​You found the perfect photo, wrote a clever caption, and are ready to click “share.” What else could this awesome post possibly need? Many social media account managers post great content, but are missing out on increased visibility from a few simple additions to their post routine. This article will help you gain increased reach, more followers, and higher engagement with your audience from a few simple practices.

​If your post is relevant to another entity, include them! This not only builds rapport between organizations, but increases the exposure your post may receive. Is your church participating in a conference-wide event? Tag your conference. Is your church holding a program at a community center? Tag the center. Is your school putting on a banquet at a restaurant? Tag the restaurant. Watch as those entities share your post or tag you back in their own post. This builds relationships and creates opportunities for more networking in the community.
 
Make sure to tag these accounts on as many platforms as you’re posting on, and take the opportunity to follow them. It may take a little extra effort to find the official account you’re tagging, but it is worth it. For most platforms, including Facebook, type “@“ and then the organization name will populate (“@NADAdventist”). However, some outdated Facebook pages may not have set up their @-name yet; in this case you may not be able to tag them.
 
Take advantage of the North American Division social media directory, which includes account handles for denominational entities throughout the division. This directory is a work in progress and your feedback and/or additions are welcome.  

 Hashtags allow you to connect with people looking for posts on a specific topic. A person may search the “#adventist” hashtag to learn more about Adventism, or “#sabbath” to learn about Sabbath. Any posts with those hashtags will be displayed to that user. Include as many relevant hashtags as appropriate for your post to increase the chances you will be seen by people searching those hashtags. Don’t be afraid to include numerous hashtags, including slight variations (“missions”, “missiontrip”, “missiontrips”, “missionaries”, etc.).

Decide on your organization’s official branded hashtag, use it in every post, and encourage your followers and supporters to use it when they post about your organization as well. If you’re tagging another account, check their profile to see if they have a branded hashtag and use it as well.

Make sure your hashtags will actually yield results—sometimes people make up hashtags that are never searched. For example, no one is currently searching for the “#weshouldhaverentedabiggerspace” hashtag, so it’s not going to increase your reach. It is helpful to search for popular hashtags relevant to your post, and use the most-searched ones.

TIP: Hashtags aren’t used much on Facebook. The platform’s search capability isn’t polished and often some posts don’t show up when searched. It doesn’t necessarily hurt to add a couple hashtags on Facebook (besides possibly cluttering the post), but in general, take advantage of hashtags on Instagram and Twitter.

Download the Adventist Hashtag Library. 

Related videos:

• Hashtags Part 1: The Symbol Formerly Known as the Pound Sign
• Hashtags Part 2: Branded Hashtags & Tips

Are you on an international mission trip? At a summer camp? A conference? Give your audience more detail about your activity by adding your location for reference. This shows your organization is active outside your building and doing work in the community. If you’re at your own building, add your organization’s location; the more it is tagged, the easier your account will populate when people are searching nearby.

Incorporating these three details into your post routine may add a few minutes of your time, but the benefits are far-reaching. Make these additions a consistent step in your posts and you will gain more followers, see an increased reach of each post, and result in higher engagement with your audience.

Source: www.eugdpr.org

What is the GDPR?
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a new data privacy regulation that aims to give individuals in the European Union (EU) protection and control over their personal data. This affects how organizations can collect and use personal data starting May 25, 2018. These regulations are applicable to all organizations who process and hold the personal data of EU residents, regardless of the organization’s location. Organizations outside of the EU must comply with these regulations when collecting data on individuals living within the EU.

What constitutes personal data?
The GDPR applies to “personal data,” meaning any information relating to a person who can be directly or indirectly identified by the data collected. This includes, but is not limited to: name, identification number, location data, or online identifier, and may expand as the technology used to collect information about people changes. 

What are the penalties for non-compliance?
Organizations breaching GDPR can be fined up to 4% of annual global turnover or €20 Million Euro, whichever is greater. This is the maximum fine that can be imposed for the most serious infringements, e.g. not having sufficient customer consent to process data or violating the core of Privacy by Design concepts. There is a tiered approach to fines. For example, a company can be fined 2% for not having their records in order (article 28), not notifying the supervising authority and data subject about a breach, or not conducting an impact assessment. It is important to note that these rules apply to both controllers and processors—meaning “clouds” will not be exempt from GDPR enforcement.
For more in-depth information on the GDPR, visit www.eugdpr.org.

How does the GDPR affect organic social media marketing?
Since organic social media activities such as posting content and engaging fans do not involve the collection of personal data from people, these efforts will be largely unaffected by the regulation.

How does the GDPR affect social advertising?
If you run social media ads (especially lead generating ads) and use pixels, there are several things to be mindful of when placing these types of ads. Under GDPR, if you want to use your members’ data or track their behavior for promotions, you must obtain legal consent to do so. More clearly stated, you are required to obtain explicit opt-in consent from your members. Please refer to the regulations for the requirements for obtaining consent.
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The following social advertising features use uploaded customer data, collect personal data, or track behavior and are, therefore, affected by the GDPR. This is not an exhaustive list; please refer to the resources provided by each platform on which you place advertisements. 

• Facebook Pixel
• Facebook Custom Audiences
• Facebook Lead Ads
• LinkedIn Matched Audiences
• LinkedIn Insight Tag
• LinkedIn Sponsored InMail
• LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms
• Twitter Pixel
• Twitter Tailored Audiences
• Pinterest Tag
• Pinterest Audiences

Facebook & LinkedIn lead forms now allow you to add a custom disclaimer, optional consent checkboxes, a link to your privacy policy, and room for custom text to state how you’ll be using the collected data.

For more information on how these advertising tools are affected, please refer to the following resources provided by the platforms:

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Pinterest
• Snapchat
• Instagram

While the GDPR does not apply to individuals residing outside of the EU, many of the requirements are still considered best practices and organizations are encouraged to follow them.

Additional resources:

• General Data Protection Regulation (the official website)
• GDPR: What Growth People Need To Know (by Reforge)
• MailChimp’s GDPR Guide (by MailChimp)
• GDPR Compliance for Email Marketing. A Step-by-Step Guide. (by We Compose)