Boosting the power of social media for RPNAO!
Abstract
The following report will examine social media strategies currently used by the Registered Practical Nurses Association of Ontario (RPNAO), an organization in place to engage with and advocate for RPNs to provide high-quality, evidence-informed, patient-centered care. In doing this, the strengths and weaknesses of the organization will be noted and improvements for further success will be suggested.
Introduction
RPNAO is an organization that represents registered practical nurses in Ontario and provides high-quality patient centered care. They advocate for a sustainable, high-functioning public health care system and advocate for equitable and inclusive access to high-quality care for Ontarians. The purpose of this report is to assess RPNAO’s current social media methods, and find ways to improve their online presence. The authors of this report are Queen’s University students enrolled in the WRIT 240 course: Writing for Social Media and the Web. Research completed on the strengths and weaknesses of RPNAO’s online presence led researchers to conclude that while RPNAO has an online presence, it is very limited and improvements will be suggested to increase viewer engagement and membership numbers to ensure future success and growth.
Methodology
RPNAO primarily posts on their Facebook page, Twitter account, Instagram account, and the company website to connect with their audience to engage them to their main website. Additionally, they occasionally post videos on YouTube.
Results
After careful analysis, our group found that although RPNAO is active on various social media platforms, there is an absence of communication between the company and its audience, as their primary focus is on past events rather than plans for future success. They need to provide a wider variety of posts that engage their members and encourage followers.
Strengths
The website is clear and easy to navigate. There is an events section to let followers know what RPNAO is up to and how to get involved, although a little hard to find. They have a Facebook page that contains plenty of information about the organization. 10,000 people like their Facebook page and they use hashtags on this platform with consistent posts. This large number of followers gives some indication of the demographics of RPNs in Canada (Statista.com) (NOTE: I did assume that Facebook users were predominently middle aged, but surprisingly, according to www.statista.com, the median age of users is 29-34) . Their mission is listed, as well as past events, multiple methods of contact, an overview of the organization, and the benefits of being a part of the organization. The posts are not necessarily engaging, but rather informative. More questions need to be asked to engage the followers. They do have many photos, which helps draw attention to the page, but could use more variety. On Twitter they have more than 7,000 followers and they follow over 2,300+, it is a very well-used account. The page even has a colour scheme that matches their company's! This attention to detail does help with their branding and makes them more identifiable. It is another strength on this platform.
Weaknesses
RPNAO does not use a unified voice online, as everyone in the company posts - mixing different points of view. This is where some improvement is needed, either by limiting the number of people who post, or by creating guidelines to posting to ensure consistency and a common voice. RPNAO’s Instagram account posts very sporadically instead of consistently scheduled posts. This is a missed opportunity as Instagram is now the second most used social media platform in Canada according to www.Librarianship.ca (Facebook has the highest percentage of daily users (79%), followed by Instagram (61%) and Snapchat (60%)). This is an area where more energy and attention needs to be placed to attract younger followers and potential members.
Additionally, there is no use of hashtags making it difficult for users of the app to discover their page. Another lost opportunity. Hashtags are an integral part of digital marketing. They offer the reader the opportunity to follow threads of interest. RPNAO is not taking advantage of this. The Instagram page also reposts the same photo multiple times and according to an article by Fast Company, reposting too much is annoying and may cause people to unfollow you (Vanderkam 2014). Their Instagram is all but forgotten, with 149 posts, 1,997 followers and they are following just 243. This could be worked on and promoted more to encourage that younger following. They are not tagged in many reputable Instagram posts, so they need to work on those backlinks and consciously encourage link backs, and their Instagram bio could include a bit more information on the organization to provide followers with a greater understanding. The social media calendar suggested below could help a lot with their Instagram effectiveness.
