How to develop your social media strategy – a practical course

A one-day beginner’s guide for journalists, marketers, public relations and communications professionals

Course content

Introduction to social media: “If the news is that important, it will find me” — the context in which we are operating.

• Creating and disseminating content that fits with the modern consumer’s attitude towards news and information.
• The growth of hyper-personal news streams and how we can get our content onto them.
• Where location-based social platforms are relevant to you and your community

1 Identifying your audience

Who are they, where are they online, how to reach them

Practical advice on identifying the social networks that will work best for you

Making sure you are ‘fishing where the fish are’

2 A look at various social networks, assessing their benefits

Social platforms including: Twitter, Facebook, Google+

Location-focused social networks including Foursquare, Google Places

Blogging

Identifying relevant specialist platforms for you and the community you are seeking to engage with

The importance of interaction conversation with your target audience

3 A detailed look at Twitter

Your voice on Twitter

Who should tweet

When to tweet

What to tweet: getting the most out of 140 characters (practical exercises)

Twitter etiquette: good and bad practice

Monitoring and responding to @s and DMs on Twitter

How to schedule tweets using social management tools and reduce your workload. Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Timely and Buffer demonstrated.

How to monitor your success on Twitter

4 A detailed look at Blogging

Who should blog, how often

Structure, length and writing style (practical exercises)

Comment, monitoring and the conversation with your readers

Using Twitter to promote your blog

Using an email bulletin to promote your blog

How to post once and get your content on multiple platforms

5 Other, specialist platforms analysed

The value of smaller, targeted social platforms

How to make a presence there a key part of your social media strategy

6 Apps

How to create and use RSS feeds

How to turn your blog into a mobile phone-friendly feed

When a custom-built app might be relevant to you and your audience – and how to make one inexpensively.

Approach

There will be a mix of demonstrations, discussion and exercises designed to give delegates a clear understanding and hands-on experience of social media.

Each delegate will be given a full handbook containing all that is covered plus other relevant background material.

After the session, delegates have access to me via phone or email so they can raise any issues that develop once they develop their social media presence

Delivery and feeds

The course can be delivered at a enue arranged by you, or by me at a convenient training location.

All my training is bespoke,. To discuss your requirements, and for my fee structure, please get in touch.