This document provides an agenda and overview for a social media training session. The agenda covers introduction and activities, defining social media and strategy, policy, content planning, channels like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and analytics. It emphasizes that social media is about building relationships and conversations through engaging content and storytelling. Cautionary tales are shared and techniques discussed for promotion, working with journalists and running campaigns. Resources for ongoing learning are provided. The goal is to help organizations effectively use social media to support their mission.

1. Social Media: Tips and tools for using
social media to build support for your
mission
June 10, 2014
Presented by:
Suna Gurol
Social Media/Web Producer
Jessica Hall
Communications Manager
Washington STEM

2. AGENDA

3. Today’s Agenda
Introduction
Group activity – magic wand
What is social media?
Strategy and ROI
Policy
SEO
Content strategy & planning
Channels
Mobile

4. Today’s Agenda
Cautionary Tales
Group activity – share best/worst experiences/stories
Analytics
Promotion of social media channels
Where are journalists?
Campaigns
Group activity – Plan your own campaign. Quick
share / questions
Resources / Links
Questions?

5. INTRODUCTIONS

6. Who are we?

7. Who are you?

8. Activity
Magic wand

9. WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA? A
RELATIONSHIP

10. What is social?
Social is the DNA of an organization –
the brand

11. Commitment
Need to allocate time to the relationship
otherwise it will fail. So many failed
relationships on social!

12. Everybody loves me!

13. Not a monologue
Hence the name “social media” and not
“me media”
It’s about how people respond to you
and how you make them feel.

14. Social is all about the
conversation

15. Storytelling
Social helps you tell your story

16. You do not
control the
conversation
Control

17. How you
respond
when
someone
says
something
nice

18. And less nice
Customer
service
Private
message as the
organization

19. And even
less nice.
Try to find a
balance
when you
walk into a
hot-button
issue.

20. STRATEGY

21. Why have a plan?
You don’t really
need one…
right?
Unless you want
to be able to
show that your
work means
something.

22. Simple Strategy
• Do a baseline comparative analysis of your
peers
• Identify target audiences (donors, job seekers,
mission-focused)
• Strategic direction that maps to your orgs
mission
• Goals – objectives & tactics to help with the
strategy
• Key Performance Indicators – KPI’s

23. Simple Goals for ROI
 We will post at least four
times a week
 We will comment on
another blog two times a
month
 Goal to have 2000
subscribers by end of
year
 Goal to have10 donors
or volunteers as a direct
result of the blog
 Others??

24. ROI Key Metric -
Donations
One of the KPI’s – it can be the only one!
Ultimate metric is donations, and sustaining gifts
have more long-term value
Have your fundraising campaigns always include a
social component
Make sure it doesn’t just appear that you are using
your social platforms to raise money
Engage your constituents in an ongoing discussion
on how to make a difference in implementing your
mission – worth more than a $40 donation

25. POLICY

26. Policy

27. SEO
Is way important

28. SEO
“Search is the connection between intent and
content”- Bill Barnes, Mediative
SEO is completely tied to social
You can’t game the system – though people
will tell you they can
Important to tie your website to social

29. Content is Queen for
SEO
High quality content is still key
Ask your readers what they are interested in
from you. Chances are these are things that
they are searching on.
Check to see what people are commenting on and
retweeting
For enewsletters, see what people are clicking on
Do a user survey and post on Facebook, emails --
Survey Monkey

30. CONTENT STRATEGY &
PLANNING

31. Yearly calendar

32. Weekly calendar

33. Weekly calendar

34. Weekly calendar

35. Finding content:
Outreach
Make yourself
available for simple
social media training
and strategizing for
team/organization
members.
Training materials –
how-to’s, classes

36. Finding content:
Meetings
Bi-weekly meetings with
social media team
Tap into groups around
the organization –
Development, Community
Relations, Media Team,
writer’s monthly meeting
Quarterly meetings with
any groups/people who do
social media for the org

37. ‘socialmedia@yourorg.org’ email
address
Available for design, setup
Listserv group
Be responsive to internal requests
Explain why not running with an idea
(you are the expert)
Finding content:
Availability

38. Be involved outside of
your organization
Social Media Club
Content Strategy meetups
Reference
Smart Brief on Social Media
Social Media Examiner
Social Media Marketing for Nonprofits
LinkedIn groups
Continued education
UW Master in Communication in Digital Media
Social Media certificate at UW
Others?

