Here you will find lots of tips and tricks for creating inspiring and engaging social media posts for EIT Food branded channels. 

Storytelling

Use storytelling at the core of all communications across EIT Food’s social media channels. Storytelling helps audiences to engage and encourages behaviours to be changed. Always consider what the CTA is and make clear what you expect audiences to do next. 


Remember that EIT Food is not the hero of the story - content should always focus on the stories of real societal impact and should avoid self-promotion. 


Below is a simple framework to help:

  • Expertise: show knowledge by identifying interesting topics and trends and sharing. This includes resharing third-party content.

  • Innovation: highlight positive change by showcasing activities or initiatives that are already driving change and making an impact in EIT Food's areas of focus.  

  • Trust: show the social proof by quoting Changemakers and including credible statistics/sources to back up the story.


We recommend that each and every post bring some form of added-value to its audience - for example knowledge, inspiration, an opportunity or a smile. 

Visuals

Social media provides a great opportunity to share high-quality visual assets that bring your story to life. 


Consider using some of the following visual approaches and assets.


Data visualisations and infographics help build credibility and drive conversation by interpreting data in new and exciting ways.


Video is versatile and powerful and drives the highest engagement.




If you would some guidance on how to create an EIT Food video, go to: How do I create an EIT Food video?

Carousels help carry users on a journey, letting a story play out.  



Don’t forget to follow the EIT Food brand guidelines on all visuals. 


If you would like some guidance on selecting the right kind of photos or access to a library of existing templates and assets, go to: What images best represent the EIT Food brand?

 

Hashtags

A hashtag is a relevant keyword or phrase preceded by the the hash symbol #. Hashtags allow content to be discovered by a wider pool of people. Here are some tips for using them.

 

There are three hashtag types within the EIT Food community:

  • Always-on: hashtags directly associated with EIT Food that are ongoing such as #EITFoodFight, #RisingFoodStars, #ImprovingFoodTogether, etc.

  • Timely: used for EIT Food events and by EIT Food partners to talk about their products and projects, such as #InnoPrizes #VentureSummit21, #FutureFood21, etc.

  • Themed: key topics or industry trends that your audience may be using and will help join existing conversations and increase visibility such as #CircularEconomy, #AlternativeProteins, #SustainableFoodSystems, #FoodWaste, etc.


Top tips 

 

When it comes to using, finding and creating hashtags these tips will provide you with some quick guidance: 

 

  • To join an existing conversation and increase visibility, it is best to jump on an existing trend. However, just because a hashtag is popular, it doesn’t mean that it is going to be suitable. Research it first to ensure it fits the type of conversation you want.

  • Hashtags such as #food or #sustainable are very popular and too broad, so your content is unlikely to reach a new or relevant audience.

  • It is enough to write a hashtag once in the same post.

  • Spaces, punctuation or symbols won’t work: #Horizon-EU, #European #Union, etc.

  • Hashtags should be used sparingly, to avoid whisking your audience away. A maximum of two for Twitter and never at the beginning of a post.

  • When hashtags have multiple words, put capital letters in each to make it more readable, also for blind people: #CircularEconomy vs. #circulareconomy, #AlternativeProteins vs. #alternativeproteins, etc.

  • To start a new conversation around a specific event or project you could create a new hashtag. This requires more planning and a clear strategy to ensure the hashtag gets picked up by others and used correctly:

    • Consider how you are going to promote a new hashtag and include it on all related marketing materials. You may want to invest some paid budget to help amplify it. 

    • Any new hashtags should be unique and have a clear purpose. 

    • Keep new hashtags simple and less than 10 characters is best, often an acronym + year: #UNFSS2021, #FutureFood21, etc. 

 

Watch this video for more guidance and tips for hashtags on Twitter. 

 

You can check which hashtags are being used by EIT Food via our always-up-to-date guide to EIT Food hashtags.  



 

Emojis  

Emojis support copy and help to make it stand out. 


  • They should also not disrupt the flow of a sentence and should ideally sit at the beginning or end instead.

  • Be sure to use diversity in the emojis.   

  • Overuse can cheapen the message and make it hard to read. A maximum of five per post is recommended.

  • Use emojis with care also for accessibility reasons – blind people use screen reader, which describe emojis as “Smiling face with sunglasses”.


Read more about writing content that is inclusive and accessible for all.







This article was last reviewed in February 2023 and will be reviewed again in September 2023. 

If you have feedback on this article, do let us know. You can drop us a note via our contact form.