Making Content
Key Messages
When you are creating content for your campaign, you need to understand what your key messages are. All content you create should contain the key messages of your campaign. In order to formulate your key messages, you can follow this 3 step process:
- State the Problem
- Propose a Solution
- Invite Specific Action
For example, if you campaign aim is:
- Young people (18-25) do not participate in politics, because their peers share polarising disinformation & use hate speech. That makes them believe they should pick a side & defend it violently. This makes them feel angry & manipulated. We want to convince them to discuss political issues critically but constructively without becoming polarized feeling like they are useful & part of the change.
Your key campaign message can be:
- Sharing disinformation is dangerous (problem), you can verify information easily (proposed solution), stop the information epidemic from spreading (specific action).
A campaign message should be:
- Easy to understand
- Positive
- Believable
Additionally, your content should not only contain your key messages but also clear calls to action. If your audience doesn’t know what to do at the end of consuming your content, then your content is not helping your campaign.
Find Your Platform
The platform is the place where your story is distributed through. We often pick the platform we’re most comfortable with or where we’re already active. But when choosing the platform, it is important to use the platform your target audience is using. It makes no sense to reach out to older people through Snapchat or TikTok, or to launch a campaign on Twitter when your target audience is consuming memes and images.
| Case Study: Facebook Pages and Groups You can use a FB group to engage with your followers by replying to their comments, following people back and answering their questions. A Facebook Page is a non-personal profile page that can be run by multiple people. Your personal profile will not be visible to members. A Facebook page’s purpose is to connect with an audience, with the page taking the lead and having control over what appears. Some of the main features of a Facebook page includes: Profile information on a brand or company, including a description, contact information, location, and operating hours. Posts that can be promoted or boosted with money. Analytics tab that tracks follower engagement and post reach. A page is always public. A Facebook Group is a hub for discussion and sharing information with a group of people interested in the same topic, through interaction between members. Your personal profile will be visible to group members as you are listed as an administrator. Some of the main features of a Facebook group includes: Basic group info, such as a group description. The ability to set group rules.Moderating tools for admin.Optional short surveys for people requesting to join the group. A built-in events calendar for the group. No analytics! A group can be public or private, depending on the level of privacy you choose. There are advantages and disadvantages of both groups and pages. Which one you choose to use will depend on which features benefit you and your cause the most. Whichever one you choose, make sure to moderate them often so as to keep them secure. |
Exercise: Try to find your target audience online by either infiltrating a Facebook group, visiting the page of a friend who might belong to your target audience, exploring a specific hashtag they use, or by going to a page popular amongst your target audience. Click on a couple profiles, or click on some links they shared and try to find accounts on different platforms. Answer the following questions: 1. What platforms are your target audience using? 2. What kind of content is currently popular on the platforms?
