How scrolling IG can help you clarify your own social media strategy
I wrote a few weeks back about how to stay sane on social media as a non profit marketer - and key to that is to remember that you're not in direct competition with every charity out there. If your target audience is significantly different, it's not to your detriment if the charities whose feeds you doom scroll at your lowest moments are smashing it on their socials. And it's really important to recognise if spending too much time looking at another charity's feed is leading to analysis paralysis on your own accounts, or stopping you from posting at all - and being very clear on when you'll let yourself take a look.
But, with healthy boundaries in place, there are a few things to keep an eye out for on when you're having a scroll through your socials, all of which can really help you hone your own social media strategy.
What non profits within your niche are doing that's going well. If they are talking to similar people, it's worth knowing how they are talking, what they're sharing and what kind of reaction they're getting. Why? Because if your target audience is responding well to their certain parts of their content, it can help inform the type of topics you cover in future. I'm by no means suggesting duplicating, but if you can see that updates on relevant research, for instance, are generating loads of engagement and interest, it would be worth testing research updates on your audience too.
What other non profits are doing that you don't love. In this same vein, sometimes you'll come across content that you don't see value in, types of video content that give you the ick, information you think could have been explained more clearly etc. Knowing what you don't like is just as important as knowing what you do like, because it will help clarify what you want to see on your own channels, and steer you away from falling into the same traps. One thing to be mindful of however - always check what the audience reaction is to the types of content you don't like, because (difficult as this is to accept) what your audience finds valuable is much more relevant to the success of your accounts than what you personally enjoy on social media.
What unrelated accounts are doing that you LOVE. Now, not everything you see on Instagram will be transferrable to a non profit account, but there's loads of inspiration to be had from scrolling through unrelated account content. It could be how a brand is using user generated content, or how a video is put together to get a message across really clearly, or how content is broken down into digestible chunks - anything that really makes you pay attention is worth saving in a swipe file and referring back to when you review your strategy and plan your content.
Scrolling with these three points in mind (and in moderation) can really help you clarify your thinking and shape your social media output. I'd love to hear how you get on!