Harry Respass & Erica Woods

Harry Respass & Erica Woods

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Connecting Technical Volunteers with Nonprofits!

Tech Tutorial: Social Media

Your Target Audience

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Why we’re here

Understand what Social Media isBenefits of Social Media / StatisticsHow to Map Out Your Social Media StrategyMajor Social Media PlatformsBest Practices For Using Social MediaThe Good! What Really WorksNext Steps for Success & ActivityResources Questions

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What Is Social Media?

Forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos)

Friendster, a social networking website, was opened to the public in the U.S. and grew to 3 million users in three months. AOL had 34 million members. 

Reaching the Public Through Media

(First Known Use - 2004)

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Benefits of Social Media

Increasing communication Inbound Marketing Intentional BrandingIncreasing your Community Footprint Recruiting, Engaging, Educating and Appreciating Volunteers, Sponsors, and other members of target audienceCapturing Ideas, Success Stories, etc. (crowdsourcing)Communicating Events, Information & News

Social media enables all your stakeholders to become “brand ambassadors!”

Social Media statistics

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How to Map Out Your Social Media Strategy

Understand the different platformsWhich should you use? How will they connect to your audience?Define how/why social media can boost the companyWhat goals are you trying to obtain?Sales, signups, cost reduction, etc. Its ok to peek. See what your competitor is doing?Could be a good start or a bad one.

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How to Map Out Your Social Media Strategy

Dedicate a resource to do the workThe more you have speaking about your product on your end, the better. (assistant, marketing company)Four eyes are better than one ImageTone of voice, update frequency, events, etc. Always post with images.Time Average reader spends less than 90 seconds on your site or post. Make it sweet and to the point.

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Platforms – Channels

Blogging / Forums / RSS Feeds (WordPress, Blogger, Feedreader, etc.)MicroBlogs (Twitter, Wooxie)Video and Image Sharing (YouTube, Flickr, Pinterest)Social Networking (FaceBook, Google +, LinkedIn)Music and Entertainment Sites (Spotify, etc.)Location Based Services (Foursquare)

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Platform #1: Facebook

Most visited website Groups vs. PagesPosting StrategyConnect With Friends and Family by sharing status updates, photos, etc. More than 160 million users in the US alone. FaceBook Page makes it easy to connect with your target audience. “Like Button” says they are interested in your product.

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Facebook replaced Google as the #1 most

visited

website on the internet (as of

2013)

Platform #2: Twitter

Search Engine + Communication Platform170 million active users; 400 million tweets a dayLargest age group = 35-49 Handles vs. Hashtags Character Restriction: 140 Best PracticesFollow to be Followed!Use link shorteners Make the most of your profile (add website, use hashtags, communicate your mission and why people should Follow)Create lists to keep contacts organized and keep track of VIPs

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Platform #2: Twitter – Handles vs. Hashtags

A username is how you're identified on Twitter, and is always preceded immediately by the @ symbol. For instance, Katy Perry is @katyperry.A Hashtag is any word or phrase immediately preceded by the # symbol. When you click on a hashtag, you'll see other Tweets containing the same keyword or topic.

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Platform #3: Instagram

Instagram is a fast, beautiful and fun way to share your life with friends and family.Take a picture or video, choose a filter to transform its look and feel, then post to Instagram — it's that easy. You can even share to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and more. It's a new way to see the world.Has the use of hashtags for easier searching. Have an event? Upload some photos and give it a name (i.e, #RavensParty). Have others do the same. It will fill up fast.

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Platform #4: LinkedIn

175 million users #1 Networking site for Businesses and Professionals Company Page vs. Group Appropriate depending on age and professions of target audience

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Platform #5: YouTube

Easy way to communicate through video and audio demonstrations. 2nd largest search engine in the world; 800 million unique users visit each month; lots of auto-sharing (sharing amongst other social networks)Compatible with all forms of social media. Easy to embed (to your website) and upload videos. YouTube SubscriptionsHave users subscribe to your page and become fans. Allow users to interact by using “like comment on videos and make suggestionsYouTube Channel Channels appear on YouTube more often and in more varied placements than ever before. Optimize your channel for placement in search, related channels, browse channels and the feed so you’ll engage current and potential subscribers across YouTube.

