How Are We Communicating?

February 25, 2015

By Wendy Carriker, Communications and Public Relations Chairman

We know GFWC members are on social media, and making their presence known through various platforms. We can do more. Let’s take a moment and look at who we are reaching, who we want to reach, and all the questions that revolve around that engagement.

Without thinking about these things in advance, how do we make the most of our newsletter articles, Facebook posts, press releases, and even our tweets?

In this fast-paced world, research shows that the most effective posts, no matter the medium, are short and sweet. With social media, verbs, and action words get more attention than nouns in most cases. Think about what catches your own interest.

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Our members want to learn. They want to learn about the issues we are engaged in. They want to learn how to better their communities, and in turn, our nation. Write with importance and relevance.

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There is a very real aspect in social media of competing for attention. You have to cut through the chatter to be heard. How often should you post or tweet for the most attention? While that depends on your level of engagement on Facebook, Twitter, etc., you can count the lifespan of a post or tweet being two to three hours. In Facebook’s case, let your posts breathe. Schedule them using one of the many social media schedulers if at all possible (HootSuite or Buffer, for example). Otherwise one to two posts a day should give you the most exposure for your time. Twitter is a slightly different animal. You may tweet much more regularly by engaging and re-tweeting other users on a certain topic, but when providing information, seeing a succession of tweets from one user in your feed can be annoying. Some members only look at social media during lunch breaks, or in the evenings, while others may be online all day. So when you post is also important.

Again, keep your posts short and sweet. While Twitter allows for 140 characters, usually 100 characters can get more attention. Less is always more. And to get even more attention, ask people to follow, share, re-tweet, or to re-post. This happens naturally if your message is of interest. Post photos when possible. It’s true-a picture is worth a thousand words.

Use your local newspaper whenever possible, and remember to put GFWC in front of your club’s name. That connects us all, and makes our organization searchable in Google, Yahoo!, Bing, etc. Many people still think that women’s clubs are social clubs. Pictures change that perception. Pictures also show our impact and makes your story newsworthy.

Lastly, share! Share the good news, share other clubs posts and stories. It could lead to fresh new ideas, or even a partnership on a great new project!