Created for organizers of a global grassroots campaign against Section 377, an archaic law criminalizing homosexuality in India

1. social change +
social media
quick tips to get up and running
September 2014

2. about this presentation
• Created for organizers of a global grassroots
campaign against Section 377, an archaic law
criminalizing homosexuality in India
• Social media must drive awareness and traffic
to a petition on change.org
• Presented via Google Hangout to
accommodate multiple time zones

3. PREFACE

4. purpose
• Deliver just-in-time training, empowering
champions of change
• Focus scarce resources on largest
opportunities: facebook and twitter
• Stick to the basics

5. a few thoughts to start
• Social media isn’t easy—investing in
relationships takes time + effort
• Be yourself—stay clear of being
anonymous, faceless
• Each network is unique—learn it’s
individual language and quirks
• Online activities complement offline
activities—plan them together, not in
silos

6. case study| 1
January 18, 2012 | Day of Protest
• Two bills were shelved after
online protests: Stop Online
Piracy (SOPA) and Protect
Intellectual Property Act (PIPA)
• Key websites like Wikipedia held a blackout on
January 18, 2012, the first hearing of the bills
in Congress
• On that day, >8M looked up their
representative on Wikipedia
• 3M emailed Congress to oppose the bills
• Google’s petition recorded over 4.5M
signatures
• Twitter recorded at least 2.4M SOPA-related
tweets
• In-person demonstrations occurred in several
cities, including NY, San Francisco and Seattle

7. case study| 2
#tellviceverything
• When Min. Vic Toews tabled
Bill C-30 and Canadians
worried about their internet
privacy, they used this tag to
flood his feed, “confessing” in
protest, kindly saving him the
need to spy.
• Hashtag generated 40,000 tweets in 2012
ridiculing the Conservative government’s
proposed bill
• Offline rallies occurred around the country
• Due to the public outcry, the bill did not
become law.

8. case study| 3
#bringbackourgirls
• In the middle of the night on
April 15, 2014, over 300 girls
were kidnapped from their
boarding school in Nigeria by
Islamist militant group Boko
Haram.
• Over 2M tweets by first week of May
• Widespread celebrity support
• Rallies took place outside Nigerian embassies
around the world
• Successful in terms of awareness, but also
highlights limits of hashtag activism
• As of July, there is no word on where the girls
are or if they’ll return home

9. common traits
mobilize allies
publicly
draw
influencers
to the
cause
marry
online and
offline
efforts

10. common traits
Campaign Mobilize public Influencers Offline + Online
SOPA/PIPA Garnered support
from individuals and
multi-national
corporations
Critical support came
from highly visible
companies like Google,
Reddit, Facebook,
Twitter, Wordpress and
Wikipedia
Rallies dovetailed
with online
activities to drive
awareness
Tell Vic
Everything
Advocacy groups like
OpenMedia.org
leveraged interest in
hashtag to mobilize
formal protests
against the bill
High-profile leaders
jumped in to participate
in the hashtag to raise
awareness like Justin
Trudeau
Rallies and
attendance at
official hearings
were integral—just
like generating
widespread online
support
Bring Back
Our Girls
Widespread global
support
Celebrities and political
leaders posted selfies
showing their support
Protests took place
at embassies
around the world

11. FACEBOOK BASICS

12. learning objectives
• Page basics
• Pin vs. highlight posts
• Cover photo
• Status posts
• Facebook algorithm
• Tagging
• Apps

13. page basics
cover
photo
1
profile
picture
2
write
your
posts
3
old
posts
4

14. pin vs. highlight
click on the down-turned arrow in the corner of post
you’ve made to get the option to Pin it to the top of
your page or highlight it.
Pin vs. Highlight
• Pinning moves a post to the top of the left column on
the wall for seven days, making it highly visible.
• Highlighting stretches a post across both columns of
the wall, effectively doubling its width.
• You can’t simultaneously pin and highlight the same
post at the same time.

15. cover photo
as a page administrator, you can add a
description, including hyperlinks (hint: put in
a link to your petition or site).

16. samples of good cover photos

17. status posts
text posts
photos and videos—
photos get 53% more
likes, 104% more
comments and 84%
more click-throughs
on links than text-
based posts
(Kissmetrics)
Source: http://www.fastcompany.com/3022301/work-smart/7-powerful-facebook-statistics-you-should-know-about
events— post any
events you may be
holding on FB, tagging
potential attendees
boost posts if you
have a budget

18. facebook algorithm
• Your fans may not see your posts—even though they’ve liked your Page.
• Facebook ranks posts and filters, placing select content at the top of people’s
newsfeeds and hiding others.
• Content is filtered based on factors like how often fans interact with your page;
how many likes, shares and comments individual posts receive; how much your
fans have interacted with that kind of post in the past; and whether your
content is being hidden and/or reported a lot.
• You can either boost posts (pay for higher visibility) or you can continue to
experiment with your content (how it’s written, when you post, etc.) in order
to increase reach.

