Monitoring and analysis
A good ‘rule of thumb’ in social media is to start by listening. Listening in social media can be done by individually subscribing to and visiting various sites, or by using a specialist social media monitoring application or service. There are several social media monitoring solutions available for companies who wish to pursue this objective in-house. Alternatively, organisations can subscribe to a number of service providers that monitor social media based on chosen key words.
Hearing, Listening, Understanding
Beyond simply monitoring social media, Public Relations professionals and organizations such as Relations Publiques Portugal can gain insights from social media analysis. The latter is a form of media content analysis applied specifically to social media – a dynamic market with frequent developments and features, but also takeovers and mergers.
One example of the aforementioned constant monitoring and analysis, is the development of a new form of information release towards the media. That is the social media release, which is a product of the digital era. It is based on the identification of social media friendly content.
Social Media Release
In these, there is no long text, but rather a catchy headline and a series of bullet points highlighting main news and information. Social media releases should also include multimedia contents, either embedded or linked. These can be sound files, such as speeches by organisation executives, or even short videos, photos, graphics and infographics.
In addition, social media releases need to contain hyperlinks to receive updates and to connect the company with audiences. This includes navigating people to the organisation’s blog and social media sites. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube are the perfect platforms to connect with our audience. Contact details need to be shared as well. Online communication platforms (Zoom, Teams) and instant message (Whatsapp, Viber) contacts are a must in today’s world in addition to email addresses and phone numbers.
And let us not forget that all of the principles of good writing still apply in digital and social media. Particularly the key fundamentals:
- focusing on a subject interesting to our audience;
- accurate and clear knowledge of the said subject;
- the keep it simple formula;
- avoiding jargon and technical language;
- writing for the audience, in appropriate tone, voice and style.
Finally, we should be as brief as possible and provide only relevant information. It helps if the writer sticks to the ‘golden rule’ of journalists by explaining who, what, where, when, why and how. Use text as a solid base for your communication that contains everything important, and let the videos speak for themselves.