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YouTube Channel

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Your Own Personal Space

Post Your Videos Get Subscribers

Great Way to keep in touch with the public

YouTube Subscriptions

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Share with Others

Number Of Hits

Video

Subscribe

Additional Platforms

Pinterest Google+: 100 million users**Recommendation: Start with 1-2 platforms, get really good and have a “content sharing” strategy that’s realistic and maintainable! Don’t take on too much.**

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Best practice #1 – quality profiles

Quality Pictures Communicates Purpose Who’s your target audience?Why should they follow/like you?Includes Website URLUse hashtags for Twitter profile

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Best Practice #2 – Develop a content strategy

Use a platform where it’s easy to interactFocus on Quality over QuantityRe-post quality content from time to time Think through how you can use content to benefit, engage and appreciate users Schedule Posts & Tweets; Utilize tools for scheduling posts, other automation tasks, etc….

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Use a news aggregator like Feedly to compile news feeds from a variety of online sources that you can customize and share with your audience

Content Strategy (cont)

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Best Practice #3 – Share concise, relevant, interesting and/or valuable information

Events, recognitions, news, new programs, impact or progress made (how funds are being used), volunteer or company spotlights, relevant quotesSpeak in terms of your organization (“We” or “Us”)Post things your viewers might actually like and share organically

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Check out:

goodreads.com/quotes

Best practice #3 (cont)

Evaluate “reader friendliness” Avoid long blocks of text People will ‘Share’ short, concise and interesting posts without being requested to do soCapture attention in a couple seconds

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Best Practice #4 – Engage & Respond

Engage & involve audience Propose topics, ask questions, fill-in-the-blanks, etc…Reply to your audience - respond to questions and comments; Facebook replies now allow you to reply to a specific comment, creating a sub-thread for the discussion of that particular postSend short welcome Direct Messages to new followers Thank people for their comments, re-tweets, etc….

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“Too many brands treat social media as a one way, broadcast channel, rather than a two-way dialogue through which emotional storytelling can be transferred.” – Simon Mainwaring

Best practice #5: Use Images & Hashtags

Integrate images into your social media strategies People are attracted towards images more than wall of textsA 60-40 ratio for images vs texts is a great start.Upload flyers as images

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Best practice #5 (cont)

Hashtags 101Increase relevancy Searchable Use relevant hashtags in order to increase your visibility and enhance your online presenceTwitter and Google+ support hashtags Facebook recently implemented a searchable hashtag service

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Best Practice #6: Post during prime times

Facebook – between 10 am and 4pm Monday thru ThursdayTwitter – between 1pm and 3pm Monday thru ThursdayLinkedIn – focus on posting before and after business hours, 7 am to 9 am and 5pm to 6pm Tuesday thru ThursdayGoogle+ – 9am to 11am on workdays

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Best practice #7 & #8: ‘thank you’ & Impact

Demonstrate the impact Update on progressGive appreciation

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Best practice #9: use a dashboard

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https://hootsuite.com/

Best practice #10 – Analyze & revisit strategy

Analyze strategiesWhat’s working?What type of content do people seem most interested in?Evaluate reports provided by platforms and/or social media dashboardUse additional tools to measure success

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Twitter Weekly Recap

Good examples

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Next steps for success

Choose 1-2 platforms and learn more Develop Social Media strategy, including content and sharing strategy Create social media presence Get feedback & then improve presence based on channels Use a dashboard that will help you track everything (HootSuite.com) Get in habit of posting 2-3+ times a week Share Blogs, Articles, News, etc… via Social Media channelsEvaluate every 3 months

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Link Shorteners & Analytics

Link Shortenershttps://goo.gl/http://ow.ly/https://bitly.com/Analytics – measures effectiveness of social media activity (i.e. posts, tweets, etc)https://www.gosquared.com/Google.com/analyticsTwinfluence.comKlout.comTwitalyzer http://www.socialbro.com/try/twitter-analytics***Dashboards, like Hoot Suite, provide analytics!***

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Additional resources

http://oursocialtimes.com/resources/https://business.twitter.com/Best Times to Post: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/best-times-post-social-media-infographic LinkedIn Guide: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/23454/The-Ultimate-Cheat-Sheet-for-Mastering-LinkedIn.aspxBest Twitter Posts around Giving Tuesday: http://ht.ly/Fgjzx

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