How to Successfully Distribute your Associations Content via Social Media

The way in which we use social media is evolving each day and estimates indicate within the near future the majority of adults will obtain their information from social media networks rather than search engines. This may already be the case for you whether you have realised it or not. Social media networks continue to grow in terms of users and reach and there is no doubt they will become a primary source of referral traffic to your website and blog.

If you had any doubts about the power of social media now is the time to lay them to rest and harness the benefits. The statistics don’t lie and if you haven’t been prioritising on your online communications now it the time to turn that all around.

The quicker you master social media content distribution the sooner you will see the results. Make sure you aren’t hindering your social media success; here are a few best practices that you should apply. Keep in mind each social network has its own etiquette and tool set, so ensure your media manager knows what makes each unique and adapt their knowledge to deliver engaging content strategies.

Incorporate Breaking News Stories

There is always so much happening within the Association industry in terms of government regulation updates, breaking new stories and other current affairs. Make sure you tap into breaking news regardless if your association is international, national, state or local. Your highest interaction rates will occur when you create and distribute content that is highly relevant.

Tip: Be ready to respond to any breaking news and current affairs.  Place a story on your website and either tweet the url or link to it through a linkedin post.

Be Creative with Content

There are a few different content approaches out there however we recommend you specialise in two; marketing and storytelling. Try and focus on storytelling as this will improve overall brand awareness while aligning it with your mission. There are key content approaches that should be mirrored throughout your social media strategy and these include; urgency, success, quotes, humor and statistics. It’s a good idea for every six posts you do to be based on storytelling, while only one of those is related to a marketing pitch. The content you use should be a variety of; photos, blogs, events, news stories, positions vacant, white papers, quotes and statistics.

Any time there is a crisis this calls for urgent calls to action where your social media activity needs to be heightened to try to encourage advocacy on campaigns, participation or volunteer work.

The Visual Impact

There is no question that photos, videos and interesting infographics boost a higher interaction and engagement rate. The statistics back this up with Facebook posts with images receive five times more interaction, while interesting images on Twitter receive double the re-tweets. The posts without images on Google+ are usually ignored while those with images receive higher share rates. The trend towards visually engaging content is definitely shown with two of the most popular social networks Instagram and Pinterest using only pictures and videos.  

Tip: Set up a digital library account purely image based, rather than using the common images found on Google.

Automation across Social Media Networks 

There are a few different opinions regarding automation of social media posts. Some are all for it, as it’s a great way of covering social media networks 24/7 as you can schedule posts around the clock using tools such as Buffer. Others argue that people have no interest in following robots around and seeing the same post over multiple social networks such as what HootSuite feature offers. Some people would find this technique annoying as they are seeing the same post across all channels. Instead change it up and post different topics across social media channels.

Embrace social media and use your industry knowledge and expertise to see your association grow online. 

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