19. tagging | 1
Facebook supports tagging so that
you can add a link to your friend’s
profile to a post. They’ll be
notified that you’ve tagged them
and curious to see what you’ve
said. It’s the biggest advantage
Facebook has—your friends (and
family) want to hear from you. So
tag them whenever you’re posting
relevant content that they’ll find
interesting/take action on.
But if you’re overzealous, then
you run the risk of wearing out
your welcome. Be judicious.

20. tagging | 2
to start tagging, just type the
“@” sign followed by your
friend/family member’s name
without any spaces.
Tagging is “smart,” meaning as
you type, you’ll get a dropdown
menu of possible options. Find
the right name and click on it to
select it.
You can tag 50 people per
photo or 20 per status update.

21. apps
Customize your
Facebook Page
by adding apps
Apps provide
new
opportunities for
engagement
Go to
facebook.com/ga
mes to search
and install an
app to your Page
Popular apps include:
• YouTube app  pull a stream of your videos to your Page
• Pinterest app  pull items from your Pinterest boards
• Mailchimp  set up a sign-in form to collect email addresses

22. TWITTER BASICS

23. learning objectives
• How to read a tweet
• Replies
• Retweet (RT)
• Write a tweet
• Hashtags
• “.” at beginning of tweets
• DM
• Handle trolls
• Lists + curation

24. how to read a tweet
Thumbnail of
user or “avatar”
1
2 3
4 5 6
1
2
3
4
5
6Twitter “handle”
or username of
poster
Action buttons
(L to R) Reply, RT
and DM buttons
Text of tweet
Handle of another
Twitter user or
“@mention"
Shortened URL
or link to
external site

25. let’s practice1 2
4
5
6 3
Thumbnail of
user or “avatar”
1
2
3
4
5
6Twitter “handle”
or username of
poster
Action buttons:
Reply, RT, etc.
Text of tweet
Handle of another
Twitter user or
“@mention"
Shortened URL
or link to
external site

26. replies | @mention + message
original
tweet

27. replies | @mention + message
original
tweet
my reply
his reply
to me
my last
reply

28. replies: @mention + message
automatically adds
@mentions from
original post
keeps track of character
count; max: 140

29. Retweet or “RT”
When you find
content you
want to share
with your
followers, you
can retweet the
content quickly
and easily via
the RT button.
RTs show up in
your timeline
Depending on
which app you
use to post to
Twitter, you can
also add a
comment before
posting a RT. Or
you can copy
and paste the
post into a new
message and
add your
editorial before
publishing.

30. Retweet or “RT”
original post
written in
response
initials of
person posting
for Montreal
Canadiens
corporate
account; great
for when a
team shares
responsibilities
for posting
indicates “text
in brackets” is
re-posted or RT

31. how to write a tweet
Keep it to 100 characters, encouraging dialogue + RTs / Be
personal—not anonymous, faceless / Add value by creating
or sharing good content / Use #hashtags / Call to Action

32. how to write a tweet | Samples
110 characters
w/spaces
Personal
#Hashtag
Call to Action is
a link back to
their website
Post includes a
picture;
engagement
increases with
pictures and
videos

33. how to write a tweet | Samples
117 characters
w/spaces
Personal
#Hashtag
Call to Action is
a link back to
their website
Post includes a
picture;
engagement
increases with
pictures and
videos

34. Sources: http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/27/are-hashtags-geeky-71-of-social-media-users-say-no/

35. #hashtag tips
• Tweets with hashtags have 2x more
engagement than those without
• Posts with 1-2 hashtags have 21% higher
engagement than posts with posts with 3+
hashtags
• Tweets with more than two hashtags show a
17% drop in engagement
Source: http://www.gosocializeme.com/2013/06/hashtag-how-to-guide-and-infographic/

36. videos + photos
• Videos are shared 12x more than
links and text posts combined;
photos are shared 2x more than
text updates
– On FB’s top 10 brand pages, photos and
videos drive most engagement.
– 42% of all tumblr posts are photos
– Over 100M YouTube users take social actions
every week
– Pinterest sends more referral traffic than
Twitter, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn and Google+
Sources: Mbooth infographic,
http://t3n.de/news/social-media-
fotos-videos-410872/framed-
visualstorytelling/

37. “.” at the beginning of tweets
Start a tweet with
an @mention?
That means only
those who follow
BOTH you and
the user you’ve
mentioned will
see the tweet—
vastly reducing
the reach of that
content.
Your
followers
@mention’s
followers
subset of people who follow BOTH
you and the other account who could
see the post

38. “.” at the beginning of tweets
Only followers of @humsafartrust
AND @Pallav01 have a chance of
catching this post in their feed

39. “.” at the beginning of tweets
Only followers of @humsafartrust
AND @Pallav01 have a chance of
catching this post in their feed

40. “.” at the beginning of tweets
• Format your tweets to either avoid putting an
@mention at the beginning of a post or
adding a period (“.”) at the beginning

41. Direct Message or “DM”
• Users who follow each other can
send private messages or “Direct
Messages” (DM) to each other
• Great for when privacy is
paramount—not useful when your
purpose is to spread awareness
• Do not set up your account to auto-
DM new followers—that’s the
antithesis of being social and
forming connections. You can’t
automate relationships!