39. CONTENT
It’s all about the content. Really.

40. It’s all about the content
Post Great Content. What is that?
•Success Stories
•Your values/beliefs/mission
•Related news
•People-oriented stories
•Human voice
•Photos!
•Video!
•Promotion of popular fans, people
•All of these = ENGAGING CONTENT

41. Depends on the channel!
Facebook: used to be 1-2 times a day, now 3-5 is okay
Twitter: 5-10/day
YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn: varies by industry
Do you need to be real-time? Depends.
Breaking news: yes!
Twitter – yes! Especially for events
Instagram – yes
Facebook – day of or next day
YouTube – No
Google+ - No
Post Frequency

42. Images
Social loves photos
Good photos are a must -
snapshots v. professional
quality
- Volunteers – lots of hobbyists
out there
- Co-workers - Make it a part of
their job
People will engage with
photos that tell a story without
needing explanation

43. SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS

44. • 1.28 billion active users as of March 2014
• 802 million active daily
• 45-54 year old users are growing
• 54 million Facebook pages
Facebook

45. Facebook: Design

46. • Edgerank and algorithm are continually changing:
• Edgerank changed in Dec. 2013 to favor ‘high quality stories.’
while this sounds good, it actually DECREASED reach for
regular posts (text, links) and old news is weighted higher
than brand posts.
• How FB weighs posts:
• Posts with videos, photos have more weight than text
or link only
• Engagement: shares, comments have more weight
than just likes
Facebook is changing…

47. Facebook: The problem

48. Facebook: The problem

49. • Post photos and
videos
• Ask questions
• Encourage
shares of posts
• But DON’T say
“Like, Comment,
Share”
• Change cover
photo often
Facebook: Solutions!

50. • Think of as a marketing channel
• Contact your fans and get real feedback
• Use for news, and place for people to contact you
• Paid Strategy: even small amounts make a
difference
• Post when you know your fans are online –
beginning of day, lunch, end of work day,
dinnertime
Facebook: Solutions!

51. Optimize your posts:
1.Don’t cut/paste links. Add in contextual text, edit
headline, subhead
2.Track with bit.ly links
3.Photos: weighted higher without a link.
4.Ask questions of fans.
5.Find creative ways to ask for engagement.
Facebook: Solutions!

52. • Very easy, useful.
• Can target interests, demographics.
• Keep a strict budget. You don’t need to spend a
lot to see results.
• Boosted posts – goes to fans who like you
already!
• Be cautious for asking for likes – can get you
people who don’t necessarily care, love your
brand.
Facebook: Ads

53. • 255 million
monthly active
users
• New Profiles –
bigger cover
photo, pinned
tweet
• What we don’t
know: how the
Twitter IPO will
change things
Twitter

54. Twitter: Design

55. • Real-time means you can post more!
• 100-125 character posts: allow for comments and
RTs
• Links don’t need to be at the end – experiment
with them in the middle
• You don’t have to follow everyone – follow
volunteers, partner orgs, news orgs, major
companies, foundations
Twitter: Tips

56. • Be mindful. Check throughout the day.
• Use hashtags and mentions strategically
• Use action words – verbs, not nouns
• Timing: Monday – Thursday, 12 noon – 6 PM
(not after 8 PM and definitely not after 6 Pm on
Friday)
Twitter: Tips

57. • Don’t send posts from FB to Twitter
• Use lists to keep up with hashtags, funders,
volunteers, and media.
• Lists can be private or public
• Make lists of speakers for events
• Schedule posts with Hootsuite
• Use trackable links: bit.ly, ow.ly
Twitter: Tips

58. Source: Hubspot, 2009.
Twitter: Most ‘tweetable’
words

59. • 1 billion unique users a month.
• Watch 6 billion hours of video.
• Indexed in Google = helps with SEO
YouTube

