Introduction & context
This report evaluates the performance and efficiency of the revised EASA Communication Strategy during its initial two-month trial period (March – May 2026). Following the directive of the EASA Executive Committee on 4 March 2026, NomadIT assumed the role of Social Media Officer (SMO) to test an automated workflow.
The three analysis periods
To measure success, this report compares data across three distinct operational phases:
Period 1: 15 October 2025 – 15 December 2025
Context: The baseline period prior to the implementation of the new automated strategy. Social Media was managed manually by an external SMO supported by NomadIT under the old workflow, resulting in high administrative hours (averaging 52 hours/month on NomadIT’s side) but lower website referral traffic.
Period 2: 15 January 2026 – 15 March 2026
Context: In this interim phase the existing SMO stepped down and NomadIT managed the posting manually as a stop-gap.
Period 3: 15 March 2026 – 13 May 2026
Context: The active two-month trial period using the automated website-to-Buffer pipeline, under the oversight of NomadIT’s Barbara Pieta as SMO. This period represents the core data set for the new strategy’s report.
Implementation & Configuration: The initial hours of this phase were dedicated to setting up the automated pipeline. This involved configuring custom templates tailored for each social channel and maps for metadata fields like dates, event locations, and institutional affiliations.
Network Editor Integration: Due to EASA’s complex decentralised structure, the workflow was engineered so that Network Editors can inherently trigger posts to the Buffer queue directly via their standard WordPress privileges. This allows seamless content generation without requiring individual editors to learn or access the external Buffer platform.
The result: The results after 2 months of monitoring and adjustment, is that content types (posts, events, publications, jobs) are now sent to Buffer on saving, with the correct metadata included automatically.
Strategy document
Proposal for a revised EASA Communication strategy_NomadIT.pdf
Objectives
- Streamline communication channels into a single point of entry (
web@easaonline.org). - Automate social media distribution across Facebook, LinkedIn, and Bluesky using Buffer.
- Reduce the manual administrative hours spent by NomadIT and the Executive Committee.
- Drive traffic from social media channels back to the EASA website.
Note on platforms & analytics
- X (Twitter) & Bluesky Swap: We trialled Bluesky for the first six weeks before reversing back to X.
- 12.5k Follower Asset Risk: Completely abandoning X is highly discouraged. Leaving a profile with 12.5k followers inactive creates a “zombie account” vulnerable to hacking and identity theft.
- Executive decision (Buffer Cost): To run all four channels simultaneously (FB, LinkedIn, X, Bluesky), we need to add one channel to our Buffer plan. This costs just $5 to $10/month (£4–£8/mth) depending on our current tier.
- Data sources: This report focuses on LinkedIn and Facebook. Historical comparison required pulling data directly from native platforms. Future reports will use Buffer as our single analytics dashboard.
15 Oct – 15 Dec 2025
Context: EASA2026 call for panels and lab reminders
The high numbers in late-2025 data were driven by two institutional deadlines:
- 31 October 2025: The final push for EASA2026 Poznań Panel Proposals (3 days before deadline).
- 9 December 2025: The official launch of the EASA2026 Call for Papers and Labs.
These two events naturally triggered a high number of likes, massive sharing, and rapid clicks.
Google analytics
- Facebook Referrals: 2,725 total users (1,154 l.facebook, 838 m.facebook, 621 lm.facebook, 112 facebook.com).
- LinkedIn Referrals: 1,292 total users (1,258 linkedin.com, 34 lnkd.in).
- Twitter / X Referrals: 228 users.
- Bluesky Referrals: 65 users.
- Total Evaluated Social Traffic Funnel: 4,310 incoming website users.
- Total Content Output: 28 published posts
- Total Native Impressions: This volume forms your core visibility metric
- Total Interactions: 1,297 platform engagements
- Reactions: 981
- Shares: 274
- Comments: 42
- Calculated Native Engagement Rate: 3.89% [1]
Engagement rate
- facebook.com (Desktop): 43.93% Engagement Rate | 22 seconds average stay
- facebook.com (Mobile): 37.35% Engagement Rate | 10 seconds average stay
- linkedin.com: 46.10% Engagement Rate | 19 seconds average stay
- Total Posts: 13 posts (published between 19 November and 9 December; no posts recorded between 15 October and 18 November).
- Total Content Views: 142,260 views across all posts.
- Total Reach: 92,020 unique users.
- Total Unique Viewers: 90,041 users.
- Total Post Interactions: 793 interactions.
- Total Likes and Reactions: 456 reactions.
- Total Comments: 17 comments.
- Total Shares: 193 shares.
- Total Saves: 66 saves.
- Total Direct Link Clicks: 14 clicks (tracked via main post headers).
