Social Media in 2022
This social media expert gives some insights into using the key platforms in 2022.
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I had the privilege of spending some time with Emma Sijuwade who is a Social Media Marketing expert and MBA graduate. She is the founder of the purpose-driven agency, Socibelle and the global platform, Vibes of a Black Girl. Emma has a trackable record of creating successful social campaigns for the likes of; The Church of England, The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thy Kingdom Come, Everyday Church Online, SAT-7, Muyiwa and Riversongz, Speak Life and more.
I have known Emma for a couple of years now and she has been an enormous blessing both personally (she has taught me lots) but also for organisationally at Stronger (she has been a strategic advisor and speaker at our events). I was able to grab some time with her for an interview at Stronger 2022.
Specifically I wanted to pick her brains about some of the features of Social Media that we should be thinking about in 2022.
I asked her about the different social platforms, and to give us, from her perspective, some of the different features associated with each.
This is some of what she said:
‘I would say Instagram is very heavily millennial. It's very visual. But in the last maybe two years, a lot of content has actually started to become written content, as people do actually really like to read content on Instagram, because it is kind of short form. The aesthetics are kind of slowly dying down at the moment because we have platforms like TikTok where people aren’t caring so much about ascetics. But if you're looking to target millennials, Gen Z's and you have you have very visual content, definitely Instagram is great.’
‘LinkedIn is definitely more the professional platform. So if you do have articles, or more regular kind of church updates, and that you want to get people on that I would say LinkedIn is definitely really good for that. LinkedIn is on the rise. And now you’ll see LinkedIn influencers. So LinkedIn is actually one of the next big platforms for people to get onto in 2022’
‘A platform that is for fairly ‘reactive’ content, so up-to-date bulletin posts about what is happening in your church or organisation at that particular moment, or if you were at something, then you could share your immediate reactions..and of course it’s very short form content’
‘Facebook is definitely an all-rounder platform. You can get away with images, you can get away with videos, you can get away with just general post copies. And it's the largest platform out of all the social media platforms. So I would say if you are going to ever be on a platform, you know you're choosing your first ever one I probably say go for Facebook, unless specifically you're trying to aim for a younger demographic younger audience.’
TIKTOK
‘TikTok is the newest one to the group which is very, very short form content. It's short form, video content. And the main focus on TikTok is entertainment and education. And so those are the two, top performing pieces of content that people love to digest on this platform…it’s heavily used by Gen Z’s, and a lot of people now are starting to get onto that…now a billion people on the platform….So it is a platform that you know, is worth exploring, for sure…’
It was so fun to talk with Emma. She has a huge amount of experience, but she also painted such a helpful picture for us as we each seek to engage our audiences through different platforms.
I come back to the main questions we should be clear about when it comes to using social media:
WHY: are you posting on social – what is the vision, the driver, the thing you’re hoping to achieve or see
WHO: are you trying to connect with on social – this will in part be determined by ‘why’, but it’s so important to think about who your audience is.
WHERE: the ‘who’ will determine where you’re posting, i.e. which platforms you need to hit. Maybe you just need to keep it light and stick with mastering one or two platforms, not spreading yourself too thinly, especially as each platform requires slightly different things.
WHAT: are you posting? The why, who and where will determine what you’re posting. Do you need to post short form content, images, written, audio etc.
WHEN: the insights on these platforms will be able to give you visibility on the best times you should post to catch as many of your audience as possible. Consistency is key, and I’m very aware that I’m not great at being consistent with my own social content, but there is of course freedom too.
Don’t forget….
Social media is a good servant, but never a good master.
Also don’t forget…..
We need to invite the Lord into our content creation. Allow him to go before you. Allow him to inspire you. Allow him to get your content to the people he is want to connect with. There’s a lot of talk about algorithms, and that’s right, but ultimately let the Holy Spirit lead you as you experiment, create, post and review.