This is your brand on social media

By Alex Taylor

Audience engagement through social media has become a critical way for publications to reach and maintain their audience. But despite its importance, social media can be confusing and is often underutilized.

In This is your brand on social media, panelists shared their expertise on how to expand your reach on social media as well as a few tips on executing these strategies.

Kayla Epstein, a social media editor at the Washington Post, stressed the importance of going where the audience is and being part of the conversation. You don’t need to be on all platforms—be strategic about what you post and where, and figure out what works best for your content. If a story has broad appeal, it’s probably well suited for Twitter and Facebook. If it has striking visuals, it may do well on Instagram. Stories that involve action or take a journalist out in the field may be appropriate for Snapchat or Instagram Stories.

Both Epstein and Aries Keck, the social media team lead at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, gave examples of social media driving traditional media. In “Dear Science,” Washington Post journalists answer reader-submitted questions. These articles are created using audience engagement and tend to generate further engagement, which Epstein refers to as the “social media circle of life.”

Leslie Datsis, social media and development specialist for PBS Digital Studios, discussed the importance of online communities to developing fan bases for PBS’s YouTube programming.

Although PBS’s online communities had engaged audiences, Datsis found audiences were isolated from one another and unfamiliar with the range of available programming. She shared strategies for repurposing content for other platforms such as Facebook to boost brand recognition. She stressed the importance of knowing who your audience is so you don’t risk alienating them. For example, if your audience is largely international, avoid promoting content only available in the U.S.

Only posting your own content can get stale, so it’s a good idea to repost quality content from other sources, she said. You can build relationships that may help you to reach a larger audience.

Datsis recommended using data to determine which strategies are working and structuring your workload accordingly. It’s also important to use photos in posts and select them with your social media audience in mind. You’ll want to create an enticing package that will encourage people to read the whole story.

If you find that your readers aren’t clicking through, you might consider putting an entire story on Facebook. Features such as Facebook Instant Articles allow readers to access stories quickly without leaving the platform. Keck suggested jumping on new Facebook features as they become available because it will allow you to game the algorithm and give your content a boost.

It’s helpful to have a social media mission for each platform. Metrics of success can vary among platforms. Don’t blindly post memes, research hashtags before you use them, and check your spelling. It may be necessary to build trust with management to try out new strategies, but the payoff can be big.