Going online and using social media is no different to old school PR and advertising: you have to have something to say, and either do it often, or do it with creative flair. Most mortals go for ‘doing it often’.

From a person this is easy, any of us during the day, hear, do or share something that is related to practices and beliefs we hold dear.

Presence is the key, and unfortunately with digital that means posting regularly. Each of the following have their worth: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram, as well as YouTube and Podcast. Content for these four platforms does not have to come from a website – but it helps. The website/blog becomes the hub from which others can pick content and reversion it for each of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. A YouTube Channel or Podcasts serve the same purpose and can run independently or be embedded on the website. All this content, images, text, video and audio can be ‘reimagined’ for different uses, so the same ‘story’ can have life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn in different ways. 

Success requires time and effort it has a voracious appetite.

But it can be a lot of little things: something you grew from seed, a plant spotted on a walk, a new litter bin, a policy success you have heard of. In truth ‘we’ the potential readers are at your shoulder during the day asking ‘a penny for your thoughts’. So take a photo – they are like gold dust.  And it can be regular things too: a book review, a comment about an article in the press or on the news. Picking out regional, national or international events.

The intention with a series of MEETs once a week over seven weeks would be to understand where people are currently with social media, creating content and putting it online and digital literacy and then looking for a way forward. The thinking would be to take each of a blog, YouTube/Podcasts, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn each week and end on a finale with an attempt to pull them all together and allocate each of these, 2 hours a week, to someone.