Chamber of Commerce Social Media: How To Communicate Value & Reinforce Your Mission

[et_pb_section bb_built="1"][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type="4_4"][et_pb_text _builder_version="3.8"]When I worked in news, the culture of our newsroom was that we would really try to pursue angles on stories that were beyond the obvious. So where our competitors would go cover a press conference and report then just on what came out of the press conference, we would cover the press conference but try to find another angle to the story, an angle that would help people watching relate to the story better and understand why it should matter to them.That’s what you need to be doing with your chamber of commerce social media strategy. Communicate the WIIFM – what’s in it for me, angle.A lot of times you may already be posting the content, but a slight shift in the angle of the way you deliver the content can make a huge difference in the message that the audience receives. So…for example, you have a business that sends you a news release announcing it is hiring 50 people.You can post the news release to your social media. That would be a really good thing to do. But what would be better is to find an opportunity for a “mission moment.” What do you want to achieve by posting this release? You want to recognize this member’s success and from your mission perspective you probably want your audience to receive the message that your local economy is growing.You could just post the news release, but it’s better to tell them what you want them to think about the story…your angle, your spin. Don’t assume your audience will make that leap on their own. Go ahead and tell them what you want them to think.So instead of posting “Company XYZ to hire 50” post “Another sign our local economy is growing, congratulations Company XYZ” and link to the release. You’ve reinforced your mission, you’ve patted Company XYZ on the back and you have intrigued your audience to click on the link because you haven’t given away the whole story.If you start thinking in those terms when you are posting to social media, you’re going be able to find those moments and create the kinds of posts that engage your members, deliver your messages and reinforce your mission and really make people understand what you do.  [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]