Social media content: the rule of thirds

Our volunteers have been taking a look at member groups' social media to see how they measure up when it comes to engaging young people. Here are some tips they passed on to us that you might find useful.

Posting on social media can be overwhelming. What to post, when, how often, how much of other people's content should you engage with? A simple tactic to keep you on track is to follow the rule of thirds: promote, share, interact. After all, three is the magic number! 

1/3 content promotes your group

• Visuals are vital.  Post photos that represent the personality of the group, include rehearsals and behind-the-scenes, pre-concert prep as well as concerts and the day-to-day life of the group. Consider setting up an Instagram account to act as a photo diary.
• Show off your sound.  Capturing short videos of rehearsals or concerts that can be shared on social media are brilliant for communicating the kind of music you perform and the quality of your group. Using Facebook Live in a rehearsal or setting up a YouTube channel to gather recordings of concerts, could be a great tool to attract new members. 
• Get social, be social.  Socialising outside of rehearsals can be an important pull for some people. Include this in social media so a potential new member can see that you’re a friendly group! Like, tag, repost member posts of social occasions from pub trips to picnics.

Tip: Snapshot your members.  Post pictures of members and have them answer one or two questions about themselves, why they like the group or perhaps they could share small soundbites from songs they are working on.

1/3 content shares industry and lifestyle news

• Social media is about sharing.  Include links to interesting articles, opportunities, events and news stories that your followers may find interesting. What you share can also help visitors form an idea of your group's character.

1/3 content interacts with your followers 

• Pin for participation.  Run a competition to win tickets to your concert, ask people to ‘like and share’ or leave a comment to win. Pin the post to the top of your news feed so that it is the first item visitors to your page will see.
• Join the conversation.  Interact with your followers, people you follow and your members by liking and commenting on their posts, and they may do the same for you.
• Get involved.  Encourage members to publicise your events, ask them to share concert flyers and rehearsal information on their own social media pages, and to invite their friends to join your event pages.

Keen to learn more? Here are our five golden rules to becoming social media savvy. 

We hope you find this Making Music resource useful. If you have any comments or suggestions about the guidance please contact us. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the content of this guidance is accurate and up to date, Making Music do not warrant, nor accept any liability or responsibility for the completeness or accuracy of the content, or for any loss which may arise from reliance on the information contained in it.