An introduction to social media, delivered as part of my social media for social change series for the Wellesley Institute. Introduces the new media landscape, and basic information about RSS, blogs, Twitter, and other "getting started" platforms.

2. Social Media 101
using the social web to build your online
toolkit
Aerin Guy
The Wellesley Institute
July 14, 2009

3. agenda
• Intros and welcome
• Overview of the Social Web
• Basics
• Strategy
• Goals/Tools
• Case Study
• Building Capacity

4. Text
Aerin Guy
• Manager, Communications
& Virtual Wellesley
• a proud Saskatonian and
newbie Ontarian
• background in
communications,
marketing, education and
technology

5. where I hang out
• www.facebook.com/aeringuy
• www.twitter.com/aeringuy
• www.twitter.com/wellesleyWI
• www.linkedin.com/aeringuy
• www.wellesleyinstitute.com
(under re-design, so check
often!)

6. about you!
• please introduce yourselves
to the people at your table
• what organization are you
with?
• what is your role?
• what do you hope to get out
of this workshop?

7. Overview of the
social web
• also known as Web 2.0 (Tim
O’Reilly)
• also known as the “social
media explosion”
• also known as the way we
connect today

8. Powerful stuff

9. the next big
iThing

10. • introduction to social media

12. people are talking to each other online
• 2 choices:
1. Resist it, and it will happen
anyway, elsewhere, outside
your influence
2. Support it, participate,
influence it, and leverage it for
extending your brand

13. The web is about
conversations,
not top down delivery
of information or
messages.

15. some benefits of using social media
• listen and learn and build relationships
• publish valuable news and information
• disseminate quickly and effectively
• create or extend your brand personality
• engage in conversations and services
• efforts lead back to your website - your hub or
repository of information

16. basics
• feeds, tags and RSS
• blogs
• wikis
• twitter
• facebook

17. feeds
• feeds are based on XML
technology
• subscribers are invested
• commonly called RSS in your content
(otherwise why would
• Content can be they subscribe?)
subscribed to and sent
when updated • RSS readers include
Google Reader,
• sites and content from Bloglines, FeedReader
sites come to you

18. you’ll like this demo
• http://
www.youtube.com/
watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU

19. tags
• tags are short keywords • also allows your content
that define what your to be classified, indexed
online digital content is and accessed by people,
about search engines, and
content aggregators
• tagging your content
helps others locate it • choose only relevant and
more easily not overly generic
keywords
• a way to filter and
categorize the web

20. tags
• tags work on the same • extend the reference
XML platform as RSS, labels, associations, and
except when tags are search keywords by
used to categorize which any type of
information on content can be found
aggregator sites like
Technorati and delicious • Technorati is a blog
search engine organized
• articles, news stories, by tags (tagged by
podcasts, photos, users), identifying
presentations, and video relevancy and content
clips can all be tagged areas

21. http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=NN2I1pWXjXI

22. blogging: Be FOUND!
• high ranking in organic search
• at least 44% of all web interactions begin with search
• search engines love blog headlines, as they indicate what
can be found on the page
• search engines also love blogs because they are frequently
updated
• recent + relevant = RANKING!

23. elements of successful organizational
blogs
• trusted, authentic, and transparent source of • fast response
information
• authoritative
• all about the words
• frequency
• reflects the brand
• easy to find on website
• delivers unique content
• who’s going to write your blog? please don’t
• speaks with a candid, human voice hire someone on behalf of your business.
that’s just cheesy.
• personality
• practice makes perfect
• allows for dialogue with readers
• are the people at the highest level of your
org willing to be authentic and transparent?

24. • Twitter is a real-time • great way to provide
micro-blog links, respond instantly,
and connect with
• real time word of mouth “constituents”
• 140 character max • using Tweetdeck (or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=ddO9idmax0o forces “tweets” to be Twhirl) can help
powerful, concise and organize your followers
well-chosen into manageable groups
• follow and be followed • Tweet from mobile
devices with Tweetie,
• highly searchable Twitterberry

28. • the world’s premier • friend-raising, not
social networking site fundraising
• individual profiles • facebook connect
• corporate pages • promote events,
initiatives, community
• fan pages
• average user age: 35
• cause marketing
1. http://www.facebook.com/
pages/The-Wellesley-Institute/

29. video
• http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=VQ3d3KigPQM
• www.momsrising.org
• powerful, visual ways of
getting messages across
• user-generated content
• mobile devices are
everywhere, capturing content

30. social media as part of your communications strategy
• baby...bathwater....no! • communities connect
faster, more
• segments our audiences collaboratively, more
inclusively, and more
• build on the power of effectively!
networks and
burgeoning communities • proliferation of sm
stories in traditional
media piques interest

31. 1/3
• website
• social outposts
• email

32. the purpose of social media is to engage with audiences in
interactive communities
1.Genuine engagement facilitates
a highly involved audience that
wants to interact with “the
brand”
2.The more people an
organization can interact with
who already have strong social
networks, the more likely it is
that a message can be spread
through those networks
3. Communities of purpose
abound on the net. Common
thread of success? Purpose.

