Take it from Alex: Social Media Engagement Best Practices
At the beginning of the Fall semester, #TeamAlex was selected to begin working with Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation’s Lemon Society Philadelphia Chapter. This inspirational nonprofit is dedicated to changing the lives of children with childhood cancer by means of spreading awareness and fundraising for cancer treatments, family travel expenses, research, and more.
One of the most notable ways that Alex’s raises awareness is by primarily focusing on their target audience in order to engage them through various social media platforms. Alex’s constantly updates their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and Pinterest accounts with related information to their cause, such as how young-professionals could get involved. More importantly, they focus on why more help from this group is necessary, which makes Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation a prevalent resource for social media engagement best practices.
TIPS AND TRICKS
1. Location, Location, Location
TIP: Knowing what social media platforms your target audience will most likely be using is important for being able to effectively communicate the mission and goals of an organization. Availability to post content may also play a role in which platforms will work best.
TRICK: Utilize the best times to post on various platforms to engage the most followers.
2. Staying Active
TIP: Having a lot of followers and regularly interacting with them is the key to a successful platform. Following users back, replying to comments, and encouraging the use of a particular hashtag will create a community of open communication, which will effectively grow an organization.
3. Quality > Quantity
TIP: Although consistency and reiteration are important, posting too often can turn an audience away from a cause. Keep your audience engaged, but be careful not to bombard them with information.
According to Strategies for Effective Tweeting: A Statistical Review, “Tweets containing less than 100 characters receive 17% higher engagement than longer Tweets.”
4. Inclusion and Diversity
TIP: Including pictures, links, and other attachments within posts is key to building an interactive experience with any audience. It provides a hands-on experience despite the barrier that technology can sometimes cause.
TRICK: Create a variety of posts that switch between straight text, pictures, and additional links. Try to refrain from posting two of the same kind consecutively. A great example is knowing the difference between a “thin” and “thick” tweeting.
HOW THEY DO IT
After an organization makes these social media accounts, then what? Well, it depends on the platform. Different social media sites can be used to portray different aspects of the company.
Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation uses their Youtube account to appeal specifically to children and young adults.
The video is targeted towards children who want to become involved in the organization. Alex’s creates videos to encourage their supporters to get involved and guides them every step of the way. This intentional expansion of their audience shows that ALSF really cares about any and all of their supporters!
Alex’s continues this theme of support on their Facebook and Instagram accounts. These pages have a focus on the community aspect of the organization.
Positive interaction with followers is important. If followers are sharing such personal information, it is essential to let them know their stories are being heard. ALSF continuously goes above and beyond to show followers that their organization doesn’t just support the foundation, they also genuinely care about the members that back their cause.
Alex’s posts are always made with the intention to encourage inclusion through pictures, videos, and promotional material. They utilize every aspect of this platform to display their events and make their followers aware of everything that is going on within their foundation.
