40 ways to improve your social media posts

A simple but powerful list. What are your secret tips?

1. Write with a consistent, natural and conversational tone of voice. 

2. Focus on your readers. Understand their interests, needs, desires and motivations. 

3. Focus on timely topics but add your own voice. 

4. Add value to a post by encouraging discussion, asking a genuine question (advice or opinion).

5. A post should be clear and easily understood.

6. Avoid simply promoting your own company or work. 

Twitter (follow me: @Scott_McQuade)

7. Post 4-10 times a day.  

8. Avoid repeating a tweet more than once a day. Don’t automate the same tweet.

9. Include 1-3 relevant hashtags in tweets to help people who search by key words.

10. Include links, to get 86% more engagement.

11. Use images for twice the engagement rate.

12. Shorter tweets get read and re-tweeted more (under 100 characters).

13. Use no more than 130 characters, so people can retweet and add hashtags etc.

14. Live tweeting of events helps people follow along: nominate a clear, simple hashtag.  

15. Post during working hours for 30% more engagement.

16. Ask for re-tweets of important posts: it drives 12x more re-tweets. 

Facebook (like my Facebook page) 

17. Consistent quality matters more than quantity.  

18. No more than 4 posts a day.

19. Short messages work best. Long messages are okay if they’re compelling.  

20. Timing matters, but your audience is international. Spread posts throughout the day. 

21. Don’t forget weekends! Readers are more engaged when they have more time. 

22. Photos attract readers, responses and re-shares. 

23. Emoticons receive a 59% higher engagement rate, but use sparingly.

24. Explicitly ask readers to like/comment: it drives higher engagement.

Google+ (put me in your Google+ circle)

25. Include an image to grab attention.

26. Include links or post web articles (web links usually include images).

27. Pose a comment or question to encourage discussion.

28. Monitor discussions and return to the post to interact with readers.

29. Hashtags are automated, but make sure they are appropriate and delete if needed. Include 1-3 hashtags at the end of your post, but only if needed.

30. Keep it short: 1-3 paragraphs. Only a few lines are immediately visible, so get to the point.

31. Share with specific circles as well as making posts public. Include usernames in the post or comments to draw their attention or give thanks, but do it sparingly.

LinkedIn (if I know you, let's get LinkedIn)

32. Only share high quality content. 

33. Share new, informative material. Readers are happy to learn.  

34. Be a thought-leader by only talking about your area of expertise. Join relevant communities.

35. Only discuss professionally relevant topics. LinkedIn is not a general discussion forum.

36. Start conversations with a thought-provoking statement or question. 

37. Avoid simply promoting a corporate initiative or service or posting a news story. Instead, put it in context, pose a question and invite comments.

38. Prepare to engage with discussants: don’t post and run. 

39. Don’t simply post a link to a website. Put the content on LinkedIn for better engagement.

40. Share your expertise: add your own tips below!

Most of these commonsense principles also apply at Tumblr, YouTube and other social media sites.

Youtube video: quantity or quality?

Many communicators are turning to video to make their work more engaging. Audiences are certainly lapping it up, via PCs and mobile devices. But what makes for a good video?
In this video, science blogger Derek Muller reflects on the pros and cons - some of the them specific to YouTube - of producing lots of videos or investing time, effort and money in producing higher quality but fewer videos.
Muller has opted for quality, and it shows. It is the reason this video appears here, and it helps to explain Muller's success, even when he strays from his core science topics...
For more like this, see Muller's YouTube channel Veritasium.

How to be an investigative journalist

How can a journalist get attention these days? Bloggers and the general public are swamping the breaking news cycle with tweets and photos from their mobile phones; companies are developing their own media content; and public relations practitioners outnumber reporters. It can be hard for a news reporter to get their head above the hype.
For the lucky few with the time, money and requisite skills, investigative journalism promises not only headlines but also infamy. But even if you have the time and inclination, how can you become an investigative journalist? UK newspaper The Guardian has put together a masterclass seminar with award-winning writers and professional snoops. They will explain how to find information and outfox the powers that want it hidden. This event occurs on November 30 in London and will cost £139, or £109 if you book early.

The Guardian hosts a series of other learning opportunities through the year. If you cannot make the introduction to investigative journalism, how about the digital journalism bootcamp? This costs a bit more, at £299, but is being held after work over four weeks in November (5, 12, 19 and 26 Nov.).

You can keep in touch with forthcoming learning opportunities by email, or follow @guardianclasses on Twitter.

The image above is from the London Journalism Centre, which offers a number of courses including politics, fashion and travel writing, among others.

Understanding the publishing process

Publishing a document can be harder than it looks. If you have ever had to help a colleague, boss or client get a document published in a ridiculously short amount of time, you will know how helpful it would be if they understood all the steps involved, what could go wrong, and how much time is required.


If only all clients could be well informed. At least you can educate yourself, and a good place to start is this promotional video by the company Inís Communication, which focuses on the development sector. Since Inís offers a wide range of publishing services, the video provides a useful overview of the types of issues involved in developing a corporate document.

This information could be helpful for anybody who asks the question 'why does production take so long?'. After all, they probably just ran over time on developing and agreeing on the text and want to see the finished product already! A quick look at this video should clarify that a professional document requires some important decisions and involves a series of steps that take time. While some of these steps can be compressed, run in parallel or even skipped, you risk having a poor result. And if you are planning a major document for your institution, it is likely that you cannot afford to take those sorts of risks.

Publication steps
Procedures covered in the video include:.