60. YouTube: Design

61. Nonprofit program: http://www.youtube.com/nonprofits
• Overlay
• Design – can use an image map to add in links
• Annotations
• Listed on the nonprofits videos page:
http://www.youtube.com/activism
SEO:
•Describe your video with words your supporters use, not
Board member marketing speak
•Add in your URL in the description – it’s clickable and the
first thing people see
YouTube: Tips

62. • 135 unique
viewers.
• 4.9 billion video
plays.
• Great for private
videos,
especially while
still editing.
• High quality.
• Filmmakers are
here.
Vimeo

63. • 300 million users
• Take ownership of
your page:
o Upload an
image
o Be a thought
leader
o Show company
culture
• Participate in groups:
o Share
information
o Comment
LinkedIn

64. • 300 million users, 35% are active
• Really high engagement, click-thru rates
• Host Hangouts
• Photos, videos do best
• Starting to do ads
• Indexed in Google search
Google+

65. Google+: Design

66. • Integrated with Google search
• Pages can email followers via Gmail
• Integrated with YouTube
• No Edgerank – so all posts show up to your
followers
• Google+ not banned from work like other
social media channels (FB, Twitter)
because part of browser.
Google+: Tips

67. Hosts over 5 billion images
Flickr

68. • 200 Million
monthly
active
users
• 60 million
photos per
day
• 1.6 billion
likes daily
Instagram

69. • In Oct. 2013 43% of users were 18-29
• Share good photos, graphics
• Be active – commit to the channel
• Tag photos, use hashtags
(#tbt/throwbackthursday)
• Promote text to give, donation campaigns,
event photos, premium, thanks
• Can send/integrate with Facebook
Instagram: Tips

70. • 48 million users. 80% of users are female.
• Visual! Related photos, infographics, videos.
Pinterest

71. • Make it fun!
• Fundraising:
• Auction items for events, can add in the $
symbol and the amount
• Events general – create boards for every
event with images
• Cause marketing – add a Pin button to a cause
marketing product so people can share the photo
of the product on their boards
Pinterest: Tips

72. Foursquare + Swarm
• 50 million users
• 1.7 billion
business
• Now 2 apps,
Foursquare =
exploring. Swarm
= check-ins
• Have volunteers
check-in
• Check-ins at
events

73. • Audience of 47.49
million users
• Visually driven blog
platform
• Other successful posts:
quotes, links
• Reblog posts from
volunteers, supporters
Tumblr

74. • Awesome SEO – often 1st
, 2nd
, 3rd
link in search
results
• Another web presence – for free!
• Anyone can edit – so it needs to be monitored
regularly
• Won’t allow for what it sees as marketing speech
• Can be a bit of a morass
Wikipedia

75. • Commitment - Don’t commit unless you have the
time
• Design – branding
• Mission - Have a mission statement, purpose for
blog
• Frequency – at least once a week.
• Writers – don’t not just have corporate
communications people writing for the blog
• Reporters – let them know about the blog
• Enhanced content – videos, slideshows, photos
• Tone - “I” posts, personal interest
Blogs

76. MOBILE

77. Mobile
Who doesn’t have a mobile device
here? (Who has checked FB since we started?
How many times?)
Has become the “1st
” screen
Add social media links to your mobile
website, if your site isn’t already responsive.
For timeliness, use mobile phone to post to
your organizations social channels… but be
careful (see aforementioned tales of woe)

78. TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE

79. Cautionary tales
Twitter: CNN reporter
LinkedIN: Change in title –
whoops!
Facebook:
- Cranky post – Boss is your
friend
- Photos to wrong group – haha!
- F-bomb on company page –
eek!

80. Success tale

81. Activity
Share your story
Eeek! Or Yay!

82. ANALYTICS

83. Basic Analytics
Which stories are the most liked and
retweeted?
What content lead to donations?
What social media campaign increased
volunteer sign-ups?
What images, pages gets the most clicks?
Use this to help shape your content
Key Performance Indicators – engagement
rate, referral traffic, overall reach

84. Analytics
Pages with high traffic – edit with new
content and repost
Bitly – use different links for each social
channel and then track in conversion tunnels
in Google Analytics. Find out which channel
brings in the most.

