Engaging through trends. Learning strategies from social media
The process of engaging with your audience to connect in the best way with them is one of the most important keys. It is not only about using a language they could be familiarized with but also the channel you use for making this connection. One of these channels is social media.
Understanding the social media
Social media is defined as websites and applications that enable users to create and share content and participate in social networking.
There are several types of social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, Snapchat, Tik Tok, and many others but the favorite ones today among young people are Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok.
Social media, in general, is characterized by the use of different hypermedia elements as video, text, hyperlinks, audio, games, etc. but some of these features can be very useful for education if it is used correctly.
For example, many initiatives start in a digital way first. Applying this #digitalfirst philosophy can be a useful way to engage with your audience too.
Tips for connecting on social media with young people
According to Heritage Digital (2020), for building an effective social media strategy you need to:
- Use video.
- Use storytelling
- Tap into trends
- Encourage user-generated content
- Use polls and questions
- Be creative
All these tips can be really useful in the development of heritage education resources. According to Russo et alli. (2009), participation, incentive, and communication are three values of social media you can apply to education.
Firstly, the publication is related to rapid publication, personalization, content sharing, and co-creation.
Secondly, the incentive is related to knowledge sharing, voice, education, and acknowledgment.
Finally, communication is related to communicating one too many and many too many.
In digital heritage education resources, the best way to connect with young people is to try different things, use powerful storytelling, give them a voice to share, co-create and personalize their way, and have the capacity to communicate with each other.
Bibliography
- Heritage Digital (2020): A guide to growing and engaging audiences online. Available in https://d13kjxnqnhcmn2.cloudfront.net/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/042/Heritage_Digital_-_A_guide_to_growing_and_engaging_audiences.pdf (Reviewed on 21 May 2021)
- Russo, A., Watkins, J., & Groundwater‐Smith, S. (2009). The impact of social media on informal learning in museums. Educational Media International, 46(2), 153–166.