• Client consultation (getting a clear brief from the person or team that wants the publication). What is the expected outcome? What is the overall scope of the project?
• Target audience and format. Messaging and tone, print vs electronic, overall nature of the result and how it will be used (what do you want to achieve as a result?).
• Filling the blanks: research and re-writing to get the contents to reflect the intended result. This addresses tone and length, structure and content, and overall messages and impact.
• Editing (language appropriate to the audience, accuracy, grammar and ease of reading). Note that this is a crucial stage and cannot be easily truncated. If your document was written by a member of your staff, or had inputs from a whole range of people, there is a strong possibility that the text simply does not match the needs of your target audience. Many institutional texts need substantial editing and even re-writing before they become truly accessible to diverse audiences. 
• Design (layout concept, visual identity, style and impact). The same as your prior documents? Or something new: modern or traditional, serious or fun?
• Layout (illustrations, photos, use of colours and space). This is also the stage for the final proofing of text. It is your last chance to correct errors (but the text should already be edited! This is also not a time for re-writing, so plan accordingly). 
• Adaptation to other outputs e.g. web, ebooks etc. (these should have been planned in advance).
• Production - printing, XML and web, loading into ebookstores etc.

Marketing
Don't forget the final important steps in promoting your publication! Consider how it will be released to the news media and other defined audiences. Will it be online in time for your public announcement? Are the files big enough to download or send by email? Should you put them on digital platforms like Issuu or Slideshare? Will it be sold or released through Amazon or the iTunes store? 

10 ways to influence with social media

Want to increase your influence online using social media? 


Forbes writer Haydn Shaughnessey says your social media profile can help your career and add to the value of information found online. 

That's why he put together a guide to the basics of developing influence online, which covers the following issues (with some thoughts of my own): 

1. Planning:
   Think about your topics. Do your research and add value to the raw information. Maybe do a short series of posts about an issue. Pace yourself so that your posts are regular but do not overwhelm readers or make you invisible during lengthy downtime.
2. Where to contribute:
   Do you think different? Know yourself and what you want to say, then find the right platform. You might find it hard being a liberal in a conservative forum, but then you might also attract more interest (please don't be a miserable troll!).
3. Growing your influence:
   Know where the audiences are and be visibile. For your topic that could be LinkedIn or Pinterest, Reddit or 4Chan. Write with your audience in mind and follow others doing the same. Be useful to others and you will likely become more important to them.
4. Writing for the web:
   What is your 'voice'? Authoritative, conversational, detailed, descriptive, poetic? Use snappy titles. Intrigue and excite readers, but please don't infuriate them!
5. Feedback and eliminating errors:
   Try to check your work and don't bite if people correct your grammar and spelling. Ask friends to tell you - truthfully - how clear and engaging is your writing?
6. Distribution channels:
   Blog and re-post your items on Google+ and Facebook. Tweet your blogs, or blog in an established location (Huffington Post got lots of free help as bloggers sought a more popular platform than their isolated blogs).
7. Comments and tweets:
   Does your blog needs comments, or is it enough that you have readers who re-share your ideas? Do you want to stir debate or share information? Do you comment on others' posts, re-share, or both?
8. Search engine optimization and titles (headlines):
   Use hashtags, labels and keywords. "Google 'how to create good titles'," Shaughnessey says. 
9. Audience size:
   How many is enough? To earn money from advertising? To fill a petition?
10. Metrics and benchmarks:
    Who are your peers and competitors? How should you measure success?

In the spirit of developing knowledge, why not contribute your own ideas in the comments below, or on Haydn's blog.

See also: 
How best to use Google+
Social media research

How to best use Google+

Google+ is fast shaping up as meaningful forum to discuss current affairs and explore science and culture. After one year it hasn't yet been flooded with provocateurs and spammers. But with an estimated 100+ million users, G+ seems to be a hive of intellectual activity that goes beyond early adopters and the intellectual elite.

A significant number of journalists, politicians, educators and community leaders are using it and some are declaring Google+ to be their primary social network. G+ is both a useful source of information and an opportunity to raise awareness and engage with audiences.

To demonstrate this, G+ user Ole Ole Olson has developed a very helpful guide for activists and non-profit organizations to use Google+ effectively. His Progressives Guide to Social Media also covers Facebook, Twitter and sites such as Reddit and Digg. 

The G+ guide includes tips on using circles for selectively finding and sharing information, and he links to some existing circles of key influencers, ranging from journalists, activists and scientists through to specific interest groups such as vegetarians. He also provides links to the institutional pages of major institutions and campaigns, from Mother Jones, Wired and Wikileaks, to Amnesty International and Change.org.

“A good tactic is to write a thoughtful short paragraph about a news article, then paste that comment on every social media site.  If you are reposting something shared with you, always make sure you follow etiquette by attributing where you found the information.” Since circles allow you to share information selectively, I also recommend you also ensure that what you post is relevant to each of your audiences.

As Olson notes, there is a lot of functionality in Google+. Search is a given, and there is also on-demand video conferencing (hangouts), chat and photo and video storage. Since YouTube is owned by Google, YouTube videos are better integrated and play within the G+ site. Others, such as Vimeo, take users to a new web page. 

Some of the basics are also covered in this guide, like the requirement for a Gmail account and the need to use your real name: a potential sticking point for repressed activists needing anonymity (tip: a feasible alias can be used). Google has also streamlined its privacy policies and integrated its accounts more, so you can link your YouTube account to your Google+ account, if you wish.

To make best use of the site, Olsen suggests a clear profile and photo, plus external links. Adding pre-made circles can quickly create an audience as members follow you in return. 

Posting original or useful content can raise your profile, and some users develop community by prompting discussion around specific issues. While that can be an opening for spammers and others to add provocative or irrelevant comments, G+ allows you to block malcontents. On the other hand, you can also see who is voting for you (+1) and re-sharing your posts. Ways to share your G+ posts with your Facebook and Twitter accounts are also discussed.

Find Scott McQuade on Google+ here: http://goo.gl/vLIjk

See also: 10 ways to influence with social media