An organization with a strong social media strategy is Oxfam Canada. I was drawn to their channels because the content is bright and eye-catching, is always changing and is engaging. Their content reflects exactly what their audience wants and needs.
They share local events (with sign up links), pose questions for their audiences to answer in the comments, share videos and mark special dates and occasions. These are great ways of serving content that is relevant to the audience.
Their posts also make me as a supporter feel good about supporting the organization by sharing updates from the field showing how they’re helping. For example, they recently posted about their recycling and waste management program in the Za’atari refugee camp and their support in areas affected by the recent earthquakes.
Their posts are always eye catching with lots of colours and strong visuals, and they alternate between photography, animation, quotes and videos. Every day is different which keeps me interested!
An organization that could learn a lot from Oxfam’s success in social media is CODE.
They could be interacting more with the audience to help build engagement and more followers. By comparison to Oxfam’s nearly 6,000 Instagram followers, they have around 300. This is a missed opportunity to not only grow the supporter base, but also engage current supporters to help build on the relationship.
By using new tools and techniques they can help create a bigger variety of content that is relevant and engaging to their audience. They should be aiming to reach the following objectives:
- Use more videos – this can help show the work they’re doing in a new way and help supporters feel good about helping the organization.
- Use a wider variety of content – this can help engage different members of the audience in difference ways, depending on their preferences. Variety also keeps the audience engaged and more likely to return to the platform.
- Share more locally relevant content – this can include things such as events and volunteer opportunities. A great opportunity for the audience to deepen their engagement!
It can seem overwhelming to overhaul the content in such a big way, but even by making small adjustments at first can make a big difference. The first step is to think about what the audience wants, and make sure each post engages them in some way. Don’t post just for the sake of posting, but make sure there is a purpose and that the followers will gain something out of it too. Understand the audience and what they want and the rest will come!
References
Oxfam Canada [@oxfamcanada]. (n.d.). Posts [Instagram profile]. Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://www.instagram.com/oxfamcanada
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 