85. Google analytics

86. Facebook insights

87. Facebook: Boosting

88. Twitter: Hootsuite

89. Simple analytics report

90. Normally a chart on gender/age
demographics would go here but
we’re going to focus on the harder
metrics
Normally a chart on gender/age
demographics would go here but
we’re going to focus on the harder
metrics
Facebook: Inbound

91. Key Drivers & InsightsMarch: Top Post By Likes
March: Top Post By Comments March: Top Post By Shares
Facebook: Outbound

92. PROMOTE SOCIAL CHANNELS

93. Social Icons
Email signature
Websites – prominent social
media buttons, Facebook
“like”, Google+1
Cross-promote
Enewsletter
Email
Business cards
Intranet or internal
communications – all
employees should be
following your org

94. More promotion
Events:
o Ask for FB ‘likes’ at events and encourage speakers to
promote (easier than just saying “And like us on social”) –
put up URL on screen
o Use Twitter as a way for people to ask questions at events
Facebook contests – Definitely get ‘likes’ but be prepared for
some work
Facebook ‘like’ gates
Facebook Ads – easy-peasy and effective
Employees! They are your biggest advocates. Intranet, in-
house emails, events. Ask everyone to follow.

95. PROMOTING YOUR MISSION –
JOURNALISTS

96. What happened in the
last several years?
Fewer newspapers
Fewer reporters – they are
working in organizations now
Tighter budgets, more beats
with fewer reporters, fewer
resources at established
papers.
Shorter news cycle, tighter
deadlines.

97. Where are the
reporters?
Journalists are all on social!
Be Facebook friends / LinkedIn contacts with
your journalist contacts
Understand the journalist and the news angle
Read outlets and journals, follow
conversations, follow the source

98. Don’t forget the citizen
journalists

99. CAMPAIGNS

100. • Have a plan
• Use similar imagery
• Change language, tone, voice of message
depending on channel – speak to the audience
that’s on that channel
• Make sure your social channels are on printed
materials
Campaigns

101. #getcovered
Campaign: Example

102. Activity
• Choose a story/campaign, write out how you
would use each channel to tell that story
• Discussion/Feedback

103. USEFUL STUFF

104. Resources
Tweet grader – tells you how influential you are.
Hootsuite – scheduling and posting software. Worth it!
Bitly – link shortener, useful for tracking clicks
Simply Measured: http://simplymeasured.com
Sprout Social
Spredfast
Social Media Sizer cheat sheet: for design of social media channels.
http://visual.ly/social-media-sizing-cheat-sheet-edition-20-2014
Social Media Examiner
Smart Brief on Social Media
Beth Kantor
John Haydon Social Media Marketing for Nonprofits
Google Alerts
Metia blog: http://www.metia.com/blogs/
Social Media Examiner: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/
Hootsuite: http://blog.hootsuite.com
Mashable: http://mashable.com/

105. References
Social media reporting template from Vanessa Au at Tableau
Scientific Guide to Great Tweets
http://blog.bufferapp.com/writing-great-tweets-scientific-guide
Social Media Strategy for NonProfits
http://www.slideshare.net/SM4nonprofits/michael-bellavia-
helpsgood
Guide to Facebook 2014 by Derek Belt at King County, WA
http://www.slideshare.net/kingcountywa/state-of-facebook-2014
Why Google+ will demand your attention in 2014
http://socialmediatoday.com/sanchitkhera7/2064111/why-
google-will-demand-our-attention-2014
State of Social Marketing 2014
http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/2110-the-state-of-social-
marketing-2014
Top Nonprofits on Twitter
http://topnonprofits.com/lists/top-nonprofits-on-twitter/
Top Nonprofits on Facebook
http://topnonprofits.com/lists/top-nonprofits-on-facebook/

106. Questions???

107. Contact us
Jessica Hall
T: @jessicahall0625
L: www.linkedin.com/in/jessicanicolehall
E: Jessica@washingtonstem.org
Suna Gurol
T: @SunaG
L: www.linkedin.com/in/sunagurol
E: sunagurol@gmail.com
W: http://www.sunagurol.com/