Authenticity is key

Another way to put this is ‘just be yourself’. Don’t talk about quarters, targets, or use business talk, for example, circle-back, buzzwords or acronyms cal lead to an information overload. It comes across as insincere and seems like it’s not you who’s talking. By remaining professional and making your content more accessible (in terms of how easy it is to understand) it will make the content more relevant to the user and it will mean that it will get shared and reacted to at a much higher rate than it otherwise would. 

Be Active – Comment, like, share etc.

This is the best way to build connections particularly for Linkedin. The algorithm will pick up that you’re more engaged. It will mean that you get seen by more people in your network and others will then add you. This is the best way to organically (I.E. without paying for ads) build your social media following and begin to get noticed by others

Consider day, time and date

This is one of my biggest learnings. Certain social media are better to post on certain days than others. Very few look at LinkedIn over the weekend or during big events in the calendar such as Christmas. My engagement always goes down during summer holidays because I’m connected with a lot of people in education or parents who are taking time off for childcare.

For linkedin, usually posting Tuesday, or Thursday mornings work well. Recent research also suggests. Friday afternoon sees good engagement.

Don’t brag or preach 

It’s great to promote yourself or talk about what you’re passionate about. However if you’re constantly preaching about the same issue it just becomes boring. Similarly bragging about all the things you’re doing will just annoy people and force them to disengage with your content. 

Often jokes about humbragging can backfire on people. For example Ari Fleischer:

Educate yourself before posting 

This is more and more important now-a-days. The use of inclusive language is incredibly important when you are writing about DEI topics. Particularly in the LGBTQ+ area or speaking about neurodiversity. For example the term ‘Asperger’s Syndrome” was officially removed as a separate diagnosis and merged into the broader category of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in 2013. This was after it came to light that Dr. Asperger was part of the Nazi eugenics programme. Many people still use the outdated version which could upset some people. Similarly the jigsaw piece in the brain is often used as a symbol in the autism area.

Format your strategy and choose your platform

According to Ashleigh Watson at the BBMU conference “Your content should do one or more of these four things:

Grow your following carefully 

Interms of building your content some people will tell you to throw mud against a wall and see what sticks. I’d be more careful when you’re building your DEI content. Particularly on LinkedIn by building carefully adding people involved in DEI will mean that it’s quality over quantity. I’ve found when I started that it’s better to have a smaller following that’s more engaged with the content than a large following that’s not as engaged. You’re just wasting time building an audience when very few are listening.

Host your information on your own website, not just on a social media page

This is a massive bug-bare of mine. Don’t host your online presence on a social media platform, such as only having a Facebook or Instagram page. Companies change all the time, their values, algorithms, owners or security could all change very quickly. If a company’s security or data centres goes down that means your business goes down with it. 

You need to have a website. Companies like WordPress, Wix or Squarespace have drag and drop features which makes creating a simple, non-technical website easier than ever.

Influencers are overrated – nano influencers are the key 

There’s a lot of talk about influencers on social media today. Often these influencers are expenses and it’s questionable whether you get a return on investment. However there’s a new term in online marketing at the moment. Nano-influencers.

Join groups on WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Signal etc 

This goes back to building a community is key. Groups are a fantastic way to connect with like-minded people and get your message hitting its direct target market. By joining groups based on your interests or values it means that the content will be relevant to you, it means you can stay up to date on the latest trends in that area and then when you start creating your own content you can post the content to people that will be most interested in it. However, it’s important in these groups not to be selling all the time. Listen and take in what the community is saying. Comment, empathise, sympathise and uplift others when you can.

Keep a record  

Since I started posting information online in 2016, I kept a record of every article I’ve written, interviews I’ve done, ideas that I had for articles or interviews and those that never made it to the website, basically everything that I’ve ever thought of for creating content around DEI. Last month I was clearing out gmail Google Drive as I had reached the maximum data allowed. Don’t ask me how I did it but I deleted the darabase.

LinkedIn has a lot of useful features

LinkedIn has several features that you may not know about such as Video Posts, Carousel Posts, Showcase Pages, Polls, Articles, Photo Posts,  Name Pronunciation, Featured Section, Open to Work / Hiring Frames, LinkedIn Groups, Private Mode, Message Without Connecting, Newsletters, LinkedIn QR codes, Video Meetings and LinkedIn Live: Live-streaming feature for eligible members and page admins to broadcast events, interviews, workshops, and Q&A sessions, boosting engagement and reach. 

Mix up your content 

I’m probably best known for promoting people with disabilities. That’s what I’m passionate about and know the most about in DEI. But if I constantly posted about disabilities it would become boring, predictable and I’d eventually run out of content. By expanding into female empowerment or promoting migrants to Ireland or the LGBT+ area it means that I can build and expand my DEI knowledge and it means I become more of an DEI advocate.

