Freelance Work
MY GOAL:
As a social media manager and content coordinator, my goal is to develop and execute strategic content that enhances brand presence/recognizability, engages audiences, and drives measurable results across all social platforms organically.
STRATEGY:
My strategy for building solid content is set by these pillars: audience/platform research, content planning and creation, engagement and community building, and performance analysis and optimization.
RECENT ANALYTICS FROM D.C. DEFENDERS:
From January 2024 to June 11 2024 (after a period of all profile inactivity)
Engagement Rate (per Impressions): 3.8% (4.9%+)
Engagements: 2,244,407
Impressions: 58,875,101
From our aggregate profile and page metrics: a 74.1%+ change in video views as compared to the same reporting period the year previous, and a 3.6%+ change in audience as compared to the same reporting period the year previous
Our best audience growth was on TikTok, with a 36.7%+ net increase in followers, a 506.2%+ change in impressions, 412.1%+ change in total engagements, and a 506.2%+ change in video views.
AUDIENCE AND PLATFORM RESEARCH:
I identify what our target audience for our content is, as well as untapped audiences that could connect with our content and build new fans. An example of this is the marketing of Taylor Swift at Kansas City Chiefs games to not only increase eyes on games but gain the interest of young girls and women. The posts showed an uptick in engagement, with negative comments (while they can appear discouraging) pushed discourse within the comment section and drove it to more audiences. Platform research is key, as well as identifying which audiences are more easily engaged on each platform, which content does well and how it differs between platforms, learning the algorithm, and how fans connect on each platform.
TikTok wants to keep viewers in the app as long as possible. Therefore, content on TikTok should be long form but more personable. iPhone native vertical video does the best, as well as in app editing and text inclusion. The platform loves to drive content that utilizes in app features and lays heavily into trends, both content and audio. In 2024, almost 40% of TikTok global users were 18-24 years old and almost 34% were 25-34 years old, meaning almost 70% of the app is a definite younger audience. In the US even, more than half of the users are between 18 and 29 years old. They value authenticity, creativity and originality. Meta has been consistently tweaking their algorithm for their three platforms, with inter-app integrations. Reels on Instagram gain more traffic when cross-posted on Facebook as well as Threads. While they value in app editing, it is an app focused on higher quality content to maintain visual aesthetics. This means videos shot on phone should be shot in higher frame rates and quality, edited before uploading to the native app or filmed on professional equipment to help tell a story. Twitter is better for rapid updates during live events or reactionary content. It is easier to interact with fans, share content that is meant to be shared or sent to other platforms, etc. Twitter is for the content that people will want to retweet, send to their group chat, or repost on their Instagram story- bite size and informational. On the other hand, memes and live reactions from admins also do well with high engagement.
One of our viral TikToks for the UFL 2024 season, 300k views
CONTENT PLANNING AND CREATION:
Content is the true star of the show, but there is a lot that goes into it. For example, our goal with DC this year was to show our fans the people behind the helmets- humanize our team to make them more empathetic and a relatable group to root for. In order to do that, our content had to showcase their personalities- their humor, their day to day and their stories while balancing content of their performance on the field so we could truly give them the best portfolio walking away from the season.
Content requires a plan like most things. While I always keep my eye open and my camera out to capture things that happen in the spur of the moment, most good content requires a plan. I utilize Milanote to organize my thoughts, ideas, storyboards and any other materials or calendars needed for content. I scour all platforms for current trends, new song releases, rising audios, influencers in our market and anything else that can be applied to our strategies to maintain and build our platforms. In season, I look ahead to future games, what's going on at practice, what's going on in the locker room, and the needs of the brand. I combine those in brainstorming sessions in order to ideate a set amount of planned posts for each platform with possible copy, hashtags and sponsors. As time progresses, this allows me to have posts and content to release instead of scrambling each week for new ideas.
Planning ahead allows for room to fix issues that come up, no matter how last minute. This is then set out in a calendar along with content capturing and editing time allotted, as well as wiggle room to tweak the schedule as needed depending on post performance. The calendar would have color coordinated entries for all platforms, in order to track frequency and have a clear visual of frequency. Tiktok, for example, would have one of the higher frequencies of posting, with the target to be a minimum of 2 posts a day as well as stories. Instagram would have a goal of 1 post a day, alternating between carousels, reels and regular graphics, excluding game content. Twitter would have the highest frequency, as not all content needs to have media, and some content can be replies to fans, sending personal direct messages with personalized backgrounds, among other ideas. Facebook should have the same frequency as Instagram, while Threads can take after Twitter. The important is also to vary the content, so we ensure that our fans will want to follow and engage on all platforms, or to cover as wide as an audience on each app as possible.
