Los Angeles is a beautiful city that is synonymous with glitz and glamour mainly for having Hollywood as its main attraction. Aside from many celebrities and A-listers living in this vibrant city, it is also known for its exquisite food scene, economically and demographically diverse people, booming technology industry, exceptional postsecondary institutions and universities, large annual events, live sporting events, and its bustling economy.
15 Traits Every Successful Social Media Manager Should Have
Facebook users have clicked the ‘like’ button 1.13 trillion times since the platform was last updated. Every minute, there are an additional 4 million ‘likes’ clicked. On Twitter, there are over 25 billion tweets and interactions that take place on the site every day. And, two new members join LinkedIn every second. In the digital age, it’s crucial for businesses to adequately, monitor, manage, and curate their social media feeds and profiles.
Read more15 Traits Every Successful Social Media Manager Should Have
The Top 3 Paid Social Media Marketing Tools
Love it or hate it, social media is here to stay. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have become so integral part to our daily lives, that they’ve changed the way we meet, communicate, and network.
Social media has also changed the way products and services are marketed. This sets a new law for businesses and social media marketers alike: if you aren’t on social, you’re missing out on a significant portion of your market.
Hashtags: A Beginner’s Guide and How to Use them Effectively
Hashtags have evolved massively since their inception — even becoming part of our vernacular in some cases. They are ubiquitous with brands, products, television shows and more. You’d be hard pushed to find a marketing campaign today, whether it’s B2B or B2C, that doesn’t come complete with a hashtag.
To the uninitiated, they can seem daunting, a complex language that requires careful navigation. But when you get hashtags right, they can be a great tool for starting and joining conversations, making connections, and getting your message heard on social media.
Read moreHashtags: A Beginner’s Guide and How to Use them Effectively
5 Best Christmas Hashtag Campaigns
Christmas for most is presents and jingles, but for social media marketers, it’s a season of frenzy. For most businesses, the Christmas season is the most hectic and busy time of the year, and a time when sales skyrocket through the roof. The catch, however, is that during the Christmas season, the competition among brands of getting seen becomes tougher. Everyone is trying to get the attention of their audience all at the same time, and so cutting through the noise and standing out from the crowd is becoming more of a challenge – even though customers buy more than ever.
With consumer spending increasing dramatically during the Christmas season, you obviously also want to be a part of the fun, and enjoy increased sales. Like most things, though, this is easier said than done. As the competition among brands increases, you need new and unique ways to approach and reach your customers when the competition is the highest.
An effective, and often underestimated way of reaching your customers during Christmas is social media.
In this article, we’ll, therefore, share with you 5 Best Christmas Hashtag Campaigns and how you can succeed with social media during the Christmas season. With these hashtag campaigns, we’re going to take inspiration and advice, in order to leverage by the time you’re ready to set up your own Christmas hashtag campaign that yields you tremendous marketing results during the Christmas season.
The power of social media
Today, social media has become a natural part of many brands’ marketing strategies. This makes sense considering the fact that 74% of shoppers make buying decisions based on social media, according to Social Media Week.
During the Christmas season, social media is one of the most effective ways to reach your target audience and convince them to buy from you, and if you aren’t leveraging it, you’re missing out on tremendous opportunities.
What’s even better is the fact that during the Christmas season, many people tend to always scout for gifts to buy to their friends and family, and oftentimes, you stand there with no clue on what to buy. As a result, many people go to social media in search of inspiration. If you can effectively reach your customers through social media during this time of year, there’s a greater chance that they’ll buy, and this is exactly what you can do with the help of a Christmas hashtag campaign.
How to run a Christmas hashtag campaign
First thing first, let’s start with the basics.
What are hashtags and how do you use them?
And maybe most importantly, how do you run a Christmas hashtag campaign that dominates and generates worthwhile results.
Well, to begin with, hashtags are ”a word or phrase preceded by a hash sign (#), used on social media websites and applications, especially Twitter, to identify messages on a specific topic.” Think of hashtags as categories for your social media posts with which you allow your post to be showcased for other people who look at the respective hashtags that you choose to use on your post. The hashtags you use should be aligned with the content of your social media post, because this allows you to reach the correct people, since, people who look at ”Christmas tree” hashtags are probably not looking for photos of beaches and blue water (unless it’s a Christmas cruise!).
