This document provides guidance on best practices for social media engagement. It begins with an orientation to social media and statistics on usage in Canada. Key insights are that Canadians heavily use Facebook and Twitter, with Facebook being the most popular overall. The document then discusses content strategies for different platforms, emphasizing that content should be concise, emotionally engaging, shareable and optimized for mobile. It recommends dividing content into three categories: information about your organization, relevant current events, and shared content from similar sources. The overall message is that consistent, genuine engagement across platforms is important to stand out among vast amounts of online content.

1. Social Media
BEST PRACTICES
your starter guide to posting
engaging content

2. CONTENTS
Orientation
Social Media in Canada
Social Media Globally
Takeaways
Social Media Insights
Engagement Secrets
Go Mobile
Content is King
Rule of Thirds
Examples
The Most Important Tip
References
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4
5
6
7
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10
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12
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3. ORIENTATION
Welcome to the world of Social Media – one of the
fastest growing and increasingly more effective ways
of communicating with a general audience. This
quick guide is intended to familiarize you with best
practices of using social media as an organizational
communication tool. Before we get into the details,
let’s set the scene for Social Media.
In order to understand how important your
messaging is on Social Media, we should first
understand the reach and impact of social media.
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4. IN CANADA
Canadians visit Twitter about 5
times a week
31% of those residing in the
Prairies use this social network
18% of college graduates prefer
Twitter
Top Social Media network, with
over 50% of Canadians using the
site
Canadians visit the site about 9
times a week
68% of college graduates prefer
Facebook
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5. GLOBAL SNAPSHOT
2.078 Billion
1.65 Billion
72%
93%
Active Social Media Accounts
Active Mobile Social Media Accounts
of Canadian
population uses
Internet
of web traffic
is mobile
1 in 3 people
globally has
an account
on Social
Media
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6. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR US?
GO WHERE YOUR AUDIENCE IS
Based on these statistics, we can draw some
indicative conclusions about the way we should
structure and publish our social media posts.
For a lot of organizations, their audience is on
Facebook. For others, Twitter is more effective to
communicate with customer.
In either case, remember that Facebook content ≠
Twitter content when you prepare your posts. This is
because Facebook posts have a different structure,
purpose and content than Twitter (otherwise we
wouldn’t have two networks).
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7. Useful, interesting and retweetable
content (statistics, facts, graphics for stats
and quotes)
Clear concise language – avoid
abbreviations and always use proper
punctuation (colons, semicolons). Asking
followers to ‘retweet’ works 23X better
than asking to ‘RT’ (which is still 10X better
than nothing)
Curate your content using appropriate and
engaging retweets and shares. Make your
Twitter an engaging and interesting place
to be
Tweeting consistently and often
throughout the day helps you break
through the clutter
Weekend tweets have less competition, but
almost the same audience size
Include links, but do not over-hashtag.
Search a hashtag before including it to
make sure you are reaching the proper
audience
Visual posts (photos, infographics,
graphics, posters, etc)
Questions – to be able to generate
discussion on posts, bumping it higher
in the newsfeeds
NOT hashtags – even though Facebook
supports hashtags, they are rarely used
on the platform
Unless a video is short and engaging, it
may not receive the attention it
deserves
Photo Galleries engage audiences in
your process and build relationships
Surveys can increase the virality of
your posts by 139%
What Works on TwitterWhat Works on Facebook
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SOCIAL MEDIA INSIGHTS

8. UNDERSTAND WHAT ENGAGES PEOPLE
A few things have been known to promote virality of
posts on Facebook. In descending order of effect, the
following properties ensure your Facebook posts are
well-received:
Posts should be easily and
quickly read and
understood. Think about
the core of your message,
and highlight it, building
the post around the key
takeaway.
Stay practical and
succinct. Avoid
abstract phrases or
words that may
confuse the reader
and make them
uncomfortable.
Emotionally charged (but not inflated – stick to the facts) posts
are able to evoke sentiment and an emotional connection in the
reader, making them more likely to like, share and comment.
simple
CONCISE
emotional
8

9. THINK MOBILE
Mobile social media is a huge audience, and that
means we have to think about the way our posts
show up on phones.
Share links to mobile-friendly pages
Avoid links that lead to document downloads
directly
Make sure your Facebook posts display properly on
Facebook mobile (you can check by testing your post
on your own Facebook page, setting the visibility to
“Only Me”)
Shareable content means it’s bite-sized, it’s
visual, and it’s fun to share (social content
that other people might find interesting).
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10. SOCIAL MEDIA ROYALTY
SPICE IT UP
CONTENT IS KING
If you read any blog dedicated to social media, this
sentiment will come up over and over again –
content is the most important part of social
media. After all, if you have nothing to say, no one
will listen.
In curating and choosing content to put on social
media, a metaphor can be useful – think of social
media as a live conversation, taking place over a
different medium (online). You would not enjoy
talking to someone who only talked about him or
herself. Nor would you be engaged by constant
advertising. The conversations we most enjoy
having are those we can understand, those we can
relate to and those we can easily contribute to.
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11. RULE OF THIRDS
In social media, it is helpful to follow a rule of thirds. Dividing
your content in this way is an easy way to add variety to your
posts.
When you think about your posts, ask yourself if you would be interested in
reading more about the post. Would you share it? If not, consider revising.
Keep social media content synchronized with your key messages and public
perception. Your audience should have a strong grasp of your brand across
networks.
Much like you would not expect a consumer brand chiming in on a medical
issue, make sure your content is aligned with your mission and the
way your audience perceives you.
Posts about the
authoring
organizations
(links to website,
PR and other
updates)
Posts about current
events relevant to
the organization’s
field (developments
in the field, debates,
issue updates)
Shared content
from similar
sources
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30% 30% 30%

12. TRY THIS
Here are examples of four types of messages that frequently
show up on Social Media:
Chronic diseases represent 90% of the disease burden yet
Alberta invests only 3% of the health care budget on prevention.
Check out how our neighbours to the South are approaching
sugar-sweetened beverages taxes: http://bit.ly/RJNOUx
Spring is here! Have you tuned up your bike? Active
transportation is good for your health and the environment.
Retweet: do you want to be part of creating Alberta’s new
culture of wellness? Show your support and sign up
today: http://bit.ly/QDtz9S
Key Messages
Recent News/Evidence
Invitation to Engage
Call to Action
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13. BE GENUINE
Social Media is a conversation with a friend. We
value friends who are honest, interesting, relevant
and most importantly, genuine. Social Media is an
opportunity to curate an experience between your
organization and your audience. While creativity is
important, being genuinely committed to carrying a
conversation is even more important.
There are 27,000,000 pieces of content on Social
Media every day . The key to stand out is to be
committed, consistent, genuine and relevant. And to
have fun.
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14. REFERENCES
2015 Canadian Social Media Usage Statistics, Forum Research
James Scherer, 5 Ways to Optimize Your Social Media Content to
Combat Content Shock, Content Marketing Institute,
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2014/02/optimize-social-media-
content-combat-content-shock/
Nonprofit Tech for Good, 2015,
http://www.nptechforgood.com/2015/02/08/10-twitter-best-practices-
for-nonprofits/
Social Media Examiner, 2013,
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/new-facebook-marketing-
research/
We Are Social’s new Digital, Social and Mobile in 2015 report,
Which content works on Facebook, We Are Social, 2012,
http://wearesocial.net/blog/2012/10/content-works-facebook/
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15. Social Media
BEST PRACTICES
www.promohack.com

16. Facebook is visited
9 times a week
twitter is
visited 5