Puzzled? Struggling How to Promote Your Club on Social Media?
Some Post Ideas for Toastmasters
Bryn Snow, Club President, Escarpment Toastmasters, Milton, ON
Do you ever struggle to “write something” for your club’s social media posts?
Your club anniversary has passed. Your holiday party is history. You’ve posted about all these events.
Maybe your members haven’t finished any Pathways levels yet.
You’d still like to keep your social media feed interesting and relatable to the non-Toastmasters world.
What else could you possibly post?
Read on for a few hints.
First – think of the potential readers of your posts. They might not be Toastmasters. They are likely non- Toastmasters, or people who are thinking of joining Toastmasters.
Look at writing a post with non-Toastmasters’ interests in mind.
Ask yourself: what are they looking for? You need to step inside their shoes. But here’s my view.
Potential members would like a ‘sneak peek’ inside Toastmasters. What goes on in a meeting, they wonder? How can they get a taste of the experience without attending a meeting (just yet)?
Try out these ideas – and make sure you avoid ‘inside Toastmasters’ language here unless you explain the terms!
Describe what happens in a meeting. Write about each of the roles of the meeting. Each one of the following can be a separate, short post.
- What does the Grammarian do? How does the Word of the Day work?
- What does the Timer do? Why is this important?
- What does the Ah-Counter do? Why is this important?
- What does the Toastmaster of the Meeting role have to do with leadership skills?
- How can club members benefit from membership?
- How much is membership and why is it affordable and valuable?
Each of these description pieces – and they need only be 100-300 words long or so – gives clues to what goes on in a meeting and why. It “lifts the curtain” on the meeting for outsiders, helps reassure them that the meeting experience will feel safe, and the content will meet their needs.
Retail businesses employ this strategy: clothing shops in malls position racks of clothes outside the shop door. Stores aim to provide a kind of buffer zone, to allow customers to transition slowly to the inside.
Especially during online meetings, this might be helpful as you cannot hide at the back of an online meeting. There are no chairs against the wall, right by the door!
Expand on this idea in many ways.
Consult Toastmasters International for inspiration. There are loads of topics to choose from.
You can explain how Toastmasters International understands leadership. What leadership activities take place in a meeting? Describe them. How do mentors help members? Describe this in 100 words or so. (After all, 100 words is enough for a post. Look at marketer Seth Godin’s blog (https://www.sethgodin.com) to see brilliant examples of short, thoughtful, and engaging posts.
Create a series of short posts that slowly “drip” information to potential members and educate them about what happens in a meeting. In marketing terms, you “educate” your “buyers” so when they attend a meeting, they are more ready to consider membership. After all, an educated prospect is more likely to purchase, aren’t they? (If you know understand what an oil change does for your car, won’t you be more likely to schedule one?)
Finally, you’re done!
Once you create a series of posts, build a ‘content calendar’ or a weekly list of posts that you can repeat once a month or so. Your readers won’t likely see all of them, so repeating them works well.
Importantly, populating your club’s social media feed makes those accounts look lively and active. A Facebook account that only has last month’s post on it gives the impression of dusty store shelves. Not a great draw for customers.
With a little effort, and a calendar of posts in hand, you can, week by week, educate and interest potential club members.
Why not give it a try?