A great thing about hashtags on social media is that they increase your reach and your social media engagement. The more places your social media posts are showcased on, naturally, the more people you’ll reach, and thus the better results you’ll generate.
Simple, right?
Now, when it comes to Christmas hashtag campaigns, the way you set up such is a bit different from only incorporating them into your posts. With a hashtag campaign, a specific hashtag decided and created specifically for that campaign will be used, and it will be the center of attention in the campaign.
When using hashtags like this, as part of a social media marketing campaign, you’re using the hashtag in order to engage your audience, make them a part of the campaign, and/or gather content from your audience around a specific topic.
The way a Christmas hashtag campaign is set up, and the goal of one can vary, and this is also why the Christmas hashtag campaigns that we’re going to share later on in this article as inspiration vary as well.
What hashtag to use?
When brands create a Christmas hashtag campaign or any campaign for that matter, they normally create a ”new” ”unique” hashtag for that particular campaign.
The hashtag is created to work as an album that only contains posts that are relevant to a specific campaign (in this case a Christmas hashtag campaign) and this allows both the brand and the audience to easily go through all the posts as it significantly helps with discoverability.
Second of all is that with the campaign, as a brand, you want to have a hashtag that is relevant to the specific campaign, but also that is relevant and aligned with your brand and brand name.
It’s also worth having in mind that the hashtag should ideally be short and easy to spell so people don’t misspell it.
If you create a Christmas hashtag campaign and the idea is to gather a collection of posts from your audience, using a new hashtag that is created specifically for that campaign, and which has no previous posts will allow you to get a better overview of the posts that are part of the campaign, but also to have a keyword that is actually relevant to your brand.
Also, it can be good to have in mind that since you are running a Christmas campaign, it is a good idea to use a hashtag that is related to Christmas in one way or the other, that allows people to know exactly what your campaign is about. And as with all personalized hashtags, you want to include the name of your campaign or the name of your brand.
For example, if your brand name is Apple, and you have a Christmas giveaway, it makes sense to create a hashtag such as #AppleChristmas or similar.
You’ll also see examples of this below.
Giveaway/contest
A very common type of hashtag campaign, especially during the Christmas season, is a giveaway or contest.
Now, what does this have to do with hashtags? Well, often times when it comes to this type of hashtag campaign, the hashtag is used in order to gather and collect posts from the audience and customers on one place in order to more easily get access to the posts, but also to make the campaign accessible for everyone.
The best part is that doing this will allow you to run a marketing campaign – a Christmas hashtag campaign which will bring you two or even three marketing benefits at the same time.
First off, you engage your audience and customers and make them a part of your contest. Normally, the criteria for a hashtag campaign like this, and to take part in the giveaway is that the customer has to share a picture/video of something related to the campaign, share it, and include the hashtag. This is great because it means extra exposure for you as a brand, and when people take part in your campaign, they spread the word about you and your campaign. Second of all is that the content that your audience create is content that you can use as part of your own marketing in the future because creating good content demands time and resources. What’s more, 84% of consumers say they trust peer recommendations above all other sources of advertising.
This means that by leveraging the user-generated content which your audience has created, you can generate even better results than with your own professionally-created content.
Lastly, by running a giveaway/contest type of Christmas campaign, you make people a part of the campaign, which tends to engage people more, as opposed to just running a campaign and marketing to people. With this method, you promote with your audience.
Have in mind that when people have an incentive, they are more likely to do something. As such, the better the incentive is, the more people will join your Christmas hashtag campaign.
User-generated hashtag campaign
Another common hashtag campaign is quite similar to the giveaway example, however, the difference is that there is no monetary price. Instead, people are meant to be encouraged to create user-generated content for the campaign for a ”sense of belonging”, but also because they get something out of it that is non-monetary.
Daniel Wellington is a great example of this. On their Instagram, they have the hashtag ”#DWPickoftheDay”. The brand encourages people to share a photo of their watches, including that hashtag, in order to have the change of being featured on their Instagram page. Furthermore, the brand has also created a particular ”fan photos” section on their website where they showcase these images.
Both of this things are great examples of incentives which are non-monetary that you can leverage for your Christmas hashtag campaign. This method, of course, brings a great exposure for Daniel Wellington, and the best of all is that it is completely free!
Social Media Content Distribution Tactics that Work Like Magic
I’m sorry to say this, but you’ll never stand out like a digital peacock in the social media realm — that is, if you’re oblivious about how to distribute your content effectively.
