10 tips on how to use Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp and LinkedIn ‘stories’ for journalists and activists
“You don’t need to conquer the whole social media universe. Instead, see how you can find your own niche.”
1. The first to think of when creating any digital strategy is your audience.
If it weren’t for your followers, you wouldn’t be there. Putting your tribe at the heart of your activities online is crucial to long term success. So the first step is to find who and where these people are. Is it Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn or Whatsapp? Are they the ones who follow you already on different platforms? Is it a new group of people? Do some research on this before you get started: follow and analyse accounts that already reach your tribe, follow the hashtags and location tags that suit your content, read the posts and comments posted in the results you get and create an image of your core target audience.
Instagram used to be most popular in the age group 15–35, but nowadays an older audience (35–50 years old) has started using the platform as well. You don’t need to conquer the whole social media universe. Instead, see how you can find your own niche.
2. The next step is to go back to the ‘Why’ of your work.
Why do you do what you do? And why would you want to use Instagram for that? There are multiple reasons ‘why’ to think of when becoming active on Instagram or what of the other platforms: reach a (new) audience, use the platform for activism, experiment with vertical video, create a community around your content, engage with your followers, share your message in new ways, find collaborative partners, etc. Understanding the ‘Why’ helps hugely in the long term to keep going. Ask yourself ‘Why’ five times to get to more specific wording.
3. Which storytelling formats will you use?
There are multiple different storytelling formats to use. On Instagram there are posts, IGTV, stories and reels. On Twitter there are the tweets and fleets. It’s wise to start with looking at the content you’re creating already: is it mostly video? Or photo? Or written articles? All formats can be transferred to Instagram stories, feed posts, IGTVs or Live sessions. The best is to combine all the opportunities but start by working from your own core activity. That way you’ll have the best chance to deliver continuity. Tweets are getting copied to Instagram and posted in a feedpost, for example. It’s one of the smart ways to create one piece of content and share it on different platforms.
4. Use your creativity
Instagram is a creative platform. The app offers a lot of tools to experiment with, from GIFs and different text fonts to green screens and crazy filters. Give yourself some time to practice and try different things out. Learn from the pioneers in storytelling. And remember: less is more. Keep it simple. This also means that you could use Instagram as a creator tool for the other platforms, something to think about.
5. Stories means tapping
People who consume ‘stories’ are used to tapping through a story, with scenes of a maximum 15 seconds and a combination of for example photos, videos and boomerangs. Create your story with a variety of these formats, to optimize the attention span.
6. Authenticity is the new influencing
Personalities and especially authenticity has become more and more important the last year. It might even have to do something with COVID-19 and the lockdown. We’re looking for more realness online. Depending on the goal you have for using the platform, vlogging gains a lot of traction. There are some great journalistic vloggers out there, who either take you on their stories journey or give you a hint of backstage production.
7. Fight fake news
Fake news is a real thing on social media too. Make sure to apply journalism ethics when producing content for Instagram. There is still a lot of space for media literacy content, educating people on how to identify fake news themselves.
8. Be patient
Focus on long term goals, instead of short term success. You might get distracted by the number of likes you get on your posts or the people who unfollow you. Keep your eyes on the bigger picture, it easily takes a year of posting continuously before you’ll see the result you’re looking for.
9. Create inclusive content.
If there’s one thing COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement this year has taught us, it’s that racism is still very present in our world. Media companies especially, but actually everyone who creates content has a responsibility to call out racism and create inclusive content.
10. Positive mindset
Look at the platform as an opportunity instead of an obligation. Post and create content with a positive mindset and don’t get overwhelmed by consuming too much content yourself. Instead, focus on the creation and enjoy the abilities the platform gives you to share your message.
