Author: Muharem Rusiti
May 2023
In today’s digital age, social media has transformed the way individuals and institutions communicate, including government officials, international organizations, diplomats and their missions. This shift has given rise to a new form of diplomacy, known as digital diplomacy.
With billions of users worldwide, platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn have become essential tools of communication and outreach. They are used consistently by diplomatic organizations and officers for various purposes, such as to share their perspectives on diverse global issues, distribute official statements, promote their country’s cultural, economic, and political assets, and engage with the wider public to discuss international affairs and address different concerns.
However, managing social media for diplomatic purposes is no easy task and requires skill, strategy, professionalism, tact, and an extra dose of carefulness. This is due to the speed and complexities of the digital landscape on one hand and to the delicate and sensitive nature of the diplomatic domain on the other.
In this article we will hence provide a series of essential social media management best practices and tips that you might consider following if you are a diplomat or a professional working in the field of international affairs.
Best Practices and Tips:
So, here are ten simple rules that can help you manage your social media handles in a more professional way. These rules can help to leverage their communication and outreach clout more effectively, and create content that will have a positive impact and drive the desired results more easily:
1. Develop a well-defined strategy
Before starting any social media activity, you should first define your communication strategy, goals and objectives, and identify which platforms you will use, what type of content you will post, and who your main target audience is.
2. Choose the right platforms
Each social media platform has its own peculiarities and you should choose which ones best fit your communication strategy based on your objectives and target audience. For example, Twitter has become over the years the go-to platform for diplomats, journalists, and academics to discuss international affairs. Facebook is used for instance by a more varied public and should hence be employed for more general outreach purposes. Instagram is popular among younger audiences and serves best when it comes to sharing visual content, while LinkedIn can greatly assist for professional networking and recruitment aims. And of course, there are also other platforms, which have their own specific characteristics and which are more or less popular within different demographics around the world. A good communication strategy usually entails an integrative approach, in which distinctive platforms are used in different ways for diverse purposes; based on their particular features and users’ base.
3. Verify the profiles
As obvious as it may seem, once you have established your social media handles, you should imperatively seek to verify your profiles and get the so-called official profile badge as quickly as possible. This is important to look and sound more authoritative, reliable, and accountable, and to avoid impersonation issues and the spread of misinformation.
4. Follow a clear editorial and graphic line
When establishing your social media presence, you should envision a clear editorial and graphic line, the type of content you will disseminate, and the voice and tone you will use. This should ideally align with the institution you represent. And while doing so, you must also simultaneously ensure that your content is engaging and relevant to your public, while also adhering to the platform’s rules and guidelines. Furthermore, if you want to share the same messages across all channels, you must make sure to adapt and tailor the format of the content to the diverse platforms.
5. Be extra mindful
In a digital era when the levels of public exposure and scrutiny are higher than ever, given the delicate nature of the diplomatic domain, you should be particularly mindful of your online conduct. Every gaffe, faux pas, or miscommunication can be instantly amplified and as it is known in jargon go viral with unimaginable consequences, which can rapidly escalate and even generate diplomatic crises.
6. Post regularly and use visuals
Consistency is key to building an audience, establishing a bond, and retaining followers on social media. Ergo, you should post regularly across all your channels, if you wish to see your public grow, stay active, and engaged. In order to more effectively do so, you can use a content calendar, which is a great way to effectively forward plan, organize, and produce the messages in a consistent way. Furthermore, when creating your content, you should preferably use visuals like infographics, photos, and videos whenever possible; as they not only capture the users’ attention more easily and are therefore more engaging than text alone, but are also promoted by algorithms more frequently. There are plenty of apps that can help you create visuals in a simple but professional way, with Canva, VistaCreate, Adobe Express, Visme, Stencil, and Snappa being some of the freemium options available, to name just a few. Additionally, you should exploit the power offered by hashtags and mentions, as they are a great way to increase the reach and visibility of posts organically.
7. Engage with the audience
Social media is intrinsically a two-way means of communication. Hence, whenever the case, you should engage with your audience by addressing concerns, replying to comments, answering questions, retweeting, reposting, and sharing relevant content. Moreover, you must also be ready to deal with negative comments or backlash and respond in a constructive, respectful, and professional manner. This will help foster dialogue, build trust, and make your point of view and stances more easily acknowledged and accepted.
8. Use social media management and analytics tools
These tools can be very useful as they allow you to manage multiple handles simultaneously from a single app. You can schedule the publishing of content in advance, monitor mentions, conversations, specific keywords, and topics. They can assist you in engaging with your audience more promptly, and offer valuable insights into social media performance. For instance, they help you understand the sentiment and opinions of your audience, when the best time to post your content is, identify and address potential issues, and as a consequence help you adapt your communication strategy accordingly. Some of the most popular social media management and analytics tools include Hootsuite, Keyhole, Sprout Social, Buffer, SocialPilot, Later, and Iconosquare, among others; each with its own functions and utilities.
9. Monitor and optimize
Whether you opt to use a specific management and analytics tool or not, you should always monitor your social media activity in order to evaluate the impact of your messaging and determine the effectiveness of your communication strategy. This will help you optimize your approach and ensure that your goals are being met and can be achieved by simple observation, by using built-in analytics and metrics tools, or by using third-party apps such the ones previously mentioned above.
10. Stay up to date
Social media is continuously evolving and you – like everyone else – must keep up with the latest trends and developments and adapt your communication strategy in terms of types of content and channels of dissemination, if you wish to stay relevant and not sound archaic.
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