EMBL social media: From data to action
Understanding and adapting to changes in the social media landscape is essential for maintaining consistent visibility in digital channels, as a recent communications trainee found out.
The EMBL Communications team maintains the institute’s social media presence on four platforms: LinkedIn, Bluesky, YouTube, and X. This includes organisation-wide accounts as well as individual accounts or pages dedicated to EMBL’s six sites.
EMBL’s social media presence has changed over time, taking into consideration platform developments, different types of content, specific organisational requirements, and changes within the team.
As a trainee in the communications team, I had the chance to look behind the scenes of EMBL’s social media strategy and presence during a time when it underwent a number of developments and changes. This not only included looking at diversifying and adapting some channels, but also at continuing to embrace data and analyses in decision-making and strategic planning.
Meaning of data analysis for social media management
Scientifically, data analysis is the process of gathering, examining, and interpreting data to uncover meaningful insights. The same concept applies to social media management: a form of social listening and monitoring, allowing an organisation to collect data and metrics which support its digital communications strategy and actions.
There are three main analytics types for social media channels:
Performance analytics
How does the content perform? Is there a need to switch post types or timings? Which posts resonate the most with the audience? Includes impressions, reach, likes, comments, shares, views, and clicks.
Audience analytics
Who does the content reach, and does it fit the target audience? Includes age, gender, location, and device.
Competitor analysis
How are competitors performing on social media? Comparison helps to set realistic goals and identify new ideas and potential areas for improvement.
During my traineeship, I performed regular analysis of EMBL’s social media environment. One of the major benefits of tracking social analytics is spotting trends and identifying areas in which adapting the approach will help to deliver improved results. This included, for example, adapting the way individual posts are created, such as incorporating the current carousel trend on LinkedIn, and keeping an eye on whether platforms as a whole are gaining or losing traction, such as X or Bluesky.
Performance analytics comparing EMBL’s well-established X and newly launched Bluesky channels revealed sustained engagement on X despite changes in platform algorithms. However, audience analytics showed a steady decline in followers over time, and competitor analysis revealed that many scientific institutions had begun to establish a presence on other platforms. Considering these three factors, we adapted EMBL’s social media strategy to establish a Bluesky server and account and several new LinkedIn showcase pages for EMBL sites.
Our analyses also revealed a slow but steady decline in follower growth and engagement on Facebook compared to LinkedIn and X. After thorough performance evaluation and cross-team discussions, we decided to retire the EMBL Facebook page and focus content on other social media channe
Social media analytics reveal how each channel performs, which helps to construct a data-informed strategy and a way to evaluate its effectiveness.
A plan for social media
An organisation’s social media approach contributes to the overall organisational communications strategy. Operationally, this includes a plan to create an institutional social media presence that aligns communication goals with audience needs and behaviour. The following three questions help to guide the discussion on goals and tactics:
Who? Who will follow us, and whom will we follow?
The scientific community is a core audience for EMBL, and social content should reach this group. In addition, however, posts should resonate with other EMBL audiences, ranging from institutes and organisations to industry and decision-makers. That’s why it’s important to attract a range of audiences to our channels.
Why? Why is a particular platform being used?
This involves regularly reviewing whether a specific platform and the type of content being posted help to meet communications goals.
What? What type of content will we create?
Defining content categories (e.g. text, visual) and schedules will help to deliver a consistent tone across platforms and audiences. Maintaining consistency in the type and frequency of posting also builds credibility.
Contributing to updating social media plans was one of my first tasks after I joined EMBL, and it turned out to be one that stayed with me until my departure ten months later. My ‘welcome pack’ included different documents outlining a general social media strategy, more detailed action plans for individual accounts, and an outlook on numerous discussions as the social media landscape evolved. My work included reviewing materials, providing input, and contributing to discussions with the many colleagues in the Communications team. Together, we implemented several changes to EMBL’s social media, some of which I describe below.
On LinkedIn, EMBL has seen consistent growth in both followers and engagement. Additionally, although scientific discussions still occur to a large extent on other platforms such as X and Bluesky, LinkedIn has gained significant prominence among this audience during recent years. Adding the versatility of content options on LinkedIn (which addresses many of EMBL’s needs), we decided to establish LinkedIn as the primary social media channel to share research and training highlights.
Moreover, we launched showcase pages for EMBL’s sites to highlight activities specific to each site to help foster distinct communities.
Data and strategy are important contributors to EMBL’s social media actions. During my internship, I gained valuable insights into the complexity of managing social media at a multi-mission European institution.
I learned that in a dynamic work environment, time constraints, and shifting priorities often require flexibility. It also made me realise the importance of knowing when to deprioritise a project on the basis of overall communications goals. And I recognised that while institutional messaging should be aligned with broader goals, values, and audience expectations, one’s personal experiences and ideas can inform creativity in areas like content creation.
While growing as a science communicator, I also had the chance to contribute to shaping EMBL’s social media presence. I participated in account closure, establishment, and content development, and had the opportunity to engage in discussions with colleagues in Communications as well as other teams across EMBL, who use social media to share their work with their followers.
It’s been a challenging, exciting, and rewarding time at EMBL, during which I learned a lot and contributed with new ideas, practical recommendations, and suggestions for enhancing EMBL’s visibility and engagement on social media.