When developing a digital strategy that integrates Social Media use, organisations should consider several factors that relate to age demographics, location of their audience, and the available social media metrics. The use of the most popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat and YouTube among other sites depends heavily on the age, employment status, advertising strategies and preference of users. Currently, Facebook is the most used social media site with about a third of the world’s population having about 2.7 billion users actively engaged on a weekly basis. On the other hand, platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and WhatsApp follow. These platforms attract people of different ages and work categories. One underlying factor that contributes to how a site is used is how interactive, functional, responsive and personal it is. Through researching their target audience, small-medium organisations with limited resources can maximise on the benefits of user-generated content from their loyal follower-base. Utilising the advantages that a personal post, response and comment can create online visibility. When followers feel heard and connected on any platform, they easily convert into loyal clients and advocates of the brand and the cause they follow. Therefore, it is a non-negotiable to research an audience before engaging in any sort of Social Media campaign. Understanding what they want to know, buy or choose from is important. Today, organisations and businesses must take great lengths to determine through research, the ages and categories of their online audience. Those who reach a younger population, would need to heavily invest in Social advertising via Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube because that’s where the youths spend most of their time. On the other hand, businesses whose audience is the older generation and the working class, would utilise Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to reach a wider market. The more interactive a Social Media platform is, the more reach they will attain online. This also requires an understanding of what the best content is, to use on a site. For example, Facebook is great for posting videos and stories that would generate audience engagement. Facebook has made this easy for its subscribers by using algorithms that trend posts connected a user’s family, trends and favorite brands. Additionally, Instagram is best utilised with, graphics, photos and IG stories. The use of IGTV sets the stage for advertising a campaign or brand. When engaging with the workforce, Twitter and LinkedIn are the most popular places for job postings, academic and intellectual content and conversations. Finally, young people mostly use Snapchat, YouTube and Instagram to share vibrant posts with graphics, photos and short videos. Social media can be a great place for boosting sales as well as popularity when positive feedback is received and shared widely. A certain level of trust is required when sharing posts if the goal is to convert followers into clients and clients into advocates. Convergence is an important way of doing this because it brings together both the online and offline experience of an organisation. Convergence can be achieved through both omnichannel and multichannel marketing strategies. Omnichannel marketing is when an organisation, provides both an online and offline customer experience that is seamless. The best way to do this is by having a website whose functions reduce the amount of decisions that a site visitor needs to make when buying online so they have the same experience they would when offline in a physical store. On the other hand, multichannel marketing is when a customer is provided with several platforms to access a service or product. Therefore, maximising on the benefits of a Social media strategy means applying convergence concepts within the organisation’s digital strategy. Fitting the above concepts within the daily marketing of an organisation will result in high customer retention numbers as well as a higher organic reach. One main part of a digital strategy is to implement social media networks within the organisation. Several studies show that engaging employees as advocates improved on the visibility and trust of the organisation. This is true when posts that [positively represent the organisation are shared. A digital strategy that involves social media must follow the S.M.A.R.T goal framework to planning and implementation of goals. SMART goals do position limited resource organisations for a great ROI (Return on Investment) if these are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound. It goes without saying that a well-picked out social media team needs to be in place to implement the various online needs of the organisation. Church ministries can recruit volunteers from several demographics to manage their sites. This way passion for ministry, calling and skills can be merged for the benefit of the organisation. Social Media awareness improves the presence of an organisation online. There are several ways to ensure that these sites are active and consistent. First, always have a brief bio of, and a link to the website of the organisation on all profile pages of the social sites. Secondly, the posts should carry a creative touch with human-interest content that appeals to existing followers and that would encourage potential site visitors to subscribe to the page. Thirdly, engage with existing followers by responding to their questions, comments and resharing posts with mentions. The use of #hashtags improves the online reach of a post as well as, posting questions, quotes and quizzes for audience interaction. Fourthly, aligning posts across all social sites helps to peak engagement across various audiences and users. The messaging should be consistent so that the goal of each campaign, post and interaction is synchronised. To attain this, scheduling posts periodically is helpful. Finally, applying and tracking social media metrics is important to understand the level of online influence the organisation has attained as well as evaluate the social media goals and impact over time. Social Media is therefore a must-have for organisations today that want to stay visible, relevant and increase their organic market reach. These social media factors when applied as part and parcel of a digital communication strategy, could boost the online presence of any organisation with limited resources. Twitter: @GloriaIribagiza Email: glo.irie@gmail.com
