What Goes In Social Media

Giving Our Projects Visibility

Comms team: Roxanne (externally outsourced), Matt, Shaun, Lailah.

• Most of our social media management is outsourced to Roxanne, someone we’ve worked with before. She also writes for our blog.

Blogs

A backlog of blogs is created. Not all blogs go directly onto social media. Short blogs- basically posts- do. Long blogs go to Medium or onto our website.

Without designated media personnel on-staff, OpenUp doesn’t make a habit of generating small byte content for outlets like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. That’s mainly done in conjunction with other projects.

Example:

For the Creative Storytelling project, there was a budget for a social media campaign.

We work in tandem with someone [i.e. Roxanne] to decide what content will be posted, and how often.

What goes on Social Media?

• Updates

• Relevant news, major changes

We try to build anticipation for the events and releases on our radar. Additionally, efforts are made to cultivate interest in the communities our events are geared toward.

If we want to connect with a specific audience for a project, it’s typically not done on OpenUp’s official platform. Instead, new platforms are created to engage with this specific audience.

• Ex: Codebridge Youth. Each Codebridge Youth hub in each municipality gets their own page. Engagement is done through platforms made for this purpose.

In Context: Codebridge Youth

The purpose of the Codebridge Youth project is to bridge the gap between government and civil society. Specifically, the gap between the government and the often-impoverished youth in South Africa's rural areas.

TL;DR, OpenUp's social media marketing strategy ultimately depends on the audience a project addresses. The audience we address with Codebridge Youth enjoy seeing older people from their communities on the same social media platforms. So for CBY's social media strategy, OpenUp generates and releases community profiles and local achievements, alongside positive buzz and current about the company itself.

Who Decides

• Deciding what’s posted online is usually a team decision. Suggestions are made based on current events, and opinions are gathered. Then material either goes into the backlog or is prioritized to come out soon.

• We try to keep our projects visible, and put out the work we do.

• Many organizations do good work that they fail to advertise or make public knowledge, and people don’t get to see it.