com/

Google News casting a regular eye over headlines in the technology and business sections can be a good way for major shifts - https://news.google.com/

Harvard Business Review generally has articles from the magazine, and digital – especially social media – is a common topic - https://hbr.org/

Condescending Corporate Brand Page a Facebook page dedicated to mocking ineffective, clichéd and lazy social media, with a focus on major brands - Search for this page on Google

The British Horse Society Abbey Park Stareton Kenilworth Warwickshire CV8 2XZ Tel: 02476 840517 Fax: 02476 840501 www.bhs.org.uk

For more information please email communications@bhs.org.uk Follow us on


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