Training using social media and podcast for advocacy and campaigns

The training organized by Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) in collaboration with Asia Pacific Research Network and supported by European Union, happened on 9 November 2022, and attended by 15 participants from various migrants and advocates organizations across Asia pacific. Marjohara Tucay, the trainer, is an experienced person in the field of social media and podcasting.

In the beginning of the session, participants were talking about social media that they use and its development. Most people are on social media, but let’s not forget that some people still have no access to it, especially those who are most marginalized, under-represented, attacked and victims of their circumstances, for example poverty, climate, etc.

Social media might be seen as platforms that provide liberty to its users, however, it’s really a fact that these social media are still a big business, where businessmen think about profit. There are cases of content takedown on these platforms, fake news or trolls.

Important to be remembered, social media is a platform for campaign, not a campaign itself. Mobilization on the ground is still the most important. We are using the platforms to spread the news, calls and demand, as part of a campaign that is beyond social media. Social media campaign success is built upon real people’s story. There are real people on the line, we can put faces on data that we present on social media.

To keep our presence on social media alive, we need to post on it regularly. The content can also mix, not always texts, videos or photos only. Going live on social media can also add the reach of our social media. Aside from that, stories on social media can help in building your organization’s authenticity.

We can also foster our community on social media. The first step is to engage with your audience, for example by replying to their comments. Aside from that, for example on facebook, we can form a facebook group that is private to people who want to know more about your organization campaign.

On twitter, we try to make our tweet in a conversation tone and limit the hashtag for one or two hashtags. We can also put photos or graphics on our tweet as this will hold the audience to hover longer. We also need to include a clear message to action, such as “read the full story”, “click this”, and so on. An emoji in your tweets can also make your tweet attractive. We can also plan our tweeter content and make a schedule for it.

Based on the discussion, we should recognize the limits and importance of social media to ensure that our future campaign would not just stay online, but go beyond and achieve concrete successes.

The discussion flows into crafting key messages and building online communities. Analysis is the soul of any campaign, including for social media campaigns. Calls should be clearly engaging the people. Target the specific audience and build alliances on social media. Look for similar pages, accounts and organizations, and approach them for cooperation. Aside from that, to build online communities, you can organize your audience, message them directly and invite them to join your online group, and invite them to your organization’s activities directly.

Key messages contain the soul of your campaign, it should be accurate, fair and balanced, clear and concise, and have a role in public/community, whether to inform, insight, etc.

Other ways of using social media are with podcasting and live streaming. Podcasting designed for people at work, to people who don’t have the luxury of time to have specific time to watch. People can work while listening to podcasts. Podcasts use audio and sound. Migrant organizations have stories to tell, and audio using your voice is intimate. People only listen to podcasts that interest them.

Participants talking about planning and making podcasts, on how to start it. Aside from that, they were also talking about ideas on podcasts, which vary but still connect with their organizational campaign and advocacy.

Participants also discuss livestreaming on social media, from making an account to do the livestream and using some softwares to make it attractive. At the end of the session, participants were talking about new emerging trends on social media, such as reels on facebook and instagram, twitter space, reddit and tiktok.