These slides were used in a workshop on 4 February 2014 by a VSO Volunteer on social media and advocacy. The workshop was designed for the disability civil society sector in Rwanda to show how social media can further and complement their advocacy and fundraising objectives. Pitched as an introduction to social media, the presentation describes what it is, how it can be used and goes through the mechanics of using a number of platforms such as twitter, Facebook, youtube and blogging. The workshop was funded by VSO Rwanda in partnership with the National Union of Disabilities Organisations of Rwanda. Whilst the workshop included a short presentation by VSO Rwanda, the complete set of slides do not reflect the work of VSO Rwanda, VSO UK, VSO International or NUDOR.

1. Social Media
Advocacy
Workshop
4 February 2014

2. Welcome
• President of NUDOR
• VSO Rwanda
#advocacysocialmedia

3. Goal:
The disability sector is able to amplify its voice and
influence for advocacy purposes through social media.
Objectives:
The workshop will ensure that participants
•have a good understanding of what social media is
•understand why social media is important for advocacy
purposes
•know how social media can effect change
•know how to effectively use social media
#advocacysocialmedia

4. Agenda - morning
Time
Detail
Responsible
9.00am
Introduction
VSO – Sarah Challoner
9.10am
Participant introductions
Kate Turner
9.30am
What is social media and
why is it important?
Kate Turner
9.45am
How and why VSORwanda
uses social media
JP
10.00am
How can social media
create social change?
Kate Turner
10.20am
Introducing the social media
landscape
Kate Turner
11.00am
COFFEE BREAK
11.30am
Which social media should
you use and why?
Kate Turner
12.00pm
An introduction to Twitter
Kate Turner
1pm
LUNCH
#advocacysocialmedia
#advocacysocialmedia

5. Agenda - afternoon
Time
Detail
Responsible
2.00pm
Using Twitter effectively
Kate Turner
2.30pm
Advocating and educating
through video
Kate Turner
3.00pm
Getting your video to go
viral
Kate Turner
3.20pm
Sharing through facebook
Kate Turner
4.00pm
Why blog?
Kate Turner
4.10pm
Using social media to
fundraise
Tina Sloane
4.20pm
Measuring and evaluating
success
Kate Turner
4.40pm
Writing a social media plan
Kate Turner
4.50pm
Stay safe and Q&A
Kate Turner
5.00pm
Close
Sarah Challoner
#advocacysocialmedia

6. Introductions
Please say
•your name
•which organisation you are representing
•which social media you use
•what social media your organisation uses
#advocacysocialmedia

7. What is advocacy?
Advocacy is a set of organised activities designed to
influence the policies and actions of others to achieve
positive changes for lives of people with a disability based
on the experience and knowledge of working directly with
persons with a disability, their families and communities.
#advocacysocialmedia

8. Social media and advocacy
#advocacysocialmedia

9. Advocacy toolkit
#advocacysocialmedia

10. What is social media?
#advocacysocialmedia

11. What is social media?
• interaction among people in which they create, share, and/or exchange
information and ideas in virtual communities and networks
• social media depend on mobile and web-based technologies to create highly
interactive platforms through which individuals and communities share, cocreate, discuss, and modify user-generated content – it is PARTICIPATORY.
• For example - social platforms like Wikipedia or Twitter have
completely changed the way to consume and interact with information.
Services like YouTube or Facebook also transformed the way we entertain
ourselves.
• Social media is free and is therefore very accessible.
• It can help to improve trust, transparency and accountability as you able to
communicate more directly with your supporters.
• Adds more ‘personality’ to your brand or organisation.
• The success of social media relies on regular, relevant and engaging
content.
“the web is social media, and social media is the web”
#advocacysocialmedia

12. Exercise: Can you name five social media?
#advocacysocialmedia

13. Why use social media?
An organization can use social media
•to create a bigger identity and more support for DPOs
and their work
•create relationships with people including members or
other key stakeholders who might not otherwise know
about the organization’s activities, services, projects or
what it represents – politicians, persons with disabilities,
donors, other DPOs
•to share information and persuade a wider audience to
support your cause.
#advocacysocialmedia

14. Social media for social change?
• Social media is a tool that you can use in your advocacy
activities.
• Social media also helps you share information and promote
your activities and cause.
• Social media offers the opportunity for people to be more
meaningfully engaged in your work and offer support.
• Social media can be used to put pressure on a government
for change by contacting politicians and people of influence.
• It is not the sole method you use to effect change, but used
in conjunction with other advocacy techniques can be very
powerful.
Your biggest resource is your supporters!
#advocacysocialmedia

