Finding a Smaller, More Targeted Audience May be The Key to Success in Social Media

Posted on August 20, 2014 by Jennifer Zelmer

Having just started tweeting, I was excited to join Infoway’s recent Public Health Social Media Challenge Expert Q&A Session. Teams from our Public Health Social Media Challenge were given the opportunity to pose questions to our panel of experts. They asked some challenging questions and received some great advice.

Samples from the conversation, compiled by Poonam Khanna include:

Strategy:

To effectively reach your audience, your digital strategy must start with a channel agnostic approach. #phsm_challenge

— Melissa Turlej (@melissaturlej) August 13, 2014

Defining your target audience:

Quality is better than quantity. The goal is to stand out and resonate with the audience you’re trying to reach. Go niche!#phsm_Challenge

— Infoway (@Infoway) August 13, 2014

Smaller, more targeted audience can be an opportunity to make a bigger impact #phsm_challenge

— Melissa Turlej (@melissaturlej) August 13, 2014

Community building:

We like when people show interest in us - show interest in others to build engagement and community, says @cdnorman#phsm_challenge#health

— Justin Noble (@Justin_Noble_) August 13, 2014

Engagement isn't easy. The tools may be free or inexpensive, but developing human relationships is not.
#phsm_challenge

— Colleen Young (@colleen_young) August 13, 2014

Value conversations that establish commonalities between your community members. Initiate them http://t.co/nSWabxmbSK#phsm_challenge

— Colleen Young (@colleen_young) August 13, 2014

Crowdsourcing:

2) The first step to a successful crowdsourcing campaign is education. Informed citizens are impactful citizens #phsm_challenge

— Naqaash Pirani (@qaash) August 14, 2014

3) If you collect feedback via social media, you have a responsibility to report the results back using those same channels #phsm_challenge

— Naqaash Pirani (@qaash) August 14, 2014

To crowdsource effectively, you need community first http://t.co/t7lAIc9uDc#phsm_challenge

— Colleen Young (@colleen_young) August 13, 2014

Metrics:

1) Success metrics should be based on your target population, don't try to reach beyond your borders #phsm_challenge

— Naqaash Pirani (@qaash) August 14, 2014

When considering your social media approach and measurement - consider the desired outcome. #phsm_challenge

— Shelagh Maloney (@12Maloney) August 13, 2014

.@cdnorman: "Not all metrics are created equal." Well said. #phsm_challenge

— Melissa Turlej (@melissaturlej) August 13, 2014

Search Engine Optimization:

Use the right nomenclature when defining keywords for search. What terms are people actually using to look for content? #phsm_challenge

— Melissa Turlej (@melissaturlej) August 13, 2014

@melissaturlej true - many orgs get stuck using their own corporate language & ignore what real people are saying. #phsm_challenge

— Dave Fleet (@davefleet) August 13, 2014

Content:

@melissaturlej says "social media is the 'always on' strategy on to which you can layer the social media campaign" #phsm_challenge

— Colleen Young (@colleen_young) August 13, 2014

Enrich your content by finding inspiration from your community and asking them to share photos and stories #phsm_challenge

— Melissa Turlej (@melissaturlej) August 13, 2014

Want to use free, licensed materials for #socialmedia? http://t.co/rSpo8lncdl #phsm_challenge

— Cameron Norman (@cdnorman) August 13, 2014

Use owned channels, such as your blog or website, where you can have long-form conversations with your communities. #phsm_challenge

— Infoway (@Infoway) August 13, 2014

I’d like to thank our panel of experts:

Dr. Cameron Norman of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Health Sciences, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

Naqaash Pirani, a Technology Consultant and PhD student at Ivey Business School

Colleen Young, an Online Community Manager in health and Founder of #hcsmca

Melissa Turlej, an Account Director at Edelman Digital

Are there other factors public health organizations should keep in mind when reaching out to their communities through social media? Please share your thoughts.