Over the last two years, I have had the opportunity to work as a communication and social media consultant for two prominent UN training agencies based in Turin, Italy. These are the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (ITC-ILO) and the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC).During this period I have been responsible for the creation and execution of successful campaigns across LinkedIn, Facebook and other platforms, catering to relevant audiences across the globe.

 

Together with the UNSSC I have now helped develop content for an online learning programme to equip UN staff with the latest techniques and strategies to develop and design effective social media campaigns. Drawing from my experience as a social media consultant to the UN,  here are 5 simple tips that can help refine any social media strategy.

 

  1. ARE YOU DOING THINGS RIGHT ON YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS? Run a Social Media Audit to identify the best social media channels to reach out to your audience. Monitor your organization performance on social networks. Strat tracking the number of followers, average weekly activity, average engagement rate, website traffic sources assessment in terms of volume of visits and conversion rate.
     
  2. BE SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECTIVE: Define clear OBJECTIVES, determine measurable GOALS and target your AUDIENCE.  BE S.M.A.R.T. creating Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based goals and identifying your audience. What type of audience are you addressing? What audience you want to reach? Give an answer to your questions conducting an accurate target audience analysis.
     
  3. ENGAGE YOUR AUDIENCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Build up your CONTENT PLAN and EDITORIAL CALENDAR to organize your time, brainstorm your creativity and allocate your resources wisely to boost your brand on social media. Remember to check the content your audience mostly likes and to be visual; using images or video to boost your post and reach a larger audience.
     
  4. DIVERSIFY YOUR COMMUNICATION TOOLS:  Mix organic and paid campaigns in order to increase your audience, use Google AdWords to advertise specific keywords and integrate social media marketing tools with the existing traditional tools you currently use (e.g. CRM mailing campaigns).
     
  5. KEEP MONITORING YOUR RESULTS: Test, evaluate, and adjust your social media marketing plan by using social media analytics. Check your analytics often to see how your social campaign or content is performing and adjust your social media strategy accordingly. Tweaking your strategy should be an on-going process.