4 ways to rethink your social media to build community

If your social media accounts disappeared tomorrow, would anyone miss them? I ask our team this question every year, not to challenge their work, but to assess whether we’re adding value for our audience. The brands that succeed on social media offer inspiration, education, or a genuine sense of community. They provide leadership when the world feels off course, and levity when it feels too heavy. A strong brand should be uniquely positioned to offer a distinct perspective or value for their audience, like providing expertise or teaching a new skill. At Intrepid Travel, we think about value creation in three ways. 1. Does our audience feel inspired to travel the world through a more local lens? 2. Did they learn about a new experience, dish, or destination? 3. Did they learn how to travel responsibly? If our audience answers yes to any of these questions, we know we’re creating value. Encourage participation Last year we added a fourth value proposition: does our audience feel part of a community? It is arguably the most powerful pillar in a world where people grappling with loneliness and isolation often use social media to create a sense of belonging and connection. The challenge with creating a sense of community is that social media teams are largely set up to produce a high volume of owned content. They become a distribution channel for multiple departments and a pipeline of projects and product launches. Most brands are optimizing for output rather than participation. When we began looked at how we could create a better sense of connection, turn followers into fans, and optimize participation, we realized we needed to rethink our social media strategy. We made these four changes. 1. Create a dedicated social content team In the past our social media team was responsible for everything from creative to caption writing to community moderation and customer service. Now our social team is solely focused on production and posting across our owned channels. The core