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NEW! ALGORITHM CHANGE -  but this time it just might work in our favor! 

A few days ago, the heads of Instagram and Facebook shared an important announcement about a change they are implementing this week. They explained that if most of what you are posting is from other accounts, Meta will no longer recommend your account to people who don’t already follow you. They want to shift “reach” from aggregators (those who repost content from other sources) to content creators (original sources).

We have begun seeing a lot of reposts in the social media accounts we review. I suspect chapters get stuck when they don’t have a recent activity or event to report and using content from an outside source seems like a great solution. However, shared content may not promote your chapter or DAR and with Meta’s announcement, it has even greater implications.

If your page relies on reposts, your reach won’t just drop - it will disappear.

Don’t forget the purpose of creating and maintaining a chapter social media account. It is a marketing tool with the potential to create perceived need in the minds of your page visitors - a need to know more about DAR and, for those eligible, to become members of your chapter. 

Bottom line: We are “selling” DAR membership.

Unfortunately, we may not be as intentional when planning and creating our social media content as we could be. We post chapter news - activities, events, and announcements - and then often rely on outside content to fill the space between our news. Without fresh news items, what do we do?

Where do you get content when you don’t have “news”?

👉 What if I told you there are strategies you can use to create your own content for use between your chapter news posts?

👉 What if you could craft multiple, different-themed posts from one chapter activity? 

Introducing: Content Pillars

What is a content pillar?  It is a theme or category that your content consistently focuses on. 

Content pillars can help keep your posts relevant and aligned with your goals. It can provide a strategy to make your posts more purposeful and meaningful to your target audience. And who is your target audience? Non-members. 

I’ve already mentioned Chapter News. That is definitely one of the pillars you will build content around. Here are three other ideas for content pillars: .

• Mission – Historic preservation, education, and patriotism are always our primary pillars.

• Connection - People want to have a place to connect and contribute to something bigger than themselves.

• Impact - Stories of people impacted by your chapter’s work are priceless. 

Strategically utilizing pillars (themes) can result in a social media feed that is an effective illustration of the value of the DAR mission and creates interest in people who are hoping to find a place to connect.

When pillars (themes) are utilized, you can minimize your effort and maximize the effectiveness of your social media account. Applying the concept of content pillars can result in a feed filled with unified original content consistently communicating the value of DAR membership. 

Meta’s new algorithm change just happens to coincide with the trend of sharing reposted content that, while interesting and informative, does not prove how being a member of DAR is valuable. Reposted content may be shared without verifying or crediting sources. It may be illustrated with AI-generated images or even the content itself is AI-created, both of which eliminates the authenticity of your chapter’s unique voice. No one can be you but you, plus relying on reposted content to keep your feed fresh may backfire.

Meta’s change means accounts primarily sharing content from other sources will no longer be recommended to people who are not already following you. 

• That means smaller reach. 

• Smaller reach means fewer people will see your posts.

• The fewer people who see your posts, the smaller your audience. 

• The smaller your audience, the less likely you will connect with a non-member. 

• The less likely a non-member feels a connection with your chapter, the less likely she will reach out and become a member.

The type of content you post matters.

Social media provides an opportunity to “sell” DAR membership by telling your chapter’s story and your story extends far beyond “Chapter members recently toured the state capital”. ♥️

Stay tuned for the next post in this series: “Content Matters”.

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💬 Got additional ideas for content pillars (post themes)? Drop them in the comments below.

📧 Have questions? Do not hesitate to reach out to your Social Media Approval Team (smapproval@nsdar.org). We don’t have all the answers, but we will do everything we can to find out. 

More content and engagement tips coming soon!

#socialmedia, #socialmediaadmins, #socialmediaapproval