SOCIAL MEDIA CRASH COURSE
MODULE 3
Engagement
In the previous modules, you have learned about three of the most common social media platforms, and how to increase your outreach so that more people see what you post on those platforms.Â
But often, when communicating about conservation and other environmental issues, you don't only want people to see something, but also to think about something. This module will help you to come up with ideas of how to make that happen!
MEET FRANCISCO!
Let's see how he reaches out to people
Francisco is from Argentina and has been living in Tallinn since July 2019. He works in digital finance and is in the process of founding his own company. At the same time, he is very interested in mindfulness and sustainability, which you can see for example on his instagram account that has over 1,100 followers.
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When you watch this video, try to answer the questions:
1. what are the three different layers of reaching people?
2. what are things he does to get to the deeper levels that go beyond only seeing the post?
TOWARDS ENGAGEMENT
As Francisco says, there are different layers of how your posts can reach people. They can lazily scroll through them on their feed, which is the most superficial level, or they can hit the like button, which still does not take much time to think. They can comment and engage with other users, which already requires they have at least read the post. And they can send you a personal message reflecting on the post.
If you think back to the three steps of the previous module, the first one was to ask yourself: What is your aim? What do you want to achieve with your post? Once you know that, and who you want to reach, then you can decide on what method might be best to achieve your aim.
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Francisco mentions some examples of what you can do to engage your followers. For example, have you ever used the poll feature on instagram or facebook? On instagram, you can use it when you post a story (content is only shown to others for 24 hours, but usually it reaches many people as they click through stories of people they follow), and on facebook, you can use it in any post that you make from an organisational page (i.e. the business account you have through your organisation. Not sure what that is? Have a look at this section in Module 1).
BE CREATIVE!
There are many other ways of how you can get people to process what you post on a deeper level! What you end up doing depends on your aim.
Let's say you people to cut down on single use plastic such as disposable cups, straws, bags, etc. First of all, always remember: What would the algorithm like? Because the algorithm decides when things are shown to people, and if your post is not shown to anybody, no one will engage with it. Mae sure what you post is ideally original, high quality material, clearly described, ideally emotional, and so on (see previous module)
But if you want people to not only see your post, but also act, you need to go beyond pretty pictures and simple language and be creative. For example, …
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make a poll that asks people about a fact of single use plastic (for example, "when do scientists expect that we will have more plastic in the ocean than fish?" Or "How many square kilometers is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?" and then give them options to vote on)
ask people to share pictures from their daily life (for example, "What is your favourite reusable shopping bag/travel coffee mug/…" or "What is a way how you save plastic?". This way, users can learn from each other!)
start a tagging chain (for example, "Tag someone who is addicted to coffee on the go!" or "tag someone who you think should put a travel mug on their wish list for Christmas". You see, you can target this towards people who might usually not see your posts, but they will read it if someone else tags them!)
ask interesting, personal or fun questions (for example, "What do you think is the most useless single use plastic item you have ever seen?" or "If you could magically make single use plastic disappear, where would you start?"
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For more inspiration on things you could do, check these 5 tips or these 18 (!) ways of how you can make your posts more engaging. The possibilities are endless!
MEET MOLLY!
How does Molly use social media?
Molly is from the United States and has been living in Tallinn since September 2019. She studies Adult Education for Social Change at Tallinn University, and is involved in environmental activism. Social media is a platform for her and her friends to voice important issues surrounding the environment. In this video, she tells you about her experiences in social media combined with activism, and what she has in general found to work well, or not so well.
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When you watch this video, try to answer the questions:
1. What are things you should do on social media?
2. What are things you should avoid?
3. Which of these things are especially relevant to you and your organisation?
SUMMARY: DO'S AND DON'TS & FURTHER TIPS
Based on the previous modules and the video you just watched, here are some do's and don'ts in social media.
DO always remember: if others see your post depends on if your post seems interesting to the algorithm, and if the content of your post is relevant to other people's personal interests
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DON'T shame people! Shaming people means to make people feel bad about things they are doing "wrong". This tactic is sometimes used in environmental activism, but is likely to shut followers out from the cause. Instead, try to make them see themselves that their behaviour might not be ideal.
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DO collaborate with others: The great thing about working in an organisation is that you have colleagues! When you want a post to get interactions on social media to start with (remember, more comments and likes also mean your post will be seen more), ask your colleagues to share, like and comment or participate in the fun little tasks you have come up with.
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DON'T post too upsetting content! Violent images or scenes can scare and disengage people.
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DO always post things together with an (ideally original) picture, video, link or a gif, and tag people in your posts. Plain text is not very eye-catching, and pictures with people in them are more relatable than only landscapes.
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DON'T write too much! Be conscious about overwhelming your viewers/followers with too much information. A little goes a long way, and a too much text could be disengaging for followers.
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DO keep experimenting and DON'T give up! It might take a while until you have many followers or get many interactions. But be patient! It will get better, and in the meantime, just have fun experimenting! :)
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ABOUT HUMOUR
The importance of laughing
As we explained previously, evoking emotional reactions is important. This is especially true for humour: Studies have found that humour is very useful in environmental communication, as it opens people up and relaxes them, so they are more susceptible to messages. The host of an educational science TV show said here: "Getting someone to laugh is half of the work of getting them to understand."
This is an optional part of this course, but if you would like to now more about how you can get your message to people by first making them smile please check out this little extra module.