If you’re into the whole publish and pray strategy — if you can even call it one — then your content will easily be drowned out by the millions of posts published on social media daily.
For you to succeed, you need to have a carefully crafted content distribution tactic when publishing your posts in social media.
Allow me to share with you four tactics that you can use for just that.
Let’s hop right in.
1. Build strategic partnerships with influencers.
I’m not really a huge proponent of the whole, “It’s not what you know, but WHO you know that counts” rationale. However, when it comes to marketing your content on the internet, I have to admit that it’s hard to ignore this reality.
Such is especially the case when you’re operating in the social media space where a single tweet or share from an influencer, can easily skyrocket your content views and even online sales.
That being said, it’s crucial that you pair your social content distribution endeavors with influencer marketing.
To find the right influencer, you can use Keyhole.co to gain a bit more insight into the influencer that you’re thinking of partnering with.
Here are some of the data points you can learn about an influencer if you run them through Keyhole.co:
- Average likes
- Average retweets
- Average number of posts
- Average engagements
- Their top posts based on engagements
Here’s a glimpse of how Keyhole.co looks from the inside.
(An overview of the influencer.)
(The account statistics.)
(Top posts by engagement.)
These are just some of the many things you can learn about your prospective influencer.
When you have these details, you can judge better if the person is an ideal partner to help you distribute your content through their followers or not.
2. Leverage employee advocacy.
Before anything else, let’s define the phrase “employee advocacy.”
According to Smarp.com, it is “the promotion of a company’s messages by its employees.”
Based on the definition alone, I hope you can see how this can be important for your content distribution on social media.
Let’s face it: Your target audience might not support you immediately when you reach out to them. After all, they don’t know your company through and through so it’s quite normal for them to have doubts about you.
The same can’t be said when you ask your employees for support, however. In most cases, they will welcome the idea since they are proud to be a part of your company.
That’s why employee advocacy is crucial in your social media content distribution endeavors. You’ll barely need to convince any of your employees to help you with sharing or promoting your company’s message.
The good news is, there are online platforms that can help you streamline your employee advocacy efforts.
Smarp is one of them.
You just need to create an account, do your initial setups like creating your channels and adding people to it, and you’re pretty much set to start posting.
Here’s how the platform looks from the inside.
(When creating new channels.)
(When editing/tweaking your channels.)
(When adding subscribers or employees to your channel.)
(How you can add your posts.)
With the help of social advocacy platforms, it’ll be easier for you to manage your marketing efforts and even measure the results you get out of them.
3. Leverage social scheduling.
There are a plethora of benefits to be had from using social scheduling platforms when distributing your content via social media.
For one thing, it enables you to repost your content multiple times. Also, you can control when your posts are published.
Both aspects are crucial for succeeding in the social media space.
After all, your target audience is most likely flooded with truckloads of content every day, that’s why you need to repost your content multiple times.
Also, as you study your audience, you’ll realize that there are certain times in a day where they log in. As you uncover this information, you can use the social scheduling platform to schedule your posts at the most optimum time.
4. Find out where your audience is.
Before you even start distributing your social media content, you need to know where exactly to distribute them.
I mean, sure, you can certainly post all of your content in your social media pages. However, that alone won’t do you much good.
You need to go out there, look for your audience, and distribute your content in places or groups where they frequent on.
Remember, where your customers are, there you should also be. This is a timeless lesson that businesses or marketers should never forget.
To help you with finding your audience, one of the best tools you can use is Facebook Audience Insights.
From your Facebook’s personal profile, click “Ads Manager” > the burger menu on the top left part of the page > hover to “All Tools” > click “Audience Insights.”
You will then see this page.
After you enter your interest and hit “enter,” click the “Page Likes” tab. (For this example’s sake, I entered the keyword “pastry” in the “Interest” section.)
You will then be able to view the pages relevant to your niche (and their audience sizes) as you scroll down.
At this point, you now have access to the list of niche-relevant pages where your audience is most likely hanging out online.
The only thing left for you to do is engage, build relationships, and distribute your social media content in these pages.
It’s worth pointing out that Facebook Audience Insight has several more features that you can use to help you with your content distribution. Be sure to check out the tool and experiment with it.
What’s next?
You don’t need to have decades of experience to succeed in the social media space.
