We hosted a social media masterclass led by Gabrielle Blitz Rosen, founder of Townhouse Digital, an editorial house for digital brand strategy (they count Afterpay, Mandarin Oriental, Goop and many other leading brands as clients). Gabby delivered intel on key elements of the social media space, plus newer platforms, tools and updates on the ever-changing landscape.

The takeaways: 

• Whatever style of brand voice you decide to use, make sure your entire team is using it, so voice and messaging are aligned throughout content 
• Come up with pillars of content and test to see what types resonate most with your audience (i.e. graphics, regrams, influencer content, user-generated content, etc.)
• Spend time perfecting your Instagram bio – it's worth it to make a great first impression with concise and clear content 
• Instead of using the most popular hashtags, opt for more narrow ones (#book for a photo about reading might get your post lost in a sea of content) 
• Make sure to plan content at least a week (ideally two weeks or even a month) ahead to save time and ensure you stay on track 
• There are lots of scheduling tools out there, a few favorites being: Planoly, Later, Buffer and Dash Hudson
• Even though scheduling is done, you're not off the hook: monitor your accounts to ensure you reply to comments, questions, etc. in a timely manner. Community management is key! 
• Canva is also a great tool for teams to design content easily 
• Favorite apps for videos and Stories are: Canva, Instories, StoriesEdit, Unfold and Boosted
• Understanding social strategy: This is a combination of past performance data (KPIs like what types of pillar content drove the most engagement), recent platform updates (like Instagram’s launch of Reels), speculation of where platforms are headed and industry-specific news 
• Organic content is great, but your paid reach will be much greater. You don't have to spend a ton to get a boost 
• A couple of foundational metrics for reporting: follower count and growth rate, engagement rate, shares and saves (these are more important than impressions)
• Curious about Clubhouse? Gabby's take: "Our encouragement for any new platform is to dive in head first as a user."