Twitter is great for:
- Sharing research/updates to a large audience
- Helping to get your research/work or name known
- Interacting with people within and outside your industry (See How to use hashtags and tags)
- Helping to measure your reach (See How to measure my social media reach)
- Sharing research/updates to a large audience. With Facebook you can write longer more detailed posts.
- Sharing videos, links to articles and websites from your research or business
- Interacting with people through comments as well as private and public groups.
- Sharing photo and video updates about your research or on your farm
- Engaging with your target audience through comments, Instagram stories or private direct messages.
- Promote events or key results.
There are billions of Facebook users around the world. It is great for:
- Sharing research/updates to a large audience. With Facebook you can write longer more detailed posts.
- Sharing videos, links to articles and websites from your research or business
- Interacting with people through comments as well as private and public groups.
Instagram has risen in popularity because its based around the sharing of images and film.
It is great for:
- Sharing photo and video updates about your research or on your farm
- Engaging with your target audience through comments, Instagram stories or private direct messages.
- Promote events or key results.
Here are the top things to think about when composing a social media post
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What is the point?
Does your tweet or Facebook post inform and engage? Is it making a statement, illustrating an activity or inviting a response? One tweet can do all three.
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What have you used to add interest?
Including a great photo and a short, good film is much more likely to attract interest.
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Does it signpost followers to useful information?
A tweet has to be short: no more than 280 characters. Use your tweet to signpost to additional information by including the link to a web page.
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Does it use hashtags and tags?
A hashtag connects your post to other conversations on social media. A tag brings others alerts other users to your post.
See: How to use hashtags and tags
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When is the best time to post?
You may have composed the most profound, most important or most informative tweet of all time, but it will be of little consequence if you have decided to post it on Twitter at a time when your intended audience is not online and is unlikely to see it. Try to guess when your followers are most likely to be checking their twitter feed.
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Pause, think and check before you post
If you are representing an organisation, a company or a brand, your tweet has to represent those values. Some employers issue their staff with social media guidelines.
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Construct a positive profile for your social media account
Make sure photos used for your profile are good quality and company or institution logo is clear. Include concise information and web address etc.