Media Handbook for National Human Rights Institutions 2. Be succinct: On Facebook, keep posts between 100-250 characters (less than three lines of text). This will help you generate more “likes”, comments and shares, compared with posts longer than 250 characters. 3. Be visual: Posts on Facebook that include a link to a photo, photo album or video generate more audience engagement than text-only posts. Posts that feature infographics are particularly popular. 4. Be social and generous: Encourage people to “like” and “share” the content that you post. In addition, liking, sharing, reposting and commenting on interesting content posted by others helps build good relationships and can encourage new followers. 5. Be a conversation starter: Get people talking by inviting them to a “fill in the blank” to a statement. Ask people what issues matter to them. Where appropriate, create fun and engaging conversations and suggest ways for people to get involved in your work or to promote human rights among their networks. 6. Be timely: Tie your post to a current event, a human rights “day” or a news story or sporting event that everyone is talking about. Make sure to spread your posts out across the day and the week; don’t post two or three things at the same time. If there is an important event taking place, post or “tweet” news as it happens. 7. Be a regular poster (but don’t spam): The more you post, the more often you will appear in the news feeds of your subscribers. However, it is important to strike a balance between being active and being annoying. Try different frequencies to identify what works best. 8. Be responsive: Remember that social media is about generating dialogue with your audience; it’s not a monologue. Responding to comments and feedback in a timely way is crucial to building good relationships. If people post negative comments, be courteous and professional in your reply. People from all backgrounds use social media. In shaping their online presence, NHRIs must consider the needs of the different groups of people with whom they will engage, especially marginalized groups. For example, NHRIs need to consider how they can adapt their materials to engage people with disabilities, people with low levels of literacy, people who use minority languages and older people. 4.4. DEVELOPING A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY It is critical that NHRIs develop a strategy to guide their online communications. Using social media is not without risk. For example, a careless, poorly worded or politically partisan post can be shared almost instantly with thousands of people. This has the potential to seriously damage the NHRI’s reputation and its relationships with different stakeholders. Other challenges and concerns that NHRIs may have include: • Losing “control” of their message • Knowing how to respond to negative comments or feedback • Being overwhelmed by the volume of feedback • Making “mistakes” in a public forum. • Finding the additional resources and staff time to “do” social media well. Chapter 4: Using social media | 63