Getting started
- Firstly, you need to decide which social media platform is most practical to promote your translations. The two most commonly used platforms by our translation teams are X/Twitter and Facebook. However, this decision will largely depend on the popularity of different platforms in your country. For example, X/Twitter is not well used among the general population compared to Facebook in some parts of the world, and in some countries neither X/Twitter nor Facebook is popular. As an example, you may want to read about the Croatian translation team’s experience with Facebook and Twitter or about the use of WeChat by the Cochrane China Network.
- If you already have a social media account for your Cochrane group, use that, instead of creating a new one for translations only.
- If you are creating an account on Facebook, we recommend you set up a page, rather than a group, because it is open to all, enabling more people to be reached.
- Once you have created your account, you need to make sure to apply the Cochrane brand. Send an email to support@cochrane.org to request a branded banner with your Cochrane group colour and logo. You can see some examples from other translation teams here – take a look at their banners: Cochrane Russia Twitter, Cochrane Croatia Facebook
Suggestions for content to post
- Key content for your social media accounts can be new and updated Cochrane Review translations in your language, including the link to it on cochrane.org. You can also take advantage of health awareness days, other events or current public discussion topics, to post links to relevant translated Reviews in your language.
- You can also promote other translated content, such as press releases, podcasts, infographics, blogshots, content on your own Cochrane website, etc.
- Have you seen news articles about Cochrane in your language? You could share the link via your social media accounts and tag @cochranecollab so that we are aware too.
- Other relevant content may be regional news and events, such as workshops, or news from cochrane.org or other Cochrane groups.
- If you are looking for volunteers, you can post a call for volunteers with details of your project, and who to contact.
- Each language on cochrane.org has a page with information about the project. You can post a link to this, so people can learn more about your activities.
How to post content effectively
- Include a link to your translation on cochrane.org, rather than the Cochrane Library, as cochrane.org is fully translated and allows users to search in their language, too.
- Use ow.ly or bit.ly to make links shorter, saving characters in the case of X/Twitter, and generally making links easier for people to read across all platforms.
- Include a picture with your social media posts to make them more attractive and engaging when accompanied by an image. We have guidelines for selecting pictures that include picking pictures relevant and sensitive to your geographical or cultural audience. Please be careful about copyright and do not use pictures that are not explicitly available for re-use! We are happy to share pictures that you can use in our picture folder - just email support@cochrane.org to get access.
- Do not post multiple posts one after another; you risk overwhelming your followers. Aim for one Facebook post or one Tweet per day, or a few per week, while you get started.
- It is advisable to maintain regular activity on your account. To save time, consider using a tool such as Hootsuite or Buffer, to schedule tweets in advance. These tools let you schedule, publish, and analyse posts across different social media tools all in one place.
- Extend the life of your posts and content by scheduling the same post, at different times on different days, and then again the following month. Never be afraid to schedule posts more than once!
Other social media training resources