SOCIAL MEDIA PROPOSAL
This proposal is for the Society of American Archaeologists. After initial review, we have noticed that there is a lack of consistency in messaging and engagement across the AAE platforms. We propose assisting the AAE in creating goals, templates, guidelines, and a content calendar in order to better promote AAE’s activities and organization.
This proposal focuses upon the social media platforms of Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM DEMOGRAPHICS
Nearly 85% of Instagram users are under the age of 45. Genders are split fairly evenly - 51.8% for males and 48.2% for females. The United States accounts for 143 million users and is the second largest demographic on the platform (India being first). Forty-nine percent of users are college graduates. Most users live in urban or suburban regions. Informative is the third largest category of interests used on Instagram.
Source: Statista 2024
Proposed Use For SAA:
Informative, engaging posts that focus on capturing the attention of Gen Z and Millennials. These posts serve to educate the younger generations about the society, what it offers, and garner an interest in archaeology.
Half of the users of Facebook in the United States are between the ages of 25-54 (50.1%). Within the United States 46.1% of users are male and 53.9% of users are female. Facebook remains the most-used social network in the United States with 175 million users (3 billion users globally). Seventy-three percent of internet users are on Facebook regularly, with most users accessing Facebook via mobile devices. 90% of businesses are on Facebook (Facebook pages also serve as the business portal for Instagram). Engagement rate for brands on this platform are less that 1%. Photos receive the highest engagement rate while users spend about 50% of their time on Facebook watching videos.
Source: SocialFly & Statista
Proposed Use For SAA:
Facebook should serve as the general hub for SAA with all news and posts flowing through this platform. The main users are Millennials and Gen X, however more of the older generations are present on this platform than the others. Videos, stories, and photos generate the majority of engagement, thus the SAA should focus on these types of content. A social media platform should be used to link content to Instagram as the majority of content will be the same. This same platform can be used to post during advantageous times (generally Tuesday or Thursday 8am and noon).
Sixty-seven million companies are registered on LinkedIn. Two hundred million users are from the United States. Fifty percent of users are aged 25-34 (Millennials), followed by 18-24 year olds at 24.5% and 35-54 year olds at 21.2%. Forty percent of LinkedIn visitors engage with a page organically every week. LinkedIn’s engagement rate is 3.8% (higher than Facebook) and is growing in its engagement rate YoY. Video is king in engagement. Multi-image posts with a short caption rank second in engagement. Notably, links to articles receive higher engagement on LinkedIn than other platforms.
Source: LinkedIn, Hubspot and Socialinsider
Proposed Use For SAA:
Having a robust LinkedIn page allows for better future hires and capturing the interest of professionals. Companies post an average of 18 times. Those companies that post weekly receive double the engagement rate of those that post sporadically and increase their followers by 5.6 times. SAA should post articles and events on LinkedIn to maintain a professional audience. Videos, surveys, and photo collages will also assist in engagement.
STEPS TO GETTING YOU NOTICED
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Rarity Marketing will help SAA decide upon the uses and goals of each social media platform. These goals will focus more on purpose and value, rather than metrics at this point. The goals should be attainable for an in-house social media/communications person to manage. Goals will also include paid ads vs. organic strategies if SAA is investing in paid advertisements.
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Rarity Marketing will assist SAA in selecting tools to help with the daily management of social media. This includes a social media scheduler and creation of templates for posts/content.
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Creating a cohesive look for SAA on all platforms with a streamlined presence. This also includes finding the brand's voice.
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Creating templates for SAA campaigns will assist an in-house person in social media posting.
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Rarity Marketing will assist SAA in creating a 6-month content calendar for posts on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. The content calendar will give dates, times, and content of posts for an in-house SAA employee to follow.
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Rarity Marketing will create a list of publications and individuals that SAA should follow on social media, engage with, and push content to in promoting their activities.
CASE STUDY
An event venue in California had a presence on Instagram for years, however, the venue’s profile was not focused upon selling and had low engagement.
CASA REAL AT RUBY HILL WINERY
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Profile was rebuilt with special focus placed upon story highlights to sell/promote what was important. A Linkr.bio page was built to create a hub for links. This emphasis pushed followers to convert into leads by creating a customer journey for them. Special campaigns were created to highlight staff and venue offerings for events, which allowed potential clients to understand what was offered and the intangible extras the venue offered in comparison to the competition. Attention was also placed on hashtags in trying to get content in-front of non-followers and engagement with other vendor accounts.
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Followers doubled in 6 months.
An average of 15k accounts were reached per month, up 30% from prior 6 months.
Non-followers were regularly reached in reels and posts in comparison to only followers 6 months prior.
Current clients regularly felt informed and inquired about products and services promoted.
Leads increased 4% YoY with social media being the 3rd highest referral route (behind word of mouth, and Google).
ABOUT US
Rarity Marketing was founded by Michelle Peters, an experienced marketer of over 20 years. Michelle has worked in the publishing and hospitality industries, giving her a unique view on creating welcoming marketing and brands for consumers, while maintaining a fresh, clean style. Trained in copy-editing and copywriting, she crafts clear communications - both visually and editorially for brands. She has previous experience working for a publisher of anthropology texts. She is a graduate of Saint Mary’s College of California with an arts degree. This is paired with a master’s degree in Japanese Studies from Harvard University, focusing upon anthropology, art, and marketing.
INVESTMENT
CONSULTATION - Goals and tools.
Up to 20 hours - $1,000 (each additional hour $50)
RESEARCH - Partners, publications and individuals.
$35 per hour.
CREATION - Content campaigns, templates and calendar.
$45 per hour.
TRAINING - Training system to SAA staff.
$45 per hour.