Social Media Training??? Suggestions

[Bleeding Red]

Happy new year everyone!

I trust everyone's holidays have been relaxing, fun, and safe.

I've had a new year's resolution suggested to me by my supervisor - learn and improve my social media skills.

Though I am not a complete "old-guy Luddite", I am not on social media personally in any way - no FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, etc....

Long post short - anyone have any suggestions on social media courses or training?

Thanks!

[Fuzz]

Find a new supervisor and continue to stay off social media! Seems good advice to ruin your mental health.

[KTrain]

Fuzz's suggestion is completely unhelpful and completely correct.

But if you have to, don't try to be on them all. Determine what the end goal is for you and your company and pick the ones that will be most beneficial. What kind of work do you do and products/services do you provide? Certain platforms are more more suitable than others depending on the industry.

You can do one or two accounts well, or 5 or 6 terribly. Focus on a couple. See what works well with them and when/if you want to branch out to others, go for it.

[Winsor_Pilates]

What industry are you in and what specifically is your supervisor wanting you to achieve through social media?

Social media can be incredibly powerful for marketing but can also be a total waste of time & draining to mental health.
It really depends what your goal is here.

[Bleeding Red]

Thanks. Yeah, when she specified FB and Twitter, my response was "really??"

I work for an industry association. Social media is more a communication tool than a sales tool. "here we are doing things on your behalf" kind of thing. Mostly announcements, but also marketing for events.

The industry is visual communications and members post pics of their work all over. (they also generally have a dedicated experienced employee doing it. I am trying to hook into that resource also.)

I totally appreciate the comments on mental health - that is one reason I avoid these things personally.

The business goal is unclear to me. My goal is "learn how to create posts for these platforms and post to them 3 times a week."

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

you're living a good life being away from it

unless it's strictly for business purposes (where SM can be effective) I'd otherwise just continue as you have been

phones/texts are good enough for staying in touch with people. social media is just overkill because you see way more of a person's life than you need to, which takes all the surprise and curiosity out of spending time together in person

people that don't know better/start late will binge social media harder because of the novelty of the dopamine rewards and lose thousands of hours to cat videos and tiktoks

just don't let the algorithm get its claws in you

[FormerPresJamesTaylor]

What about TikTok? Because if you can dance and you're on the larger size, It's cuffing season and all the girls be needing a big boy

[Fuzz]

I'm in the same boat(posting for our company), but I only post once a week or so. There isn't much too it, you could learn most of the tricks like images and hashtags pretty quickly.

If you want to get some video elements(like animated presentations) I've found Canva decent for that. It's $15 or so a month, but worth it if you have to do those things often, and the paid version has loads of images/videos/animations/music to tap into, which can save you a lot of time searching for stock images.

[Erick Estrada]

Stick to professional, non-opinion type posting and don’t get sucked into the vortex.

[KTrain]

I do a lot of work with professional associations and my advice would be to find out where your members are first before committing to specific platforms.

To drive engagement, don't be a strictly "look at what we're doing" account. You have an opportunity to share your members successes/work as well.

In terms of engagement, LinkedIn is actually one of the better social media platforms for connecting with your membership. If visual communications is the industry, Instagram could be beneficial.

That said, it doesn't hurt to get accounts setup on the various platforms for the association so you have them if you need them (and they don't get taken by squatters or imposters).

[Bleeding Red]

Thanks.


Any suggestions on courses on how to use / create posts?

[Slava]

Originally Posted by KTrain

I do a lot of work with professional associations and my advice would be to find out where your members are first before committing to specific platforms.

To drive engagement, don't be a strictly "look at what we're doing" account. You have an opportunity to share your members successes/work as well.

In terms of engagement, LinkedIn is actually one of the better social media platforms for connecting with your membership. If visual communications is the industry, Instagram could be beneficial.

That said, it doesn't hurt to get accounts setup on the various platforms for the association so you have them if you need them (and they don't get taken by squatters or imposters).

I’d just say that sticking to professional, work-related topics is critical for LinkedIn, in particular. I know there are people who seem to use it like it’s Facebook or whatever, but I think that’s a poor choice.

[Faust]

U of C

https://conted.ucalgary.ca/public/ca...iAAEgLolvD_BwE

U of A:

https://ext.ualberta.ca/schedule/social-media


SAIT:

https://coned.sait.ca/public/categor...SAAEgIK0_D_BwE

Mount Royal University:

https://ce.mtroyal.ca/public/categor...cateId=1037748

I would explore these four options if my employer was willing to pay for the program.

[bluejays]

LinkedIn these days:

• “I’m humbled and happy to say that I’ve won the xxxxx award”. If you were humble you wouldn’t shamelessly self promote

• Post random anecdotal articles about moral good. Meanwhile those same people are making others lives harder with terrible attitudes

This about sums in LinkedIn these days with a parody:

[Slava]

Originally Posted by bluejays

LinkedIn these days:

• “I’m humbled and happy to say that I’ve won the xxxxx award”. If you were humble you wouldn’t shamelessly self promote

• Post random anecdotal articles about moral good. Meanwhile those same people are making others lives harder with terrible attitudes

This about sums in LinkedIn these days with a parody:

That parody is absolutely hilarious! Unfortunately, it’s also spot-on.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Slava

That parody is absolutely hilarious! Unfortunately, it’s also spot-on.

The odd thing about these self righteous posts are, the under 35’s fresh out of school started doing it and older folks are now doing it the same to keep up. 15 years ago if somebody did that they’d be quickly laughed at as being a buttkisser but now it seems like everyone does it. I just find it wholeheartedly fake. But that’s 95% of my feed, and these days it’s even from successful people. Second hand embarrassment for everyone.

[FurnaceFace]

I love the “LinkedIn post about something that’s been around forever or business common sense” which then has people jumping on board with the “yes, this is great insight _____! I always live by that rule. [hiring managers see my comment and like me!!!]”

Having slagged LinkedIn now, they do have some decent courses via LinkedIn Learning. I’m sure there would be some on social media. They often give a free month on it too. Oh, and added bonus you can they post your course achievements on LinkedIn!

[Lanny_McDonald]

I agree with Fuzz. Stay off social media. It's all a cesspool. Your mental health and wellbeing will be better off if you never create an account on any platform. Want to stay in contact with friends? Pick up the phone and call them, or better yet, meet them for a beer. Social media has evolved into anti-social media. Don't get involved. If you're forced into it, use Linkedin and re-post only those articles that your PR department has cleared. That will keep your account clean and you out of trouble.

[Fuzz]

My initial post didn't get that it was for work. If their job is to post to social media, then it probably won't be toxic and it can be useful(and, well, necessary to stay employed).

[iggy_oi]

Tell your supervisor that you’ve been a member on CP since 2001 so if anything they should be more concerned about getting themselves up to your level of social media excellence.