I was asked to provide a 500 word statement to the SSP when standing for the post of Social Media Officer.
The social media of a political party should reflect its choices, priorities and activism.
Each intervention should tell a story. It should address and promote our perspective on current affairs and work done. It is one of the most cost-efficient marketing methods used to syndicate ideas and increase our party’s visibility.
It requires investment, it requires labour, it requires feeding, perpetually. The world doesn’t stop turning because a party spokesperson is on holiday, or can’t be reached.
I view them as parallels and complement to our street outreach work. A busy stall can have around 1500 people pass by in two hours. A small fraction stop and sign the petition, offer a donation, take a Voice. A smaller percentage still interact further with the party, are inspired enough to make a deeper connection towards a higher ideal for human and economic justice. We get to hold that door open, twenty-four hours a day with social media. We get to do it while we’re asleep.
Benefits
Done well, we get:
- Increased awareness
- More inbound traffic
- Improved search engine visibility
- Better satisfaction from comrades
- Increased loyalty
- Greater authority
- Insights as to how well our messages perform
- Leadership elsewhere
When it is not done, we throw away opportunity. When we don’t take a swing at passing eyeballs with tailored messages, is time we will never, never get back.
And another advantage is we get to spot opportunities. Social media is like having a sneak preview of upcoming news bulletins.
Ongoing work
Why should you choose me, the continuity candidate? Progress, improvements and experience.
I’ve invested time to correct and improve weaknesses. I’ve commissioned analysis on the website and YouTube. I’ve taken NUJ education to improve our output – and am an associate member to learn more.
A full mobile-first remaster of the SSP website has greatly improved reader retention, search engine visibility and visitors.
I keep tabs on what people are saying about the SSP online with regular automatic searches. I choose interventions carefully – with material which reflects the party line and why our arguments are best.
“Right, that’s as maybe – what are you going to do next?”
Good question. The key answer here is ever more high-quality content.
I’ve written several articles, aimed at serialisation in the Scottish Socialist Voice – to explain what I know about video and audio production, tooling and techniques. The first batch have been shared for reviewing – to see they’re readable and jargon-free.
I’d like to begin workshops, open to SSP members across Scotland. The purpose would be to teach the basics – how to write, shoot, record and edit video and audio, with little more than a tie-clip microphone, smartphone and a laptop made in the last decade.
I want to see and to share your stories. I want to personally do less content creation, and be more of a resource and facilitator for others. To my mind, that is the way forward. I’d love to hear your ideas.