Their Facebook page only has 15 reviews, making it seem like the organization is unpopular. Taking a moment to ask for reviews, or inviting their followers to post a review would help remedy this. They do not use backlinks, stories, or create events, and therefore are not fully utilizing Facebook. Just being conscious of this when posting could be an easy fix. Their posts are reactive after events have occurred and therefore, individuals are unable to participate. Again, simply being proactive would add value. Looking to RPNAO's social media to know what was happening BEFORE it happened would have a number of followers actively looking to see what was coming up.
RPNAO has a YouTube channel, however, they rarely post videos on their site making it difficult for the audience to engage with the organization. With the popularity of YouTube and the effective engagement provided by video messaging, this would be a good area to add more substance and promote more followers. There is a great video online that they created (Feb 2018) that appears to have had some impact (357,513 views), that could maybe be utilized more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ngjbu8S5DA (you can also see this video at the end of this post)
Discussion
A key indicator of an organization’s social media presence is a strong following. From this we can analyze who their target audience is and what strategies they may need to have in place to promote more followers. These results are very important for analyzing the effectiveness of social media for RPNAO and therefore, will determine the most successful platform for their use.
The lack of engagement between RPNAO and its audience however, is an area in need of improvement. Currently there is minimal conversation happening, with RPNAO talking to the viewer more than engaging in a conversation. Forbes magazine stated in an article that the best way to engage your audience, is to know your audience, and because of the lack of discussion, RPNAO is unable to do so (Rampton 2014). Even a simple "what do YOU think?" at the end of a post invites the reader to engage. The audience does not feel the need to be involved on the platforms because RPNAO does not encourage an opportunity for interaction through questions, polls, or responding to other organization’s posts. They need to start conversing.
Recommendations
The audience here is actually the Registered Practical Nurses in Ontario. This group is approximately 55,000 strong (CNO.org statistics) at present. This association is membership driven, so they need to remain in contact with existing and potential members. To do this effectively, they need to improve their social media outreach and impact. We have identified some of their strengths and weaknesses and there is much room for improvement. One of their notable strengths is their Twitter volume. They do have an active engagement and over 7,000 followers, but need to unify their voice and be more proactive vs. reactive in their posting. They need to provide more quality and information rather than quantity.
Another tool that RPNAO should be using would be Social Mention (http://socialmention.com/search?q=rpnao&t=all&btnG=Search&start=15). Social Mention monitors 80+ social media properties directly including: Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, YouTube, Digg, Google etc.. This website really gives you a good indicator of what you look like to others on the web. A quick glance tells us that RPNAO does not necessarily come across as positive when posting (39%) but rather neutral (52%), so there is room for improvement there.
RPNAO would benefit from:
· The inclusion of backlinks in social media posts to create a stronger online presence and create engaging dialogue with similar organizations.
· Starting a social media calendar. Plan posts in advance. There are days that are relevant to nurses (i.e. World Autism Day) that could warrant a posting and could be pre-planned so that there is a steady presentation of information. Consistency will build a better following.
· Speaking to one person. Identify your target audience, create a profile of the RPN that you would like to reach (and possibly this is a younger RPN than your present demographic) and post a photo of her/him with a short bio on everyone's desk who will be contributing online. This will give you a more unified voice and consistent messaging.
· Increasing their Instagram presence. This appears to be somewhat neglected at present and just has a copy of postings on other platforms. This would be a good space to work on RPN profiles and introduce newer nurses to experienced nurses as a way of communicating and personalizing that platform a little more.
Neil Patel has some great strategies to help companies start Using Instagram to create an engaging community of loyal brand consumers (Patel 2019) His first five tips include:
Set up your brand's Instagram. Include a link.
Post content that attracts followers. No hard selling.
Grow your Instagram audience. Research and include relevant hashtags.
Encourage engagement to form relationships.
Measure your growth.
Conclusion
Through the implementation of new social media strategies, RPNAO can improve their online presence and engagement with their audience, thus increasing membership. The increase in public conversation and unification of an online voice will increase the success of RPNAO.
