WNBC Web Editor Coralie Carlson’s advice in a recent guest lecture to Hunter news video students: Boost your engagement on social media.
Carlson told students of Prof. Sissel McCarthy that posting on Facebook is a must given its 2.2 billion users worldwide. “It’s the big gorilla in the room,” she said, adding that YouTube is a close second.
Twitter has 335 million users, Carlson noted, but since journalists use this platform to break news and promote their stories, she thinks students should also be active there, posting up to three times a day.
Other top takeaways from Carlson’s classrom talk:
- Open one account on each platform using the same handle
- Engage with other users
- Post regularly with visuals
- Add a comment to retweets
- Proofread
She recommended the app Grammarly to catch typos and grammar mistakes on social media posts and Canva for adding text to photos.
As for what you should not post, Carlson said to stay away from criticism of your boss or employer, profanity, “gym” shots, “humble brags” and political opinions.
“Basically avoid posting anything you don’t want to see on the front page,” she advised.