If you’ve attended any of my webinars or follow this blog, you know that I advocate strongly against posting the same updates and information across different communications channels. I think it’s a waste when organizations simply post their press release headlines to their Facebook or Twitter pages. But Joanna, you say, “what if I want to educate my members and the public about one, burning issue or I want to promote a new event or publication? What if I WANT to talk about one thing across, print, online and social media for a while?”
My answer is this: post about that one topic but change the perspective, voice and interactions depending on the platform.
Say your organization is pushing for a piece of legislation on Capitol Hill. You could issue a policy statement and repeat that statement across all platforms. A more effective strategy would be to:
- Post the policy statement on the website. This policy statement will likely have a formal tone and reflect the position of the entire organization.
- Write a press release on the policy statement and send it to your media list. This, too, will have a more formal tone.
- Post links to the policy statement on Twitter, but with differing headlines, highlighting different aspects of your policy. You could also post third party stories, facts and figures that support your position; in this instance, you would be curating relevant content to bolster your position.
- Feature interviews with members and customers talking about why they support (or oppose) the proposed legislation on YouTube and your blog. These interviews will feature member perspective in their own voices.
- Have the CEO write a blog post about why the issue is important to the industry and members. The tone of the blog post should be conversational and personal.
If you are promoting a new publication or report, you could:
- Feature the publication in your online store and what’s new section of your website. These descriptions should be compelling but more formal.
- Post an audio excerpt on your YouTube channel and iTunes. The excerpt could be done by the author.
- Post key findings and highlights to Twitter. The most effective tweets are thought-provoking and compelling.
- Feature the publication on Facebook and sponsor a discussion with the author for a 7-day period. A discussion will allow a dialogue about the issue and foster a different kind of member interaction.
Finally, if you are marketing a convention or event, you could:
- Mail a 4-color brochure with full meeting information.
- Mail and e-mail postcards (e-cards) that showcase the different benefits of attending the event. The tone of these pieces should be urgent and compelling.
- Tweet conference news (number of exhibitors, confirmation of keynote speakers, etc.) and third party news that highlight the importance of the issues to be covered at the event
- You could test different calls to action in e-mails and posts. Some calls to action could focus on benefits, some could inspire fear, while others could discuss opportunities.
- Feature YouTube interviews or presentation highlights from the featured speakers.
- Offer a hosted discussion with the speakers for a 7-day period on Facebook.
Our jobs as marketers are so much harder because we are marketing to multiple generations, there is no one platform that allows us to reach all audiences, and people are motivated by different things. Having a layered messaging strategy that utilizes the capabilities of each platform and features different perspectives and voices will help you reach and connect with your audiences better.
How about you? How are you marketing your products and services? And how does your message or approach change with each platform? What’s working?
One reply on “Your Organization’s Voice Should Be Different Across Platforms”
Thanky Thanky for all this good infrmoaiotn!