Social media toolkits make it easy for your organization’s supporters and members to create relevant posts that promote a cause or event. They’re similar to a press kit, with one major difference: your audience. The information, hashtags, and graphics that you include in your social media toolkit should resonate with a broader audience than any PR.
Each social media toolkit you create should be specific enough to promote the message you want but broad enough to allow your members to add their own creativity and ideas into the post they create.
Components
Basic features your social media toolkit should include are:
- Background information on the cause and organizations involved
- A Google document with sample copy for posts on each social media platform
- Custom graphics
- Hashtags
- Recommended time and date posts should be created
Background info should be concise
Think about the overall message that this social media toolkit aims to promote and then include relevant background info to support that message. Your followers and team members already know your organization, so as a social media marketing expert it is important to be brief and direct. Then craft a message that motivates your followers. Social media posts succeed when they attract attention, inspire action, and spark a conversation.
Campaign and cause
The sample copy you include in your social media toolkit should describe your campaign or cause and answer these questions:
- Why is it important to your organization?
- What research supports your claim?
- What action are you hoping to inspire?
Write a few sample posts for each social media platform you want your members to use. In this example of a social media toolkit, the creators have taken a slightly different approach that still works. They have post examples that will fit on every social media platform instead of generating separate posts for Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This social media marketing strategy also works as long as the photos are scaled properly for each social media platform.
Test each sample post to see if it’s easy for people to copy and paste the content onto the posts they create. If the media or the words and hashtags do not copy and paste easily, reconfigure the examples.
Branding gives your organization authority
The most important part of any social media toolkit is proper branding. As a major part of your organization’s branding, custom graphics should promote your cause and adhere to your brand guidelines.
Creating custom graphics can be difficult, so you should hire a digital marketing firm to create them for you. They will have graphic designers on staff who will know 1.) how to make beautiful graphics that showcase the information you want to promote. and 2.) how to format the images so they fit on each social media platform.
Hashtags
Too many hashtags will spoil your toolkits effectiveness. Include a few strong hashtags that you want your members to use in their posts. This will cut down on confusion and keep all of the posts surrounding your cause organized and easily searchable.
The most important hashtag for your social media toolkit is called a master hashtag that will tie every post together. This hashtag should be unique, creative, and easily used by everyone posting or commenting.
Your organization will use the master hashtag to conduct post-campaign research on the effectiveness of your social media toolkit. This is why it is important to create an easy-to-use master hashtag that will resonate with your followers.
Recommend a time and date for posts
Energy Efficiency Day excellently recommends a time and date for each sample post they include in their social media toolkit. This is especially important if your cause or message is time-sensitive.
A marketing team can research the most effective times to post information about your cause. It might benefit your organization to hire one to conduct this research to make sure your message is reaching the most people most efficiently.
Tracking metrics
Use the master hashtag, likes, and comments each post receives to determine your campaign’s effectiveness. Take note of what succeeded and what failed, and use that information to improve your organization’s next social media toolkit.
Social media toolkits are quickly replacing PR and press kits because so many more people are engaged on social media platforms. So your organization should invest time and capital into the production of your toolkit.
