You’ve studied it and you’ve seen it from a consumer perspective – but where do you even begin to keep up with the constant changes in the social media landscape when it comes to keeping your audience engaged?
We spoke to former Interhacktive, Emily Shackleton, to get her top tips on succeeding in your first years of working in social media, particularly in national news.
Tip #1 = Community and engagement means something different to every publisher.
Emily has worked at three publications in social media/community roles since she left City. What stood out most to her was how differently each publication does things to grow and engage their audiences.
“That might be writing about communities and reflecting their experience – like all the work Metro.co.uk does on mental health (you should listen to their Mentally Yours podcast by the way – it’s great!). For the Daily Mail where Facebook video is largely king, their focus was somewhat on creating communities of people who enjoy their video content through themed Facebook Watch pages.
Whereas, at The Sun, I am currently focusing on chiefly comments on various platforms (website and social media) to achieve different goals aiming ultimately for the same outcome – to create a loyal, engaged audience who will keep coming back to our brand.”
Tip #2 = It helps to be super adaptable.
“I will be honest – when I graduated from City, it wasn’t with the strict goal of finding a job in social media. I knew I enjoyed social media from my classes, work experience and shift work. I was, however, still very open to the idea of becoming a reporter or writer if I was offered a job to do so. That to me was the reality of being a journalism graduate – a job is a job!
But I am very lucky Metro.co.uk took a chance on me. I found myself thinking this three months into my first social media job upon realising actually this was the thing for me.
I have taken this lesson of being able to adapt to shifting demands in this industry since as we all know, everything changes at breakneck speed in journalism. From pondering Facebook’s ever-changing algorithm, to spending an evening or two figuring how to navigate Abode Premiere if there’s a lot more video in your workload – there is a huge element of going with the flow and working things out. Which, to be honest, is part of the fun!”
Tip #3 = Invest time into keeping top of industry/social trends
“It can be super easy! There are tools out there that can help you aggregate news articles on topics you are interested in – I am a big fan of Feedly which is a very good, organised RSS feeder.
There are also groups of audience people who love talking about everything social on (where else?) Facebook. For example, Matt Navarra’s Social Media Geek Out Facebook group is particularly good not just for news but also great chat and really helpful advice between social specialists.
Tip #4 = It’s important to really get to know your readers – and to keep getting to know them
“As someone who spends a great deal of time engaging with people who comment on The Sun, I may feel like I have a good idea of what they enjoy and engaging with anecdotally. But the decisions I make strategically will have a very heavy basis in analytics – what they are reading, how are many are reading and commenting, the behaviour of those who comment etc.
Constantly looking into new ways you can examine your audience’s behaviour is vital as it changes and expands – so would highly recommend getting a really good grip on Excel/Google Sheets if you plan to go into an audience career!”
Tip #5 = The internet is still a place for meaningful conversations
Yes, really!
“When people think of a community role, it often conjures images of a moderator huddled over a computer battling their way through multitudes of potentially terrible comments. But the internet is not just a place for trolls – it is for meaningful connection too.
My colleagues at The Sun will be able to attest to the fact I often chuckle at my desk because one of our readers have cracked a joke in the comments, or posted a funny gif on one of our Facebook posts about unicorn gin. Still hoping those colleagues don’t find it strange a few months in…
My point is though there’s a lot of good-natured conversation to be had with people online still. We can still make each other laugh and talk to each other in kind, positive ways. That is something I truly believe and have seen for myself.”
Emily is currently the Community and Social Manager at The Sun.