New Year’s Resolutions for Digital Communicators

A new year is a good time to revisit your current social media work and set new goals about how you’ll better serve your partners, clients, and stakeholders this year.

If you’d like to set new goals but aren’t sure where to start, the HIV.gov team has rounded up four ideas to get you started:

Resolution 1: Use metrics to understand your audience.
We’ve covered metrics and analytics previously, because our team believes measuring your digital communications effort is extremely important! Tracking metrics is the best way for you to understand your audience and create content that matters to them. This analysis can also help you determine your return on investment (ROI) for the time you spend managing your social media channels.

Are you interested in getting started or need a refresher on metric basics? Here are some recent HIV.gov blog posts to get you started:

• How to Uncover Audience Insights with Data and Analytics
• How to Build Your Social Media Analytics Toolkit
• ICYMI: Using Social Media Analytics to Grow Your Audience

Resolution 2: Revisit or develop a social media strategy.
If you currently have a social media strategy, the end of the year is a good time to review your goals and objectives and determine if you’ve met them. It’s also a good time to set new goals and objectives based on what your team accomplished in 2017. In the new year, set SMART goalsExit Disclaimer for your social media work and then create a routine process (maybe once a week) of tracking your goals.

If you don’t have a social media strategy, let the HIV.gov team help you create one! Sign up for our Virtual Office Hours and you’ll receive free one-on-one training from a member of our team.

Resolution 3: Try something new!
Our HIV.gov team recommends experimenting with social media regularly because there are always so many new tools and channels to try! Consider creating a 30 second video about one of the most common questions you get from clients or stakeholders about locating health services, post an infographic instead of a long blog post about HIV treatment and care, or connect with a micro-influencer who can help you share health information in an authentic way.

Resolution 4: Personalize your content. 
We previously covered how personalized content will continue to perform better than content designed for a mass audience. In the new year, consider trying new ways to tailor your content so that it is relevant to each individual in your target audience.

For example, are there members of your audience who have fallen out of care that may need extra support? Consider creating a tailored outreach strategy that addresses common barriers to care and provides specific resources to help them get back on track.

A few additional questions to help you get started:

• Who is your audience? 
• Are there segments of your audience that require different information than others?
• What information do you know about your audience that can help you personalize your content?

To learn more about how aour partners are preparing for 2018, we asked Nycal Anthony-Townsend, chair of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD), Strategic Leadership Council (SLC), about how the NBHAAD partners are getting ready: "NHBAAD resolves to accelerate its use of social media channels to urge our communities to 'Stay the Course, Our Fight Against HIV & AIDS is NOT Over.'"

Have you set any digital communication resolutions? Share them with us on Twitter at @HIVgovExit Disclaimer or on FacebookExit Disclaimer. If you'd like some help setting or achieving your resolutions, sign up for our Virtual Office Hours.