Crafting the perfect post

As a communications professional social media has become a huge part of what I do. As someone raised with the rise of Facebook, the creation of Instagram, and the journey of Twitter, I can hardly remember a time without it.

I find that creating the perfect post is very similar to what I learned as a journalism student and as a reporter. It has to be eye-catching and interesting throughout. However, a larger game is at play. Getting information-heavy posts to show up on one's feed means having light, engaging, fluffy posts also to recruit more followers.

The information-heavy posts rely a lot on graphics. Even important and serious posts need to be eye-catching and interesting. Being able to create a post from scratch that people feel compelled to look at and engage with is crucial to my work.

After hundreds of posts, I usually know how they will perform based on their content. It is okay that a post promoting parks and recreation signups or dog licenses doesn't do well, the results for those posts are in increased awareness and sign-ups. But the daffodil post got over 50 new followers on the Town page. That is 50 new people who will know about closures and services promoted on the page.

Below are some of my favorite posts and graphics I've created for the Town of Dartmouth. The engagement on each post depends on the type of post, but they all work towards the Town's goal of getting more information out.