Facebook (170,000 Likes) -
Looking through the current social media content that Met Office uses you can clearly see how they have a style that they have been sticking with over the past year or so. I can see how this sort of infographic style can appeal to most people but it is also very easy to see how a younger audience would not find this as interesting because everything is very standard doesn't catch the eye that much.
Although the information that they are broadcasting is very informative and it is difficult to appeal to a wide range of people with an infographic. You can also see how some if the infographics have a longer shelf life than others as they are posting things that aren't just weather reports to the social media audience, they have thought about how they can get people to interact with the content.
Twitter (465,000 Followers) -
It seem that they are using twitter to communicate with their audience more as the tweet are more regular and they are concentrated on giving people accurate weather reports rather than more recyclable content like "Why is the sky blue?" but I believe this is own to the nature of the platform it is being posted on, as twitter is instant as where people seem to take a bit more time if they are browsing through Facebook.
The content being put out online is very standard to Met Office as all of the posts seem to follow the same theme and style. A lot of the content looks like it has been taken from the screen shots which doesn't really help to grab the audiences attention but it is still doing the job of telling people the weather. They are using imagery as well, but a lot of the content is straight forward weather graphs and maps which could seem less interesting for some people.
Instagram (17,000 Followers) -
It seems that the current Instagram is only being used for photos that have been submitted by followers, this is still a good use of the social media service but they could change the way that they use this platform as Instagram is constantly growing is being used by many other companies as one of the main social media sites. Instagram allows 1 minute videos which would be perfect for GIFS and animations and this could improve how they are connecting with their audience on this platform. Specially as more and more people are using Instagram more than any other social media, if content was put out on here as well as photographs they would have the chance to gain a bigger audience.
Infographics
Infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly. An infographic is the perfect way to show the sort of information that the Met Office need to put out on their social media and they don't have to be boring they are and interesting way for information to be show.
The book Information is Beautiful has been able to show me the best kinds of infographics for all sorts of different things and how it can be used to really grab the audiences attention.
The information that is being shown through a graphic can be as simple or as complicated as you want, it just depends on how much you want the reader to engage.
I should be able to use infographics to engage with the audience, this will give the social media pages a some exciting content and help for people to learn and engage with the content, so they are more aware of weather happenings.
Other Weather companies
New social media
In the world we live in today we are constantly being introduced to new social media apps and it can become difficult for companies such as Met Office to keep up with the trends as they do have more important parts of business to take care of. But it is also important to stay relevant to the target audience, in this case it is everyone so the use of apps like Snapchat and Instagram stories is important so they don't loose the younger audiences.
Many big brands like Nike and Adidas have use certain features of the app to interact with their audience as they know that they can target a very specific audience. Snapchat could be used easily by the Met Office as they app already include the weather, but the using this brief they could have more interesting filters for people to use on a day to day basis.
Content I can create
When thinking about what sort of content would work best I have thought carefully about how they are using the social media now and how that could be improved to attract a more connected audience. My aim for this brief is not just for everyone to see some new content but for a younger audience to be more interested by the weather because at the end of the day we are generation that is causing the current weather patterns so we may as well understand why.
Infographics - Can be used on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. These will be part of the evergreen content so it can be reused across the various social media accounts.
Snapchat geo-filters - Will help to interact with the younger part of the audience and help with giving Met Office a more up to date presence.
GIFs - Can be used on most platforms but they are quick and more exciting than a photo
Short animations - Similar to a GIF but will have sound and can be much longer than a couple of frames, these could give a lot of information easily.
Basic graphics - Across all social media accounts this would include weather reports (daily, weekly) mainly for quickly viewing (bitesize) information.
Although the information that they are broadcasting is very informative and it is difficult to appeal to a wide range of people with an infographic. You can also see how some if the infographics have a longer shelf life than others as they are posting things that aren't just weather reports to the social media audience, they have thought about how they can get people to interact with the content.
Twitter (465,000 Followers) -
It seem that they are using twitter to communicate with their audience more as the tweet are more regular and they are concentrated on giving people accurate weather reports rather than more recyclable content like "Why is the sky blue?" but I believe this is own to the nature of the platform it is being posted on, as twitter is instant as where people seem to take a bit more time if they are browsing through Facebook.
The content being put out online is very standard to Met Office as all of the posts seem to follow the same theme and style. A lot of the content looks like it has been taken from the screen shots which doesn't really help to grab the audiences attention but it is still doing the job of telling people the weather. They are using imagery as well, but a lot of the content is straight forward weather graphs and maps which could seem less interesting for some people.