Niche’s are the key

My advice would be to develop an area of expertise in a certain area of DEI then expand into others. This will allow you to develop and see what type of content resonates in certain social media than others. You can then follow this niche into other areas of DEI. For example, if your niche is in the area of disability empowerment, you can then track this into featuring people in that niche who also promote LGBTQ+ empowerment or other areas within DEI

One platform is too few

This is probably the biggest takeaway that people had from the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk or when the USA was about to ban Tik Tok. Don’t be beholden to one platform. Try to spread your content over several different platforms, or better yet try to build your own user base with emails, Newsletters or email market campaigns. 

Play it forward 

If you start finding that you’re developing a reputation and have people reaching out to you looking for advice. Play it forward. Try to connect others together and make introductions. Give advice to students or new grads so that they don’t make the same mistakes you did. Also try to be as helpful to people in your network as possible. If you’re tagged in something that may not interest you but may interest people in your network repost. My position is if your content can helps 1 person then that’s all I care about

Quit some socials if they aren’t working

Depending on the platforms your using and whether you’re promoting your own content or someone else’s you’ll be able to see what is working best where. Certain platforms may be suited to your kind of content than others. Other platforms may be used in certain countries but not in others. It’s a trial and error and the only way to find out is to start posting, commenting and being active on the site.

However, if you’re finding that some social media aren’t working or aren’t working anymore for you then it’s ok to quit posting on there.

Real-life Networking Events are key

I launched the website during the pandemic when we couldn’t go to in-person events. So I tried to get to as many virtual events as I could. However in-person events are a great place to build your network and contacts. By going to events that you are passionate about or in an area that you want to educate yourself about. It allows you to connect with like minded people who you can then add afterwards. Similarly you can get content by just saying that you’re going to these events or posting your takeaways from the event. This means that your followers will see you at these events and you can build upon your virtual relationships with in-person meetings, which are usually better

Set Boundaries

Set boundaries for writing content. Take time off, don’t be creating 24/7 365. By setting boundaries of when and where you can create content it gives your mind and your body time to relax and not get overwhelmed with the amount of work that you have to do. Be self reflective. Understand that some work best in the morning people, other people are afternoon people and some work better in the evening. Unless you have deadlines or are under-pressure try to stick to what time of day you are best at.

Try new platforms, play around with formats

The tech industry is changing all the time and so is social media. Platforms that were important two years ago may not be as important. Similarly there may be certain social media that would feed directly into your niche that may be out there, but you’re not aware of them because you’re sending your message out of traditional big companies 

Don’t be afraid to do online tutorials or contact the companies directly to ask how they can improve.

Use Subtitles – and other accessiblity features

Making your content accessible opens the door to entire new audiences and customer segments. Increased accessibility also improves experience for everyone (think subtitles in noisy places, or better loading in poor signal areas). 30% of Irish viewers and 32% of Gen Z use subtitles by choice.  Subtitles lead to: +12% views and +15% engagement. Improved SEO Subtitles help your content perform and be inclusive. 

Embracing accessibility not only ensures legal conformity but also expands audience reach, as over 20% of the Irish and Northern Irish population

Video is key

This is the way that the algorithm is going. Samantha spoke very positively about the use of video. “Video Is Powerful particularly on LinkedIn Vertical video and live interviews perform well. Even if you’re uncomfortable at first, people want to see the real you, especially founders and business owners.”.

This can be seen in the following graph

Write what you’re passionate about

There are several different areas of DEI. I subscribe to The Valuable 500 approach that ‘you can’t be diverse-ish’. Either you subscribe to all areas of DEI or you’re not a DEI advocate. However it’s ok to write a post on certain areas that you are more passionate about than others. This will allow you to develop your writing skills and give you no end of content to develop in the future through connecting with like-minded people and going to real world events. 

X-factor

Most people who know me won’t be surprised to hear that I’m an over-thinker, I tend to be an over-thinker when it comes to the content I write too. Sometimes you can think that the exact perfect content aimed at the direct target market at the perfect time of year, week or day will perform really well and it doesn’t. You can review it and review and sometimes you just have to put it down to an X-factor. Things happen that mean people haven’t seen, it could be news stories such as a breaking political story, weather events like power-outages during big storms or other factors at play that may mean that the people that want to see the content just don’t get to see it.

Your Mental Health is so important – watch for Burnout

Burnout is common in all creative fields but particularly for creators. Burnout is officially defined as a collection of symptoms or signs associated with a specific health-related cause. “Burnout is a state of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion. It can occur when you experience long-term stress and feel under constant pressure”. According to mentalhealth-uk.org. It can affect different people in different ways. Some people get it by doing too much and it’s almost like the brain is a computer that shutdown because it gets overloaded and then reboots in safe mode.

Zero Tolerance for hateful feedback

The more you post online the more chance you have for being attacked or for hateful feedback. Surprisingly I’ve gotten very few nasty comments, even on Twitter however, I had one issue that really impacted me.

This is particularly bad on Twitter. My experience hasn’t been that bad but whenever I have had negative feedback I have an immediate block policy. That way they can’t see your content and make those kinds of comments again in the future.