The actual creation of the content is the easiest part in my eyes as a photographer and videographer. While things might not always go to plan, having a storyboard or a photoshoot plan gives the time structure and a basis to follow. For sponsors, sometimes content can be made in batches early in the season, like on media day, to give a bank of content to pull from. I usually like to keep all content, premade or not, in a cloud based server sorted by year, month, week, date and type. This is to ensure all content is easily accessible by anyone on the team or for the client, as well as provide a backup in case someone else needs to post.
Another example of native vertical phone video, garnered 37k likes and over 1M views on Instagram Reels
ENGAGEMENT, GROWTH AND COMMUNITY BUILDING:
At the end of the day, there needs to be one thing we remember- while going viral is great, building a community that engages and grows with you is better.
Engagement comes when we share content that resonates with our audience- that comes if we give them information they're interested in, educate them, entertain them or engage with the community, i.e. polls, posting user-submitted content, asking questions on stories. Our goal is audience interaction. Instagram directly says that shares, comments and saves drive a posts popularity currently. A post that entertains or educates might encourage a user to save it, for example. Something that informs them might urge them to share it with their friends or on their story. A poll in the caption and copy might motivate them to interact with the poll and share their answer or their reasoning in the comments. All of these actions drive engagement, and usually will do better if users believe their reactions are being created organically.
Engagement also depends on the platform. It has to be the right content for the right platform, otherwise it will not perform well. For example, the reel on the lefthand side was posted on Instagram reels when they started to push longer videos, or content that showed behind the scenes. Not only did we include the names of every player but the exact time of their arrival and almost every single player we could. Fans also enjoy when there is *effort* put into the content, and several users replied commending the admin for how long it must have taken to edit the video. Looking at a post from all angles ensures that someone will find it worthy of engagement. Another example is the Tiktok above. It was entertaining, informative and engaging- everyone had the right answer as to what color the Gatorade can was, and had to let everyone else know it.
Growth on Tiktok can be explosive, and most people do not take advantage and ride the wave. Increasing posts and replying to comments with more videos furthers that wave and can extend the following gained from the original post. Even liking comments and creating dialogue in the comments will game the algorithm and help push subsequent videos. Growth on Instagram and Facebook are more difficult to earn, but can be gained from consistency and creativity. Utilizing trending audios and listening to Instagram's update and beta releases is key in staying on top of what the algorithm wants and how your content needs to evolve. Twitter can be capricious and random with what gains virality, but maintaining a comfortable and casual voice will truly build the community and grow the page.
Consistent engagement goes hand in hand with growth. For a team, their niche is the sport they play, the market they are located in, and the players they put in the game. Maintaining a consistent brand and voice, on top of putting on engaging content helps users feel like they know who is behind the other end of the post, and connect with it. This will extend the community, not shrink it. Being able to laugh at *yourself* if the team loses is key in retaining that audience and even growing it in spite of those loses. Creating team or community hashtags increases visibility, and collaborating with local influencers brings eyes from different demographics, like how the Lakers brought out final contestants from Love Island USA. They already have a large brand, but the audiences that follow sports might not be following reality dating shows for women in their late teens and early 20s. The contestant, Leah, is a Los Angeles native, so the crossover makes sense and helps draw community from both sides.
Community is hard to build but rewarding. Most people typically become fans of their local organization- keeping them fans is a different story. This can be done by creating content that specifically benefits the local community. This could be through sponsored posts, supporting local businesses, offering exclusive promotions to followers or those local, and highlighting community stories or player-led charity efforts. The goal is to create a sense of belonging and create a space for shared interests and values.
PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS AND OPTIMIZATION:
As someone who comes from a background heavily reliant on numbers and analytics, I make sure to incorporate it into my social media strategy. In economics, the collection of data is extremely important. The more data points, the more accurate the analysis. I like to apply the same idea tracking metrics on all platforms and multiple categories.
On top of collecting data on your own and using the Insights provided for each platform, utilizing an application like Sprout is an efficient way to track data and KPIs if you're not an economist. One of my personal goals is to trial and error regression algorithms in order to properly gauge if a posts' engagement is successful or not (thank you econometrics). The KPIs or Key Performance Indicators I keep my eye on for overall health of the account are the ones that align with the goals of the brand and the team. Most often, that is engagements, follower growth, reach, impressions, and arguably the most important, conversions. I also like to note specific benchmarks, like the end of the offseason versus the end of regular season, or an industry standard like average daily engagements per post across other platforms in the industry. Performance, while heavily number based, can be based also on intuition and situational analysis. While some argue that all PR is good PR, a negative situation can drive clicks and conversions, but lose followers and future engagement. It would be good to keep that in mind surrounding content moving forward.
I also find it important to set a standard as to what we can deem a "successful" post or not, depending on our current benchmarks. In order to optimize our content and get the best bang for our buck, this might mean using what we've learned to adjust posting schedules and frequency, identifying key times out audiences are online the most, and refining out strategy based on what content has been most successful.