Instagram (17,000 Followers) -
It seems that the current Instagram is only being used for photos that have been submitted by followers, this is still a good use of the social media service but they could change the way that they use this platform as Instagram is constantly growing is being used by many other companies as one of the main social media sites. Instagram allows 1 minute videos which would be perfect for GIFS and animations and this could improve how they are connecting with their audience on this platform. Specially as more and more people are using Instagram more than any other social media, if content was put out on here as well as photographs they would have the chance to gain a bigger audience.
How to use social media -
Using social media is in 2017 is the best way to communicate with an audience, currently Met Office are doing a good job but there are certain things that they could be doing to get the best out of each social media account as well as looking into other social media platforms that they don't currently exist on.
Most of the content that us being posted across their social media platforms has to appeal to a wide target audience as everyone wants to know what the weather is going to be like. But there is certain areas of content that they could be focusing on to get more people to interact with. For example if they want to attract a younger target audience the content that is being put out has to really grab the attention of the viewer as we live in a very fast environment with everyone looking at phones and laptops. So by using the social media platforms to target different audiences they will be able to reach a bigger audience.
Met Office provide the weather statistics to all of the UK news and weather broadcasters so they are a hub for all things weather in the UK so if they are putting out interesting content it will be seen by a lot of people, from the BBC audiences to ITV they should be looking at content for everyone.
"Evergreen" content -
“Evergreen” content, is content that can be used again
and again. In this case it includes weather explainers, that help demystify the causes
behind the weather we experience each day — asking, for example, “Why is the
sky blue?” or explaining “Blocking Weather Patterns”. This is a very good use of content for social media as posting regularly will increase the amount of people that are using the page because they like the constant feed of information. The "evergreen" content is also good as it will help to break up the maybe less interesting weather reports that could get boring on a day to day basis. This is the sort of content that will do well on social media and Met Office will benefit from the most as it will create the most interaction with the audience.
Being able to reuse the content means that the content can be posted on different social media accounts at different times because a lot of the time they will have different audiences on each account.
Why do people use social media?
Being able to reuse the content means that the content can be posted on different social media accounts at different times because a lot of the time they will have different audiences on each account.
Why do people use social media?
- To stay in touch with what friends are doing
- To stay up-to-date with news and current events
- To fill up spare time
- To find funny or entertaining content
- To share opinions
Like the infographic from the Global Web Index below shows the top four reasons for people using social media is to either stay up to date with the world or because people have some spare time. This means that content has to to be engaging enough to keep the audiences attention because there are many other things that people could be doing on social media if they aren't reading posts from the Met Office.
Infographics
Infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly. An infographic is the perfect way to show the sort of information that the Met Office need to put out on their social media and they don't have to be boring they are and interesting way for information to be show.
The book Information is Beautiful has been able to show me the best kinds of infographics for all sorts of different things and how it can be used to really grab the audiences attention.
The information that is being shown through a graphic can be as simple or as complicated as you want, it just depends on how much you want the reader to engage.
I should be able to use infographics to engage with the audience, this will give the social media pages a some exciting content and help for people to learn and engage with the content, so they are more aware of weather happenings.
Other Weather companies
New social media
In the world we live in today we are constantly being introduced to new social media apps and it can become difficult for companies such as Met Office to keep up with the trends as they do have more important parts of business to take care of. But it is also important to stay relevant to the target audience, in this case it is everyone so the use of apps like Snapchat and Instagram stories is important so they don't loose the younger audiences.
Many big brands like Nike and Adidas have use certain features of the app to interact with their audience as they know that they can target a very specific audience. Snapchat could be used easily by the Met Office as they app already include the weather, but the using this brief they could have more interesting filters for people to use on a day to day basis.
- Snapchat has more users than Twitter and Pinterest becoming one of the top 5
- It is very popular among younger people (mainly 13-25 year olds)
- 100 million daily users
- 400 million snaps sent a day
- A Geofilter delivered to a national audience will typically be seen by 40% to 60% of daily Snapchatters
Content I can create
When thinking about what sort of content would work best I have thought carefully about how they are using the social media now and how that could be improved to attract a more connected audience. My aim for this brief is not just for everyone to see some new content but for a younger audience to be more interested by the weather because at the end of the day we are generation that is causing the current weather patterns so we may as well understand why.
Infographics - Can be used on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. These will be part of the evergreen content so it can be reused across the various social media accounts.
Snapchat geo-filters - Will help to interact with the younger part of the audience and help with giving Met Office a more up to date presence.
GIFs - Can be used on most platforms but they are quick and more exciting than a photo
Short animations - Similar to a GIF but will have sound and can be much longer than a couple of frames, these could give a lot of information easily.
Basic graphics - Across all social media accounts this would include weather reports (daily, weekly) mainly for quickly viewing (bitesize) information.
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