- Total Content Views: 214,100 (Reported growth line: +260.9%)
- Total Unique Viewers: 59,800 (Reported growth line: +222.6%)
- Total Content Interactions: 2,200 (Reported growth line: +238.7%)
Total Profile Page Visits: 7,500 (Reported growth line: +147.9%) - Net New Follows: 561 (Reported growth line: +279.1%)
- Total Embedded Link Clicks: 49 (Reported growth line: +91.4%)
Conclusion for this period
The late-2025 period (15 Oct – 15 Dec 2025) represents an unstable, event-driven communications baseline. While the raw metrics show explosive spikes—including 4,310 total incoming website users via the social funnel and 214,100 total content views—this activity was highly concentrated and entirely dependent on EASA2026 calls.
The disconnect in retention: While the native engagement rates within social platforms were exceptionally high during active windows (LinkedIn at 46.10% and Desktop Facebook at 43.93%), user attention spans on the website were remarkably short. Visitors coming from mobile Facebook stayed for an average of just 10 seconds, and LinkedIn users stayed for only 19 seconds. They were consuming the immediate alert but not exploring the wider website ecosystem.
Resource drain: To capture and execute these erratic spikes manually, NomadIT had to spend upwards of 52 hours per month (web+comms in total) logging into separate channels and chasing content approvals. In addition, the SMO billed ca 22hrs monthly.
What is engagement?
The Engagement Rate in Google Analytics shows the percentage of visitors who came to our website from social media and actually stayed to read something, rather than leaving immediately. A visit counts as engaged if the person spent more than 10 seconds on our site, viewed more than one page, or completed an action (like downloading a form).
The March-May period successfully turned social media into a high-value funnel; while users in late 2025 averaged just 10 to 22 seconds on the site, our new trial visitors are deeply engaged, viewing an average of 4.7 pages per visit and staying significantly longer to read core content.
LinkedIn users have a remarkably stable and high baseline. During the last period (March-May) nearly half of all LinkedIn visitors (49.72%) counted as deeply engaged sessions, maintaining a high 32-second reading average.
15 Jan – 15 March 2026
Total Posts: 12 posts
Total Content Views: 27,192 views
Total Reach: 16,682 unique users
Total Post Interactions: 233 interactions
Total Likes & Reactions: 161 reactions
Total Comments: 0 comments
Total Shares: 72 shares
Total Saves: 0 saves
Total Direct Link Clicks: 496 clicks
Total Content Views: 36.2K (Reported growth line: +77.4%)
Total Unique Viewers: 11.3K (Reported growth line: +78.1%)
Total Content Interactions: 719 (Reported growth line: +46.1%)
Total Embedded Link Clicks: 537 (Reported growth line: +496.7%)
Total Profile Page Visits: 2.3K (Reported growth line: +52.9%)
Net New Follows: 117 (Reported growth line: +73%)
Total Impressions: 18,067 views
Total Unique Impressions: 10,970 unique users
Total Clicks: 579 clicks
Total Reactions: 175 reactions
Total Comments: -1 comment (Reflects a deletion or adjustment on 27 January)
Total Reposts: 11 shares
Google Analytics
Facebook Referrals: 1,608 total sessions (638 l.facebook, 598 m.facebook, 191 lm.facebook, 181 facebook.com).
LinkedIn Referrals: 726 total sessions (726 linkedin.com).
Twitter / X Referrals: 102 sessions.
Total Evaluated Social Traffic Funnel: 2,436 incoming website sessions.
Engagement
facebook.com (Desktop): 53.61% Engagement Rate | 48 seconds average stay
facebook.com (Mobile): 20.23% Engagement Rate | 7 seconds average stay
linkedin.com: 49.17% Engagement Rate | 30 seconds average stay
Conclusion for this period
The social funnel delivered 2,436 incoming website sessions (1,608 Facebook, 726 LinkedIn, 102 X). Despite a post-deadline traffic dip, users still converted efficiently, yielding 496 direct Facebook clicks and 579 LinkedIn clicks.
While the audience grew steadily (+117 Facebook followers, 18k LinkedIn impressions), logging into accounts manually to chase these routine baseline numbers remained a major time drain.
This period proved that while member demand for daily updates is constant, the manual backend was too inefficient to maintain long-term.
16 March – 13 May 2026
Google Analytics
Facebook Referrals: 1,224 total sessions (433 m.facebook, 424 l.facebook, 287 facebook.com, 80 lm.facebook).
LinkedIn Referrals: 1,317 total sessions (1,257 linkedin.com, 60 lnkd.in).
Bluesky Referrals: 38 sessions.
Total Evaluated Social Traffic Funnel: 2,579 incoming website sessions.