33. an experiment
the sticky game
(it’s fun, I promise)
(no really, it’s fun!)

34. building community
• House Social Network • Commercial Social
Network
• social networking
community built on a • an online community
nonprofit’s own owned and operated by
website. Term derived a corporation. Popular
from direct mail house examples include
lists Facebook, Ning,
OpenSocial,
CommunityZero

35. the world has changed
• and so has the way we
connect
• “when we change the
way we communicate,
we change society”
• “new technology enables
new kinds of group-
forming”

36. goals
• list building • changing attitudes
• galvanizing support • recruitment
• education • fundraising
• loyalty • motivation
• exposing • organize
• changing minds • info source

37. Causes and passions are online, but
people increasingly resist being sold to
in the communities they join. Canada’s
Do Not Call list will soon expand to
include email.

39. Ladder of Engagement

40. Pyramid of engagement

41. community engagement

42. some stats

43. your organization
• are you a channel for
your networks?
Partners? Clients?
• who can you connect?
• 2.0 tools facilitate
connection

44. baby steps
• cost effective • big budget? campaign
assistance & facilitation,
• no budget? Facebook, website redesign
Twitter, blog, optimize
existing website • many agencies will do
pro-bono work for
• wee budget? video, file charities/NFPs
sharing software,
microsite • sources can be
craigslist, kijiji, student
sites, hire an intern

45. these resources are key
non-profit social network survey
http://www.nonprofitsocialnetworksurvey.com/
2009 eNonprofits Benchmarks Study
http://www.e-benchmarksstudy.com/2009.html

46. what tools are right for you?
• Facebook page • streaming (podcast or
vlog)
• twitter account
• ratings & reviews
• blog
• Ideastorm
• community
• Care2 campaign
• flickrstream
• email
• aggregator
• netvibes

47. a wellesley institute case study
• Goal 1: to inform the process of the Ontario Provincial
Housing Minister’s consultations
• Goal 2: to connect people through the site by providing a
story portal, resource section, and endorsement faculty
• Goal 3: to build awareness of the need for stable and
affordable housing
• began in late March, 2009

48. • Organizational tie in: our strategic pillar of Affordable
Housing as an indicator of urban health
• Metrics: how will we measure success?
• Broadcast: how do we promote our efforts and really
use social media to connect people?

49. • Metrics: hits on site, stories shared, CTR (click-thru
rate), media mentions, unique visitors, endorsees (private
and organizational), policy impact!

50. Social Media (and other tactics)
• site construction and design • video
• press releases/media release • blogs
• Twitter
• email
• promotion through WI Facebook
fan page and partner networks’
pages
• flyer for events

51. • over 17,000 hits
• 75 stories posted
• nearly 500 personal and organizational endorsees
• media coverage
• agreement from gov’t to include network’s
recommendations in consultation process
• it rocked (but is still rockin’, so add your voice!)

52. other examples
• Kiva is a microlender
that pairs up developing
world lendees with
worldwide lenders
• recently branched into
the US
• all done via social web

53. building capacity
• can require a change in culture (digital
natives vs digital immigrants)
• Most NFPs are used to the “tower model”
of working, not the “cloud”

54. towers vs clouds

55. Mark Pearce @ Connecting Up Australia

56. Building Capacity: 5 BIG ISSUES
• Inertia problem - most organizations were founded prior to the
internet....they aren’t used to having control issues, intimate relationships
with audiences, and they think they control their brands.
• Leadership issue - often the leaders are pre-internet. Difficult to get buy-in.
Threatened. Perhaps read a Seth Godin book once.
• Advocate issue - who’s the squeaky wheel?
• Silo issue - “that’s marketing’s job”. “IT handles our web stuff”
• Fear issue - it’s all so new, and changes so quickly, budgetary responsibility

57. I have a secret for you.
• and the secret is......
• this is not a fad. people
don’t abandon
technologies that make
it easier to
communicate.
• shhhh....

58. • explore the tools you’d • explore your personal
like to adopt by using and organizational
them in your personal capacity
life first
• don’t be afraid to try or
to fail. In social media,
you learn by failing
informatively (Red Cross
Social Media Strategy)
• develop your voice

59. how it can work
• positioning. “we are the spearhead of a movement that is changing this issue.
we are a vehicle for making change.”
• engage leadership in new thinking. get help.
• involve social media/coms people at management/strategic level. Obama’s
campaign would be a good example!
• Hire from the millennial generation. Their insight as digital natives will
improve the strategic conversations.
• Speak “human”. People like people. Relationships are where it’s at. Get out of
“press release” mode.

60. More how-to
• Develop a deep understanding of your “clients”. Groups
who are successful are able to tap into the knowledge of
who they are trying to build a relationship with.
• Connect people directly. Bringing people together can be
scary. Power in numbers! Your value is in your ability to
do this.
• Be open, ego free.....and let go of control. You never had
it anyways.
• Emulate, innovate. Fail, experiment. Lather, rinse, repeat.

61. How-to.....
• Set up a twitter account
• Set up a ning page

62. question time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-lGe5MnBlY

63. where will you start?
•