Hi my name is Jayne Corso and I am the Community Manager for AEA.
With so many different social media platforms to choose from (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram…) it can be hard to identify the platform that works best for your content and the people you are trying to reach with your message. I have outlined a few insights on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest that could help you determine where your content fits in on the social media spectrum.
Hot Tip: Facebook
The most prominent age group on Facebook ranges between 25-34 years of age. This is closely followed by 35-44. Facebook requires unique content which can come in the form of photos, links, or videos. It is often difficult to re-purpose content on Facebook, because of the longevity of a post. However, the benefit to Facebook post longevity is that you do not have to post as often as other platforms, such as Twitter. Depending on your desired activity, Facebook posts can occur a few times a week versus every day.
Hot Tip: Twitter
Twitter and Facebook are very similar in terms of activity users. Twitter also attracts 25-34 years of age followed closely by 35-44. The main difference with Twitter, is the life of the post. Twitter is saturated with content, which means your post might only be seen for a limited amount of time before it is pushed to the bottom of a news feed. Due to this short post lifespan, to use Twitter effectively, you need lots of content! Content should be posted to Twitter every day. This content should be a mix of original and shared (retweeted) posts.
Twitter is a great platform for re-purposing your content. Because of a Twitter post’s lifespan, you can repost the same or similar content multiple times to capture the best engagement.
Hot Tip: LinkedIn
LinkedIn captures a similar age group as Twitter and Facebook, however the active users tend to be more professional and with some type of higher education. LinkedIn is a great place to post content that is relevant to education, career advancement, and research. The active users on LinkedIn are motivated by career goals and professional networking. Content for LinkedIn should be unique similar to Facebook.
Hot Tip: Pinterest
Pinterest is by far dominated by women. To be successful on this platform you must have an archive of photos or visuals to choose from. Pins that are posted to Pinterest have a long shelf life, due to the active sharing and re-pinning of content. Pinterest is a great tool for sharing your data visualization examples!
I hope this blog provides a better understanding of each platform and helps you decide where to take your content. Use the comments below to share your thoughts.
Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org . aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators.