X: Is it worth the risk for not-for-profits?

In recent months as we’ve met with clients to discuss their social media strategy, the mention of X or Elon Musk sparks more questions than answers.

As many grapple with the pros and cons of being on the platform, it seems the headlines are causing a stir. For many not-for-profits, the platform has a giant question mark next to it.

Among many of Elon Musk’s updates, he’s made highly controversial changes to the platform’s policies, cast a vision to turn the channel into a ‘key financial platform’ and announced plans to charge new users to interact with posts.

Even as we ride the election season wave, X is unsurprisingly caught up in it as bots have been found spreading disinformation about the UK election and Musk claims a ‘usage high’ after the Presidential debate.

When supporting our clients in evaluating their presence on X multiple factors come to the forefront. As with most strategy development, there is ‘no one size fits all’.

If you too are weighing up what’s next for your not-for-profit on X start with four simple questions:

1. What is your follower count on the platform?
2. How much engagement are you receiving?
3. What are your strategic objectives for social media?
4. Who are you trying to reach through social media?

These four questions will help you evaluate the quality of your current audience on X and if the platform remains relevant to your social media strategy going forward.

Generally, we have avoided placing X as a priority platform in many social media strategies because of its uncertain future and the minimal analytics readily available make it hard to measure performance.

If you have a large following and a healthy engagement rate, it’s worth staying on the platform for now, particularly if you aim to engage influencers who primarily use X to share content.

If you have a smaller following and the engagement rate is low, consider that it may no longer be worth your time and resources to remain on the platform. Don’t forget, another channel such as Instagram’s Threads could be a welcome alternative.

In exception to the above, if you have a small following and low engagement but have a specific focus that makes the platform relevant to you (e.g., political advocacy, EduTwitter or connecting with journalists) then X should be prioritised.

If you can improve your performance and shift your targeting methods, the platform could still be valuable but proceed with caution and keep abreast of the platform’s updates.

Before you conclude over the future of your not-for-profit on the platform it’s important to recognise the increasing probability of divisive responses and interactions due to Musk’s championing of freedom of speech.

It’s no secret that this influences his strategic decisions over the platform’s future. With his direction of travel, there is arguably a reputational risk should your content cover any potentially divisive topics.

On X, the chances of users sparking debate or escalation will only increase.

Therefore, if you plan to stay on the platform, it’s important to create some pre-prepared responses to comments or questions that could come up on any risk-issue topics you plan to cover.

If you are unsure about your organisation's presence on X moving forward or more generally need some guidance concerning your social media strategy we’d love to have a conversation with you to explore how we can help.

You can browse our service offerings via our website here, or alternatively drop us an email at [email protected].

By Hollyanne Boyce, Strategist, Jersey Road PR