By HARLYNE JOKU
About 20 PNG journalists took part in a social media training session on yesterday organized by ExxonMobil and the PNG Media Council.
The presenter was a British based digital consultant Kate Rawlins, a former British Journalist who is now the Associate Director of Helpful Digital – “We build confidence communicating in a digital way.”
The training session was facilitated by ExxonMobil’s Media and Communications Lead Mellissa Fairi at the Wilson Kamit Room at IBBM at Konedobu.
Ms Rawlins through a Zoom Meeting presented the checklist:
- Am I using the right channels?
- Have I set objectives for social media?
- What does success look like?
- Am I listening to my audience?
- Am I planning effectively?
- How can I create effective content
- How should I respond to comments?
- What are the trends this year?
She said the right channels to use are the channels your audience are already using.
She said there are 760,000 Papua New Guineans social media users of which 740,000 use Facebook.
Ms Rawlins pointed out that potential channels are available but not widely used yet by PNG users. They are Instagram which is one of the world’s largest growing platforms, Twitter for media, stakeholders and rapid response and LinkedIn for building professional connections and networks.
“If you are responsible for social media, you should be experimenting with your channels all the time,” the expert told the journalists.
Ms Rawlins also stressed that ‘Likes’ and “followers” can become big in numbers once your channel is established but this could take years and large numbers don’t guarantee success.
“It’s the quality that we are looking for; evidence that people have taken time to engage with your content.
“And is vital where examples of impact are donations, commitments and contributions or reactions that help sell something or change behaviors,” the digital expert told the journalists.