MANAGING a social media page is one full job especially when the number of followers continues to rise. It needs full attention to keep up with your followers’ needs and expectations. It needs to be nurtured to develop fully.
So, what’s on a social media page?
It is an online platform where you create and share content. For the Department of Education (DepEd), it is the best place for information advocacy where the information shared is not highly perishable unless, of course, taken out from the page.
DepEd’s official page is DepEd Region XI created in 2019. It’s like a toddler making its way to grow solid and strong. While many organizations have been using social media in the early 21st century for their public and media relations, DepEd Region XI only started to create it when the authority to establish such was given to the Public Affairs Unit (PAU). It was just two years ago when it was acknowledged to be part of the main functions of PAU.
It was such a big challenge when the page was created two years ago. The challenge came in twins: what content to share and how to get followers. The first was easy; the second was hard. Or so I thought.
It was crawling to find its right direction. For a start, the page started to share basic stories about the Department. It was looking for support from the top management down to whoever can help establish it after like two months.
For many nights, I was thinking of how to convince people to follow the page so they could see our stories. I was so conscious to post fresh, touching, inspiring, and beautiful stories on the page, but it couldn’t just reach the right people.
In fact, I needed to invite all my friends on Facebook (FB) to like and follow the page, but only a few of them responded. So, I started with 10 to 100. I was so happy to finally reach the 1,000-mark. At the end of 2019, I was only hoping for 5K followers, but I exceeded a little.
Feature stories started to sprout from the ground, mostly coming from the Division Information Officers but these were very limited yet. After a year of its creation, the pandemic took center stage.
It was then rightful for DepEd Region XI to share stories of the preparation for the opening of classes. It contained more information about what the Department had been doing for the opening of classes in October 2020. The number of followers slowly rose.
The FB page made sure that people will at least be informed of the latest news and policies of the Department. It shared beautiful stories of how teachers helped the community during the pandemic. These stories came from the ground, mostly shared by people who love sharing stories.
In January 2021, the number of followers was only almost 25K, which was after almost two years from its creation. Now, 7 months after, the number boomed to more than 90K. It’s like having an average of 270 new followers a day since the start of the year.
What’s the secret?
It all started when DepEd Region XI launched Diri sa DepEd Onse last March through the leadership of then-new Regional Director (RD) Allan G. Farnazo. It all started when a strong Communications Team coming from the divisions was created under his instruction.
It looks like RD Farnazo brought with him a magic wand to add some colors to Davao Region.
The episodes of Diri sa DepEd Onse every Friday at 3 in the afternoon took the attention of many. The number of views reaches as high as more than 100K in one episode. The School of the Day where one school is featured every day has a reach and engagement as high as more than 200k in one posting.
The stories have a great impact too. There was even one story that recorded almost one million in terms of reach. The others have thousands of engagements.
The new feature called Weekend Song where learners, teachers, personnel, officials with music videos and renditions are featured on a Saturday and Sunday is now making hits. The number of views reaches as high as 75K.
So, the secret is when the top official encourages and empowers people to do their job, and to do them right. It is not easy to manage a page especially when it will be subject to criticism, bashing, and all possible problems. But with the right support, everything comes out naturally better.
So, what’s another secret?
It is finding ways to create fresh and inspiring stories. After all, it’s the ingredient called human interest that makes us want to read more. As an instructor for Communications for more than 15 years now, I always say share stories that people can learn from, can relate to, can connect with.
I also learned through experience in handling the social media page that you need to have a particular time interval in posting content to give time to your followers to appreciate what you have posted. I also learned that giving them something new stirs their curiosity.
We always look at the goal of communicating – to get our message across as clearly and persuasively as possible. And definitely, DepEd Region XI is in that direction.