Finding the key to capturing younger audiences is a challenge facing all of the Nordic public service providers.
But, as Rasmus Kolbe explained at the fifth Social Media Academy in Oslo in June, this is not a problem he shares.
“When I publish a post asking my followers if they’d like to drop by, I only have to wait a few minutes for the first person to turn up, no matter where in Denmark I happen to be,” Rasmus Kolbe says in a matter-of-fact tone.
Rasmus Kolbe, also known as Lakserytteren (The Salmon Rider), is an influencer. His method is basically to entertain by posting quirky images and videos, accompanied by his own characteristic, humorous drawings.
He is active on a wide variety of platforms, creating content for most of them daily, and he himself, takes centre stage in almost all posts.
Received 2,000 drawings in 24 hours
“My ambition is to teach young people how to be more creative through entertainment,” he explains, giving a few examples of his targeted efforts to engage his followers.
One idea was to encourage them to draw a bike helmet on a picture he posted of himself; another was to ask his followers to draw a picture of themselves as a tree for a campaign to promote the Danish Smukfest music festival, which is staged in a forest.
Rasmus Kolbe received 2,000 drawings in just 24 hours in response to this competition.
“When I publish a post asking my followers if they’d like to drop by, I only have to wait a few minutes for the first person to turn up.”
– Lakserytteren’ alias Rasmus Kolbe
New honorary awards
More than 100 participants attended the conference in Oslo.
This is both a record and an indication that social media are becoming increasingly important to public service providers. A new feature this year was the introduction of honorary awards for extraordinary social media initiatives.
The idea behind these awards, which will become a recurring element at future social media conferences, is to generate commitment and raise awareness of the work of other providers, which may then serve as mutual inspiration.
