The past few weeks have been a whirlwind for the social platform Twitter – from its acquisition by Tesla CEO Elon Musk on October 27 to testing out and suspending its new Blue Check program just this week. For organizations utilizing the platform to reach journalists, policymakers and stakeholders, the company’s uncertain future could call existing communication strategies into question.
As comms teams plan 2023 content and strategy, consider incorporating these tips to weather the uncertainty.
Remain Consistent
When Twitter launched its new pay-to-post Blue Check verification this month, fake accounts began popping up for every major brand and celebrity – some drastically impacting the offline world. While the platform works out its verification process and details, the best thing your brand can do is to remain consistent. Continue sending out the content that your audience relies on. This will help journalists, policymakers, and the general public suss out fake accounts.
Rethink Analytics
As businesses tighten their belts, comms teams may feel increased pressure to show ROI on digital efforts. However, Twitter’s transition may be putting your analytics in flux. Between October 27 and November 1, 2022, there was a 208% increase in the number of accounts removed from Twitter. Users deactivated roughly 877,000 accounts, and the company suspended another 497,000. This trend is likely to continue as Twitter deactivates more accounts, changing follower numbers and overall engagement. Rather than focusing on the number of engagements, instead set goals related to the quality of the counts engaging with you – that could be key for reporters or target decision-makers.
Build Backups
While Twitter is an effective platform for getting your message across, it’s not your only option. Consider building backups for your 2023 content strategy. Instead of pushing out owned media in 280-character updates, consider community-based approaches such as Reddit, Discord or NextDoor to build support for your message. If you already have a large following, try out Substack or another email hosting platform to share updates with your stakeholders.
By implementing these strategies, your organization can continue reaching its target audience while the kinks get worked out.
