Multi Platform Communication Report Media Assignment

Multi-platform Communication Strategy
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Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Introduction PAGEREF _Toc9643509 \h 3Current Platforms in Use PAGEREF _Toc9643510 \h 3Facebook PAGEREF _Toc9643511 \h 3Twitter PAGEREF _Toc9643512 \h 3Instagram PAGEREF _Toc9643513 \h 3YouTube PAGEREF _Toc9643514 \h 3Suggested Improvements on the Platforms PAGEREF _Toc9643515 \h 4User Engagement and Interaction PAGEREF _Toc9643516 \h 4Facebook PAGEREF _Toc9643517 \h 4Twitter PAGEREF _Toc9643518 \h 4Instagram PAGEREF _Toc9643519 \h 5YouTube PAGEREF _Toc9643520 \h 5Frequency of Posting PAGEREF _Toc9643521 \h 6Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc9643522 \h 6References PAGEREF _Toc9643523 \h 7
Multi-platform Communication Strategy
Introduction
In this time of the internet expansion, it has become necessary for organizations and individuals to come up with a multi-platform communication strategy. This approach involves the creation and sharing of content across many platforms instead of focusing on just one platform (Doyle 2015, p.49). Thus, organizations and individuals are able to reach many people and sell them their ideas. The purpose of this paper is to provide a multi-platform communication strategy that builds and improves on the affordance of March for Our Lives (MFOL) community. MFOL is a not-for-profit organization and a global movement that was established on March 24, 2018, when a group of students led a demonstration in support of stronger gun violence prevention measures (March for Our Lives, n.d.). This movement is mainly made up of young people who want their voice to be heard and as such, the audience of MFOL is not only young people but also policymakers who have the power to bring the change being demanded by the movement. They have utilized a number of online platforms so as to reach as many people and create a huge impact in the fight against gun violence.
Current Platforms in Use
Currently, MFOL has an active official website where they have shared their ideas, mission, and involvement on the political platform in pushing for policy change in line with gun ownership and gun violence control. Other than the website, MFOL has made considerable efforts to utilize other platforms, which this paper will focus on.
Facebook
Currently, the MFOL Facebook page has over 288,000 likes and over 305,000 followers (March for Our Lives, n.d.). Given this number of followers, it would be expected that content shared on their Facebook page will be shared widely by the followers, yet one of the most shared videos was only shared by 8,500 users. In addition, MFOL lacks a pattern and consistency in sharing of content on Facebook. At times, they can go for over a week without sharing a post and at other times, they can share more than one post in a single day. It is also evident that videos receive more comments than any other content shared on their Facebook page.
Twitter
As of now, MFOL has over 450,000 followers on Twitter and about 3,000 likes (March for Our Lives, 2018). Since its start, this movement has also shared over 2, 600 Tweets. Given the number of followers, it is safe to say that Twitter has the biggest MFOL community. It is also the most active platform in the sense that MFOL not only tweets their content, but also retweet other contents that are in line with their ideas and vision. The retweeted content includes other tweets and news links on gun ownership, gun violence, and gun control policies.
Instagram
MFOL also has a large presence on Instagram @marchforourlives with approximately 361,000 followers (March for Our Lives, n.d.). Since their beginning, they have posted about 223 posts. These posts were more frequent in 2018 and at the beginning of 2019 where they would post even more than once in a day. However, the frequency of posting has dropped and at times, they go for more than two weeks without updating their followers or sharing new content.
YouTube
MFOL has a YouTube channel with approximately 7, 900 subscribers (Match for Our Lives, n.d.). YouTube is a good platform for sharing content that has specific messages. However, MFOL has poor engagement with subscribers and does not post content on this platform frequently. For instance, the last video was posted three weeks ago and got close to 100,000 views. This shows that if this platform is used effectively, the message that MFOL is trying to pass can reach many people. Yet, before this last video, only about two videos had been posted on the channel for close to a year.
Suggested Improvements on the Platforms
While MFOL has an online presence, they need to properly utilize their platforms so that they can fully realize the benefits and reach more people. The following are some of the areas that require improvement, and each area encompasses all the four communication channels that MFOL is currently using.
User Engagement and Interaction
As revealed by Doyle (2015, p.55), using a multi-platform communication strategy is useful in the sense that it allows for a “two-way engagement” between an organization and its audience. Further, engaging with followers and supporters is also a good way of expanding your network, which translates into more followers. In fact, Stephen et al. (2015, p.3) show that engaging with followers is a good way of spreading the message in the form of an “online word of mouth” communication. Thus, MFOL needs to make some improvement with regard to engagement and interaction with its audience, who happen to be very tech-savvy, using different social media platforms.
Facebook
Facebook has a comment section which allows users to engage with each other by sharing their opinions on the content shared. The number of comments on a post is usually a measure of the post’s popularity (Stephen et al. 2015, p.7), which can be further be improved through proper engagement and interaction with followers. Comments can also act as a motivation or an opportunity to receive suggestions for improvement. MFOL can ensure that they fully utilize this comment section, which they are currently not doing, by responding to a number of their followers just to show a sense of togetherness. Obviously, one post receives a lot of comments and it would be impossible to respond to all of them, but they can randomly select and respond to some of them.
Further, there is a need to attract more comments, shares, and likes on Facebook because this shows that people understand and appreciate the message in the posts. Part of MFOL’s plan is to create awareness of gun violence and push politicians into...