Just by following the tried and tested strategies that seasoned social media marketers are using, you’d be able to formulate your very own system of distributing your content effectively (and efficiently) via social media.
If you follow the tips that we covered — or build on them — you’ll be able to get better results out of the content you’ll publish in your social media accounts.
If you have questions and ideas that you’d like to share regarding content distribution in the social media space, feel free to add them in the comments section below. Cheers!
6 Critical Steps to Avoid a Social Media Crisis
Social media is an enormously powerful tool for managing customer relationships, broadcasting positive brand stories and introducing new products. But while the benefits of this free, fast and intuitive marketing channel are virtually limitless, it also has some potentially serious risks.
But there’s good news; with proper planning you can avoid the most common mistakes that lead to a social media crisis.
What Causes Social Media Crises?
Common Mistakes — Just about anything can spark social media outrage and bring out the trolls, but the most common slip-ups include:
- Spelling and grammar mistakes made by professional organizations
- Accidentally liking an inappropriate post
- Tweeting a personal message from a professional account
- Unintentionally making an offensive statement
Serious Problems — Employee sabotage and hacking are much more serious offenses. While businesses can, and do, shift responsibility for the malicious post, they’re often criticised for allowing their login credentials to be compromised.
Catastrophic Events — Intentionally racist, sexist, or malicious comments made by companies or individuals ignite the worst type of social media crisis. These statements can significantly impact a brand’s revenue and reputation, and recovery could take years.
Look no further than Roseanne Barr for a trending example of how powerful one tweet can be.
In the days following her comment, Barr’s television contract was canceled, her reputation was heavily damaged, and she lost an estimated $3 million in revenue.
So, how can you avoid a social media crisis? Here are 6 steps you can take.
1. Have a Crisis Communication Plan
The most important steps toward preventing a social media disaster are understanding what crisis management means for your business and creating an action plan to address your risk factors.
While you can’t predict every crisis, you can train your social media team to prepare for, and effectively manage, potential problems.
Since social media is your front line of communication during a crisis, your plan should include specific guidelines to protect your brand. Most importantly, always have a second set of eyes on every post before it’s published. Companies should also train more individuals in crisis communications and social media management than you think you’ll need.
2. Monitor your Social Media for Trouble!
Identifying problems as soon as they arise is critical to crisis prevention. Unfortunately, you may never know about the biggest issues facing your company because 96% of angry customers don’t complain to brands directly. Many of these upset customers prefer posting about their poor experience on their own timeline. These “dark” complaints could go unnoticed, causing negative impact, without proper tools and training.
Social listening tools allow you to monitor keywords and indirect brand mentions as well as direct mentions. This gives your company a much more holistic view of what your customers are saying across all social platforms.
Keyhole’s Intelligent Notifications feature is an excellent example of how brands can set up alerts to detect direct and indirect (‘dark’) posts with negative sentiment.
Keyhole AI detects any tracked posts with negative sentiment made about your brand, and you automatically receive an Intelligent notification in your inbox, which allows you to react to the post before the negative sentiment escalates.
For instance, United Airlines would have seen this tweet and its volume, the first mention of the United Flight 3411 incident, with Keyhole.
This would have given the airline an ample runway to handle the crisis before it escalated.
3. Always Engage with Your Audience
Social profiles are frequently viewed as sales tools instead of powerful customer service platforms for building brand loyalty and customer care. By solely pitching products rather than having meaningful conversations with your followers, you could miss opportunities to address customer experience problems early on.
According to Maritz Research, 49% of customers expect companies to respond to Twitter complaints, yet only 29% of those who complained received a reply.
Additionally, customers who complain expect a response within 4 hours, while the average brand response time exceeds 10 hours.
It’s crucial to respond quickly and professionally when negative comments about your company are discovered. Ignoring criticism, even when it isn’t posted directly to your page, sends a message to your followers that you don’t care enough about them to respond.
4. Respond to Criticism Professionally
Knowing how to properly handle criticism in a public forum is essential to protecting your reputation. A single rude response to a genuine complaint will do far more damage to your image than the original comment could.
Deleting comments and blocking users may seem like the quickest way to fix a problem, but doing so could cause your customer to become more outspoken. Instead, make an effort to understand what caused the situation and show a willingness to make things right.
Consumers typically complain on social media when their problem has not been properly resolved. You may be able to prevent your customers from complaining in public by providing a seamless resolution process on your website or over the phone.