42. handle trolls
• Trolls look to provoke emotion by posting inflammatory content
• They’re not looking to have a cerebral debate
• If you’ve made a good faith effort to talk to someone and they
continue to make provocative posts, you can ignore, block or report
them to Twitter
While admiring
Anderson Cooper’s
bold response to
his troll, few of us
have the time and
energy to contend
with these kinds of
Twitter users

43. lists + curation
• In Twitter, you can follow users
by creating or following a list.
• Add Twitter users to a custom list
that you can either keep private
or public for others with similar
interests to follow.
• Your lists can be excellent
sources for discovering content
that you carefully curate in order
to share the best with your
followers.

44. lists + curation
This user has
created
multiple lists
that you
could follow
in order to
find content
to share or
likeminded
individuals
that could be
mobilized to
your cause.

45. listly
• Services like Listly can help you find lists to
follow like this one:
Here’s the URL for easy
reference:
http://list.ly/list/FAQ-lgbtq-
support-groups-and-
resources-in-
india?feature=search

46. twitter tips for you
Encourage engagement. Currently, you’re posting original content or
retweeting others, which is good. But there’s little interaction with
followers or allies. Start by thanking people for participating, following you
and sharing the petition.
Follow more users. Who are the influencers in this area? Pursue them.
Use the #no377 hashtag consistently—it’s included infrequently now.

47. HOOTSUITE BASICS

48. learning objectives
• what it is vs. what it isn’t
• hootsuite’s dashboard
• spotlight on streams
• streams by profile

49. hootsuite
what it is
• publish across multiple social
networks from one secure,
web dashboard
• connect to your social profiles
on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
(up to 3 for free)
• schedule posts
• track mentions
• pull analytics
• Freemium model
what it isn’t
• it is not a social network
itself—it’s a tool to help you
publish efficiently

50. hootsuite’s dashboard | 11
4
2
3
Profile picker—toggle
between social
profiles
1
2
3
4 open text box
where you
compose a post
Tabs separate streams
of content and
profiles—max of 20 per
free account
Streams, or columns, of
content—max of 10 per
free account

51. hootsuite’s dashboard | 2
1
Select from the dropdown where you want to publish. You
can pin your main profile so you don’t have to repeat
this selection for every post.
1
2 Write a post and use the functions at the bottom right to
add an “ow.ly” (shortened URL), upload an attachment,
schedule a post to go live later, add a location, and geo-
target by country.
2

52. spotlight on streams
• Real-time streams of content
• Allow you to monitor what’s trending, top of mind
• Most recent posts appear at the top
• Content is filtered, helping you easily monitor, post and participate
HOME:
features
posts made
by those you
follow
MENTIONS:
shows posts
you are
mentioned in
(tip: talk to
these
people!)
SENT:
keep track of
what you
have posted
MY TWEETS,
RETWEETED:
identify
what’s been
shared by
others (tip:
write more)

53. streams by profile | 1
streams
just for
Twitter
streams
just for
Facebook
These are the
standard streams you
can add to your
dashboard out of the
box. Experiment with
your own by creating
lists or setting up
custom searches.

54. streams by profile | 2
streams
just for
Twitter
Best Bets:
• Load lists from Twitter (your own
or others)
• Twitter Search: #LGBT AND India
• FB Search: gay rights India
Hover over any post on the left and
you’ll get the opportunity to Reply,
RT, Direct Message, Favourite or take
another action.

55. MEASUREMENT BASICS

56. hootsuite analytics
Variety of
templates
available—some
are free, some are
available for a fee,
and others are
available only for
Enterprise users.
You can track
which posts are
gaining traction
with users, your #
of followers, and
top referrers.

57. facebook insights
Each tab
features
additional
stats
Best way to
identify which
content is leading
to engagement
Check
performance by
day of the
week/time of
day

58. tweetreach.com
Estimated reach and
impressions are
based on your
followers and their
connections—be
cautious as this is
like the circulation
numbers for print
(read: inflated)
Top contributers and
most retweeted
tweets can be great
for identifying
influencers and
which content you
should create more
of.

59. RESOURCES

60. Resources
• Facebook Help https://www.facebook.com/help/
• Twitter Support Centre https://support.twitter.com/
• Hootsuite Help Center https://hootsuite.com/help
• Tweet Reach http://tweetreach.com/
• Pink Banana Media LGBT Social Media and Web 2.0 Marketing
https://www.patravelandtourism.org/sites/default/files/PBM-
SocialMedia2014-Sales.pdf
• Jonathon Kopp, The Social Web's Impact on Politics and Public Policy
• http://www.slideshare.net/jonathankopp/kopp-gpg-social-web-impact-
on-public-policy-03june14
• Grassroots Online, Social Media + Mobilization
http://www.slideshare.net/GrassrootsOnline/mobilization-socialmedia-
33371588
• A defence of 'clicktivism': how online campaigns make change,
http://www.channel4.com/news/change-org-online-activism-case-
clicktivism

61. let’s stay in touch
• Digital Marketing
Manager @ ICBC
• @tbains
• Linkedin.com/in/tbains
• tracybains.ca
• me@tracybains.ca