Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1497353
Our new column "Building Your Social Media Toolbox" will appear in every issue. Toolbox Topics Coming Up: • Member features • Memes Credit: wordwizardsinc.com "Instead of just posting the link and hoping people will read, think about what will hook people and turn that into a social media-sized hook. Then ask them to click a link to learn more." Pensions: Using Useful Info as a Hook Sometimes these social media-sized bites of information aren't enough. I get it, I know a tweet or even a twitter thread isn't enough to help folks understand how some- thing as complex as a pension works. But we can use social media as a hook to drive people to check out more complex content. Think of these kinds of social media-sized bites less as a full meal and more as an appetizer that makes you hungry for more. For example, NEA puts out social media toolkits that I share in our CTA Social Media Curators Facebook group (facebook.com/groups/ctacurators - please consider joining if you do social media for your chapter!). Let's look at some of the content they created about pensions. High-level posts like these are a great way of reminding everyone, regardless of their attention span that day, of their pension benefits. But more than that, they 're a great hook to get people to visit the NEA pensions page to learn more and get more specific questions answered. At some point, you'll likely need to get people to click a link that leads to a ton of information. Instead of just posting the link and hoping people will read, think about what will hook people and turn that into a social media-sized hook. Then ask them to click a link to learn more. With everything you post , keep in mind that social media thrives on concise and shareable information. Think about what you would want to click and share to be empowered with the knowledge of your rights and bene- fits as an educator. Elizabeth Barcelos is CTA's social media editor. 45 A P R I L / M AY 2 0 2 3 New Column