Angry customers want to express their frustration quickly, so they usually avoid email. Adding a simple feedback button to your site may prevent them from firing off a raging tweet for all to see. Just make sure it’s easy to find and effortless to use. You could even offer visitors incentives for leaving feedback if it they’ve been poking around your site for a while.
5. Choose the Right Person to Manage Your Accounts
Assigning your brand’s social media strategy to an intern or an inexperienced employee may save you money, but it could also be a recipe for disaster.
A great social media manager has a level head, is capable of handling a crisis, and is well-organized and detail-oriented. Finding someone with public relations experience adds another layer of insurance against mistakes.
Prefer to outsource the work? There are many companies specializing in managing social media accounts for businesses. This option may be the most impactful if you have room in your budget.
6. Draft an Employee Social Media Policy
Most people might think their private social profiles are safe for ranting about work stress, but negative posts can have serious consequences if customers or coworkers see them. Distribute guidelines about how to reference your brand online, but don’t scare your team away from posting. Happy employees are some of the best recruiting tools you can ask for!
Closing thoughts
The benefits of using social media intelligently will always outweigh the risks. Remember to monitor for problems, listen to your followers, react quickly and compassionately, and plan ahead, that way you’ll be able to maximize the benefits of this channel while avoiding potential crises.
How the USTA is Leveraging Social Media to Reach the Next Generation of Tennis Players
Learn 3 of the social media marketing strategies that the USTA uses to yield incredible (700% year-over-year!) growth in content engagement.
From grassroots community tennis to the US Open, the USTA strives to grow tennis at every level.
One of the driving forces in accomplishing this mission is the USTA social media team. Led by Director of Social Media & Strategy, Qianna Smith-Bruneteau, the USTA has built a social strategy that has landed their campaigns in the billion+ impression category and that leads to a consistent 700% year-over-year growth in content engagement.
More importantly, every person their content reaches is inspired by tennis-related content that is positive, motivational and inclusive.
Read on to learn 3 key social media marketing strategies that Qianna’s team implements to reach their goals and guide these numbers.
1. Reach Generation Z & Millennials Through Youth Ambassadors
One of the ways that the USTA social team is engaging a younger audience on social media is by leveraging the power of influencers.
The team has built partnerships with 100 youth ambassadors who share their stories through social media, inspiring others in their age group to become involved in this sport and community, and driving home their mission.
“We have this incredible mission to inspire the next generation of tennis greats through our Net Generation brand. Leveraging social media, we have developed relationships with Generation Z and millennial audiences. We’ve assembled a movement of 100 ambassadors, the Net Set, age 5 to 19, who share their personal tennis journeys and stories on social media, and it’s through their lens that I see the magic and the mission of the organization unfold.”
“The future is female. Run like a girl and show the boys who’s boss!”
Send #NetGeneration ambassador Kalli a ?? if you love her determination!
Join the movement: https://t.co/jSnEgARagW
?: @kalli_minor pic.twitter.com/e0l20sBd6y
— USTA (@usta) April 23, 2018
Not to mention, their winning strategy has also won them several awards, the most recent being the 10th Annual Shorty Award for best celebrity & influencer campaign on Snapchat.
Bonus Tip:
Notice the USTA’s use of emoji CTA’s- calling for comment engagement by showing which emoji to use to show your support for USTA athletes/ partners?.
2. Monitor the #Conversation to Increase Engagement
Qianna’s team also maximizes overall engagement by leveraging hashtag analytics, or in other words, tracking #USOpen during the run of the event and year-round to understand how their content is being engaged.
“I never imagined during the US Open that our hashtag would enter into the billion+ impression category. Having the ability to download the content tagged with our hashtag really allowed us to identify super users and reward them with surprise and delight moments throughout the tournament.”
By monitoring how people are engaging with your hashtag, you can identify most engaged users and the types of content they are engaging with. You can then adjust your content strategy in real time, replicating high-engagement content and delighting your audience.
“Keyhole allows us to analyze the conversations around turnkey marketing moments, and to understand the organic/earned media associated with our brand.”
3. Use Competitive Benchmarking to Inform your Strategy
Competitive Benchmarking means comparing your own performance to your top competitors’ as a way to hold your metrics to a standard.
“Keyhole.co is an invaluable tool for competitive benchmarking and seeing where we stack up in the space.”
