Guest post by Sylvia Link
You can demonstrate #DEI support and advocacy through your social media activity, on any platform and within the time you have available. Here’s how to get started – and how to take your DEI thought leadership to the next level.
Remember – on social media, activity = visibility. Every social media interaction helps others gain a better picture of who you are and what’s important to you. The good news is that with as little as five minutes daily, you can build your personal brand as a DEI champion.
Audit
The elements of your social media profile – such as picture and description – signal to others who you are. Review what your profile says about you and update elements to provide a cohesive statement of interest in and support for DEI:
- Update your banner picture to focus on some aspect of DEI.
- Add #DEI keywords and hashtags to your profile descriptor or headline.
- “Pin” a #DEI post or tweet to the top of your timeline (especially for Facebook and Twitter).
- Review settings and add DEI to your interests.
Lurk
The first step to making your DEI voice heard is to learn from others.
- Follow #DEI influencers and thought leaders who have a large following. Observe how they use their social voice.
Engage
The easiest way to begin your DEI advocacy is to become more engaged:
- Follow DEI influencers and thought leaders.
- “Like” posts about equity topics – or use one of the other sentiment icons to provide more specific engagement (for example, the “insightful” sentiment in LinkedIn).
- Reply or comment to express support for the DEI posting or to respond to a question posed by the person posting.
- Share the post with your followers.
Amplify
Add to DEI content created by others on social media to amplify the message:
- Comment on the post, to share your perspective or to add a fact, stat or hash tag.
- “Quote retweet” on Twitter to add to the original message.
- Tag others who may have an interest in the content of the post.
- Make it personal by sharing your lived experience.
Join
Search for social media groups with a DEI focus.
- Join and actively participate, as you have time, once you have spent some time observing the norms of the group.
Curate
Apply the activities of curation:
- Select DEI posts or content – for example, list of DEI resources, strategies, corporate statements, policies, etc.
- Organize these posts in a way that assists others or offers new insights.
- Present your collection in an engaging format – e.g. list, infographic, checklist, round-up, pictures/graphics, lessons learned, etc.
Create
Generate and post original social media content on a DEI topic:
- Whenever possible, include a picture or graphic to illustrate your content – it’s often most effective to use a photo you have taken or a graphic you have created.
- Video is highly engaging. Keep it simple – use your phone to record a brief video on a topic you feel is important.
- Gather ideas from trending topics – add a DEI lens to current events or hot topics.
- Consider the format that works best for your original content – case study, blog, infographic, quiz, picture, how-to, flow chart, Q&A, interview, facts/stats.
- Once you have created a number of original posts, create a curation of the most popular items.
Sylvia Link MC ABC APR is director of marketing and communications at RTOERO, a national non-profit with 81,000+ members who work in or retire from education. Connect with Sylvia on Twitter or LinkedIn.