Total Posts: 22 posts
Total Content Views: 44,059 views
Total Reach: 32,840 unique users
Total Post Interactions: 419 interactions
Total Likes & Reactions: 335 reactions
Total Comments: 12 comments
Total Shares: 86 shares
Total Saves: 20 saves
Total Direct Link Clicks: 937 clicks
Total Content Views: 103.9K (Reported growth line: +189.7%)
Total Unique Viewers: 34.4K (Reported growth line: +206.3%)
Total Content Interactions: 840 (Reported growth line: +17.3%)
Total Embedded Link Clicks: 1.5K (Reported growth line: +189%)
Total Profile Page Visits: 3.4K (Reported growth line: +58%)
Net New Follows: 362 (Reported growth line: +214.8%)
Engagement
acebook.com (Desktop): 46.23% Engagement Rate | 32 seconds average stay
facebook.com (Mobile): 22.40% Engagement Rate | 5 seconds average stay
linkedin.com: 49.72% Engagement Rate | 32 seconds average stay
lnkd.in (LinkedIn Short Links): 66.67% Engagement Rate | 39 seconds average stay
facebook.com (Mobile Secure): 67.50% Engagement Rate | 22 seconds average stay
Total Impressions: 104,188 views
Total Unique Impressions: 52,279 unique users
Total Clicks: 4,324 clicks
Total Reactions: 874 reactions
Total Comments: 27 comments
Total Reposts: 17 shares
Conclusion for this period
LinkedIn became the primary engine, generating a massive 104,188 native impressions and 4,324 clicks. Crucially, it maintained a premium 49.72% GA Engagement Rate (32s stay), with short links (lnkd.in) hitting a peak 66.67% Engagement Rate (39s stay).
Facebook posting stepped up to 22 highly targeted posts, securing 1,03.9K total views and 937 direct link clicks. This consistent output drove a +214.8% spike in net new followers (362 added).
The 2 channels brought in 2,579 highly qualified website sessions, with LinkedIn outperforming Facebook for direct web traffic (1,317 vs. 1,224 sessions).
The trial proved its core thesis: automation allows EASA to publish more content, protect its brand, and capture deeper mobile engagement, all while dropping NomadIT’s operational support from 52 down to a efficient 22 hours per month.
Workflow & Content Consistency
Under the new model, content is processed centrally via web@easaonline.org and pushed automatically to channels. This has resolved past communication delays and driven a more reliable publishing schedule.
- Output volume: NomadIT published 22 curated posts on Facebook and expanded LinkedIn operations during the trial. This is a significant normalization compared to the pre-trial period, which saw irregular gaps in communication.
- Audience Expansion: This consistent presence naturally grew EASA’s audience. On Facebook alone, net new follows grew by +214.8% over the previous interim period, bringing in 362 new followers.
- LinkedIn Visibility: Total impressions on LinkedIn skyrocketed to 104,188 views from 52,279 unique users, ensuring EASA announcements achieved wide visibility across the professional academic community.
Website Referral Performance
The most critical finding of this trial is the behavioural shift in how the audience interacts with EASA content. Instead of casually “liking” a post and scrolling past on their feeds, users are actively moving to the website.
The move to embedded clicks
On Facebook, even though the raw viral shares and reactions dropped compared to the massive EASA2026 deadline pushes of late 2025, actual intent to read skyrocketed:
- Late 2025: Driven by massive institutional announcements, posts achieved 142,260 raw content views but resulted in just 14 direct link clicks.
- Spring 2026: With the new approach, Facebook embedded link clicks reached 1.5K clicks (a +189% growth line).
Key Platform Insights:
- The LinkedIn quality advantage: LinkedIn has cemented itself as EASA’s most stable, professional engine. Half of all LinkedIn visitors (49.72%) met GA4’s strict criteria for deeply engaged sessions. They maintained a high 32-second reading average, which rose to 39 seconds when utilizing tracking links (
lnkd.in). - The desktop dynamic: Across all analyzed periods, users accessing the website from a desktop computer (
facebook.com) stay 4x to 6x longer (32 seconds) than users clicking links on standard mobile feeds (5 seconds). However, mobile security upgrades (facebook.com / Mobile Secure) showed strong engagement at 22 seconds, proving that mobile-optimised content templates are functioning correctly.
Future recommendations: Shifting from Setup to Community Building
With the Buffer workflow now running efficiently, we recommend shifting a portion of these saved hours toward active community building and high-value content creation.
Executive & network convenor spotlights
LinkedIn carousels: Create swipeable image carousels in Canva featuring profiles of Executive Committee members and Network Convenors.
This puts a face to EASA’s leadership, showcases the diverse expertise within the association, and drives higher platform engagement through personal storytelling.
Amplifying publications & research
Promote the “add publications” form and network publications sections.
Move beyond simple text links for the Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale (SA/AS) journal and the EASA Book Series.
Package recent journal articles, thematic book chapters, or PrecAnthro reports into bite-sized visual summaries or quote graphics using our standardized Canva templates.
Strategic outreach
Proactively monitor and showcase regular network initiatives that are currently underrepresented on social media, such as mentorship updates, thematic webinars, and network blogs or podcasts.
Use the saved administrative time to tag relevant institutions, partners (e.g., Berghahn), and network accounts to expand EASA’s organic visibility within the wider anthropological community.
Conclusion
The data indicates that this shift has been successful. While the late-2025 baseline was defined by short-term, viral-style spikes on social platforms due to the EASA2026 call for panels and papers, the current trial period has established a more sustainable, consistent, and highly integrated digital ecosystem.
Members are clicking through to the website at unprecedented rates, and their level of engagement once they arrive on the site is higher and more stable.