With benchmarking, Qianna and her team were able to determine that they had the most engaged hashtag, #USOpen in the Grand Slam space in 2017 (US Open, AU Open, French Open, Wimbledon), which demonstrates the value of her team’s efforts within the organization.
“On the US Open channels, we had a 700% year-over-year increase in interactions and video views across the big 5. And our USTA social media channels did the most interactions and video views, an increase of over 1,200% year-over-year when compared to the other 3 governing bodies associated with a Grand Slam.”
Key Takeaways
Some key takeaways:
- Create engaging content by partnering with influencers or brand ambassadors.
- Monitor hashtags to understand engagement and double down on top content.
- Use competitive benchmarking to measure your results.
That’s the USTA’s winning formula ??.
“Keyhole is an incredible tool for any social media marketer. I used it when I was head of social media at Saks Fifth Avenue, and it was one of the first tools I selected at the USTA.”
How the National Museum of African American History and Culture Transforms Conventional Narratives Through Social Media
Recruited before the museum even opened its doors, Lanae Spruce has become
The National Museum of African American History and Culture’s influential voice on social media.
As the Manager of Social Media and Digital Engagement, Lanae focuses on finding creative ways to take the rich stories that live within the museum walls and spread them far and wide online.
For the past four years, during a crucial time in US history, Lanae and her team have led transformational conversations about race and national identity on social media, subverting stereotypes and changing “minds & hearts”.
Social Justice Leads the Conversation
One of the unique things about monitoring social media through hashtag analytics in the long-term is that clear patterns begin to emerge.
“We use Keyhole to monitor our hashtag campaigns and engagement. We also use it to find and look at our influencers, reshare content and find new stories.”
Lanae’s team (pictured below), for instance, finds that leading the conversation on issues of social justice attracts their highly-engaged audience.
“Through our analytics, we’ve been able to determine that we have one of the highest engaged audiences on social media in the museum industry, and that’s informed our practice directly. We’ve found that commenting on issues related to social justice really resonates with our audience. Whenever we can offer historical context for any of these contemporary issues they love it. By being timely and also by standing up for what’s right we continue to engage our followers.”
For instance, on National Watermelon Day (August 3), the team found an opportunity to subvert a common stereotype.
“Watermelons are a stereotype associated with African Americans. What we were able to find through our research with historians here is that at one point in time, many African Americans owned watermelon farms. And it was seen as a symbol of empowerment because they were able to create their own wealth and lifestyles by buying and selling watermelons. So we were able to take a stereotype and flip it on its head.”
Tracking the Pulse
By listening to the goings-on of social media, Lanae’s team also keeps on top of fresh stories and adds their voice to relevant conversations as they emerge.
“I think for us we’re very in tune with the pulse side- what people are talking about right now, and how we can use that to create moments to educate the public”
For instance, Lanae shares that after the horrific events in Charlottesville last summer, her team thought a lot about the best way to respond on social media. Ultimately, they created a thread on Twitter that spoke about the history of terror for African Americans in the United States immediately following the civil war period, “during reconstruction”.
The impact?
“We got thousands and thousands of retweets, and Twitter created a stand-alone moment for that particular Twitter thread because it was so important and it led the conversation for what everyone was talking about at that time.”
Click this image to see the Twitter Moment
Of course, the NMAAHC is in a unique position to lend their voice to this conversation, both as an educational institution and as experts in African American history.
“I remember one of my peers asking me, how can a museum tweet using #BlackLivesMatter? The answer is: because we directly have collections and exhibitions and programming that support the issues there, and as long as we are able to offer context on these issues we are doing our job at the Smithsonian as an educational institution.”
The Power of a Post-It
The intention that Lanae came to this job with has continued to inspire an approach to social media that transcends common marketing objectives. Far beyond any metrics or KPIs, the NMAAHC is leading an important conversation online.
“I think for me one of the things that really drew me to the role is that my boss at the time posed a question to me that has stuck with me throughout this role (I still have the sticky note from our conversation!):
‘How do we honor African American experiences outside the common narrative?’
This question has since driven this team’s approach and guided how they choose to communicate online, the types of stories they highlight, and the content they create.
“I really thought about that: how can we create an impact and tell stories about LGBTQ African Americans, about the contributions of women and children during the struggle for African American civil rights?”
