“No, I don’t want to enter my authentication code. I want to crawl into a hedgerow and live among the Wrens.”
Now, that’s a confident LinkedIn post.
Just that.
Penned by the (fan girl alert) geniuses at the RSPB’s social media team, it takes huge belief in your organisation to rely on one oddball sentence as the sole LinkedIn message for the day.
There wasn’t even a picture (and believe me, they know how to use them). Just those few cryptic words.
The beauty of social media is that you quickly establish how well your message has landed. Some would say that’s the most stressful thing about it.
It’s not like producing content for print, when you have little idea whether your work is being enjoyed or even read.
That one sentence from the RSPB was chuckled over, liked, and even loved no fewer than 1,794 times when it was posted by their team on LinkedIn earlier this year. Reposts? A cool 83.
That’s a lot of love for a comment about the desire to live in a hedge with little birds.
Of course, it helps that on LinkedIn the RSPB has pushing 150k followers – but those kinds of numbers have taken hard work to build. Once they are there, that audience needs treating with respect, and that’s exactly what this social media account does so well. It caters for its readers, and nails it every single time.
But just what’s so good about it?
Great use of photos
Visuals are very important in all media and LinkedIn is no exception. Being the type of organisation that it is, the RSPB team has clearly got a huge library of exceptional bird images to play with – and man, do they use them to the full.
Plus, it turns out that birds are really quite funny to look at, a lot of the time. And when you try and compare them with people, they’re hilarious.
Especially the ones with big ruffs, wide eyes (most of them), unblinking stares, ridiculous spindly legs, silly little beaks or wing positioning that makes them look as though they’re storming out of a meeting in a huff. Either that or they’re doing some weird type of gym-based leg bending exercise.
Captions
The art of great caption writing is subtle. It’s about humour, poetry, and knowing when to stop.
With very few words, the RSPB makes the absolute most of the comic potential of its bird pictures.
It’ll kill the humour if I try and explain it – just check it out and you’ll see what I mean. I like to think how much fun they must have putting these posts together.
Timing
Moving on from the above, posting a cross-looking bird picture on LinkedIn on a Monday morning (when, let’s face it, we’re all feeling a bit deflated) with a caption such as: “Me, being kept waiting for my Teams call” – will never fail to get a laugh out of me.
Mental health
Whoever came up with the idea of posting shortform videos on the RSPB’s LinkedIn of a spider building a web, or a curlew wheeling across the sky, with a gentle description and a reminder to ‘take a nature break’ – deserves a medal.
In itself, this is a great campaign.
I reckon I’ve watched every one of them and felt a sense of relaxation every time.
It’s well known that being in nature really helps you to calm down.
So the team who decided to give us these little videos when we’re at our desks to help break up a long day at the desk gets a big thumbs up. Thanks guys.
It also serves as a fine reminder that it will do us good as humans if we protect nature, without being heavy-handed about it.
Carousels
Sometimes the social media team go to town on a bird-themed LinkedIn carousel, exploring such topics as: ‘spookiest birds at Hallowe’en’ or ‘which birds would most likely win a marathon’.
Take a look – they’re hilarious.
Remaining on brand
It really is a social media account mainly about birds. Just birds. Because it’s the RSPB. They stick to the point. (Plus the odd squirrel and hedgehog).
Mixing serious with funny
Perhaps the best element of the RSPB’s social media campaign (they’re great on Facebook and TikTok as well) is how well they blend humour with serious messaging.
Because all forms of media need light and shade, upbeat and down, to keep our attention.
A long film that’s all doom and gloom is just depressing.
But one that has laughs and tears is a classic.
That’s what the RSPB does really well. They have serious environmental messages to convey, but they do it with a light touch, interspersed with lots of humour, which means you take it on board when they’re talking about the need to protect the natural world and the birds which live in it.
Here’s our challenge, though
I haven’t yet seen a post from the RSPB with a penguin in it. Looking forward to seeing what you can come up with, RSPB.