Key Take-Aways
The NMAAHC team has done extremely well through their social media channels, launching social campaigns like ‘Our Hidden Hurtstory’, daily ‘This Day in History’ content posts, and creating unique hashtags like #APeoplesJourney and #OurNationsStory that have, for instance, been used by 4 US presidents to date.
They are using social media differently, and in all their conversations they are reaching audiences with a message that is educational, progressive, and inclusive.
Using social media analytics, and specifically, hashtag analytics to monitor their conversations, they have created an approach that furthers their mission while also highly resonating with their audience.
We are thrilled that Keyhole is part of the mix that helps this museum regularly create significant conversations that move the needle.
How PROJECT 375 Uses Keyhole to Track the Conversation Around Mental Health
Erica Jellerson gives us her expert insight into how the conversation around mental health is changing on social media, and how she and her team are using social media analytics to lead the conversation.
PROJECT 375
PROJECT 375 is a non-profit organization centered around reducing the stigma around mental health.
The organization was born out of the experiences of its co-founders, NFL star Brandon Marshall and his wife– mental health advocate Michi Marshall.
In 2011, Brandon was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and spent 3 months in an intensive outpatient program at McLean Hospital.
After his experience, the critical need for stigma reduction and mental health education was immediately apparent. That’s why he, his wife, and the team are now dedicated to changing the conversation around mental health through PROJECT 375, which aims to “unlock human potential through conversation, education, and inspiration”.
The 375 Team at a Mental Health First Aid Training:
Mental Health on Social Media
Social media is one of the primary channels where the conversation around mental health is taking place, and, thanks to the public nature of social, it is also the one we have most visibility into.
According to Erica, who has been using Keyhole to monitor the conversation around mental health for years, we are currently experiencing a positive shift in its tone.
“I think we have been seeing a shift in the kinds of conversations surrounding mental health on social media. Just looking at the number of conversations taking place on these platforms, we can see it has grown instrumentally over the past couple of years. We are witnessing celebrities and everyday people alike, looking to social media to tell their stories.”
.@MensHealthMag, The Rock Just Opened Up About Mental Illness and Suicide: https://t.co/1KSJTilt1s
— PROJECT 375 (@PROJECT375) February 23, 2018
Naturally, social media is also one of the main ways that PROJECT 375 leads the conversation about mental health and connects with and understands its audience.
“We believe in meeting people where they are at. The fact is people are on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all day long! Our presence must be robust on these social channels to continue to galvanize the community and move these critical conversations forward.”
Self care is not selfish! #RT if you agree.
— PROJECT 375 (@PROJECT375) November 18, 2017
The organization uses its platforms to amplify news, celebrity posts, and studies that support its messaging and further a positive dialogue around mental health, using Keyhole to track, optimize and understand their own success.
Creating Success with Keyhole
“Keyhole is my go-to for all things analytics. Knowing our audience, their likes and dislikes, the kinds of content they prefer and the times they are looking at us is mission critical. I am constantly looking at the data to see what patterns emerge and the different ways we can tweak our strategies to best serve our supporters. Social media is ever-changing and Keyhole gives us the ability to change in lockstep with the latest trends and audience preferences.”
With Keyhole, Erica and her team are able to look at key social media account and hashtag analytics that give them insights into their audience and industry and help them amplify their message.
Knowing Your Audience: Likes, Dislikes & The Content They Prefer.
Knowing your audience is key.
In a non-profit space, this helps build ideal content to increase engagement and brand awareness. By targetting the right people by demographics or location, you can also improve your success with fundraising, petition signing, or event attendance.
Some of the Insights that PROJECT 375 uses Keyhole to measure are:
Follower Location (Worldwide & US-specific):
Keywords in Bio (to gauge personas, understand interests):
Top Engagement Times (to optimize content scheduling):
“Keyhole offers us information that we can’t get by attempting to just pull analytics from each channel. It is the most user-friendly, targeted program we have used. As our communications strategies have changed over time, Keyhole has allowed us to make the most informed decisions to achieve our goals.”
Keyhole helps PROJECT 375 understand the changing conversation around mental health, as well as their own content efforts. The Marshalls, Erica and their team are then able to use this data to further their mission, reducing the stigma around mental illness through awareness and community building.
Follow PROJECT375 on Twitter to continue listening.
If you are interested in tracking conversations on social media, try Keyhole for free!