15. Creating connections and gathering
advocates
For people with disabilities and disabilities persons organisations,
social media can be especially helpful with:
• Self-information - access to the latest news. It is a great way to
keep up on your industry and any legislation or news related to living
with a disability such as government announcements, UN initiatives
• Like-minded networking. There are online groups and forums
where you can seek and receive advice and expertise.
• Disability awareness. Using social media is also an excellent
opportunity to spread awareness about the issues people with
disabilities face on a daily basis in Rwanda.
#advocacysocialmedia

16. Our social media goal
#advocacysocialmedia

17. Exercise: Can you give examples of
social media creating social change?
#advocacysocialmedia

18. Exercise: Can you give examples of
social media creating social change?
Global Examples:
Examples in Rwanda
Arab Spring
Ndi Umunyarwanda
WikiLeaks
Kwibuka20
Japan 2011 Earthquake and
Tsunami relief fund
60 questions in 60 minutes with
Health Minister – improving
healthcare
Tunisia’s Virtual Voices
2011 London Riots
2010 Haiti Earthquake
Occupy Wall Street
Save the Rhino
#advocacysocialmedia

19. The Social Media landscape in 2013
http://www.fredcavazza.net/2013/04/17/social-media-landscape-2013/
#advocacysocialmedia

20. Four types of social media
#advocacysocialmedia

21. VSO RWANDA
Social Media: Current Status and Way Forward

22. What can social media do at VSO?
• Social media a set of online tools that we can use to
engage with potential, current and returned volunteers, our
partners, donors and supporters, as well as fellow
employees
• Through sharing news and starting conversations around
our work, i.e. communicating our impact, as well as joining
other people, we can raise VSO’s profile in the public eye
by bringing people together to end poverty.

23. Our vision
Our vision is to have a strong social media presence
that reinforces and enhances our reputation as a
global leader, and communicates what works in
development work through volunteering.

24. Our framework
• Consistent social presence: Supporting programmes in
creating a strong, branded social media presence
• Empowerment: Promoting best practice to empower
employees and volunteers
• Quality content: Supporting production of engaging and onbrand content
• Effective sharing: Building capacity through content sharing
• Monitoring progress: Measuring and reporting on activity and
engagement
• Current: Keeping at the forefront of development in social
media platforms

25. Our policy
•
•
•
To encourage good practice, protect VSO, its employees
and volunteers, partners and beneficiaries and to promote
effective use of social media:
VSO business accounts – acceptable use:
Accounts managed by nominated VSO employees.
Currently, VSO’s business accounts are on Facebook,
LinkedIn, Twitter, Wordpress and YouTube.

26. OUR POLICY (cont’d)
•
Individual accounts (non-business) – acceptable use:
•
If an individual mentions their association with VSO,
include the sentence ‘‘Views my own” (on Twitter, for
example) or where space allows (such as on blogging
platforms or YouTube),
•
“The views expressed [in this blog/here] are my own
and do not necessarily reflect those of VSO”.
•
You are responsible for promoting yourself and VSO in a
legal, professional and ethical manner

27. Our policy: the don’ts
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Unacceptable use (both business and non-business)
You should not engage in any social networking activity that could
cause offence to yourself, others or bring VSO into disrepute:
Any offensive or derogatory remarks relating to sex, gender, race,
nationality, disability, sexual orientation, religion, beliefs or age
Openly criticising anyone connected with VSO
Making defamatory comments about an individual or organisation
Posting sexually explicit or pornographic material

28. OUR POLICY: THE DON’TS (cont’d)
•
•
•
•
•
Unacceptable use (both business and non-business)
Posting any material which may be deemed obscene, profane, abusive,
threatening or inappropriate
Breaching copyright: e.g. logos or using content without consent
Breaching confidentiality by revealing internal information about VSO, its
employees or volunteers, partners
Posting photographs which include VSO employees or volunteers on
social media sites until you have the written consent of the person in the
photo

29. Being safe on social media
• Sharing personal details, such as information about your
location, can compromise security of both you and others
(in countries where there is a risk of theft or kidnap).
• In countries where there is a high level of political
sensitivity, blog posts must be avoided that could be
considered critical of government or other institutions or
national laws.
• Be culturally sensitive and aware of different attitudes to
sexuality, politics, religion, etc.
• Share your login details with a friend or family member if
you are travelling or living in an unstable region.

30. Current scenario
- Individuals interested in social media
- Global and country interest in social media
- Plan to revamp the use of social media across
VSO activities, lesson learnt, experiences, what
works

31. Way forward
•
The advent of social media is still relatively
new, and we are working to establish the most
effective way for VSO to use the tools available
globally, nationally, and locally.

32. COFFEE
BREAK
•Can we help you set up
a Twitter account?
•Come find us!

33. An introduction to four social media
#advocacysocialmedia

34. Twitter
• Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging
service that enables users to send and read "tweets",
which are text messages limited to 140 characters.
• Similar to a SMS text message but it is on the internet
and can be read by anyone. Registered users can read
and post tweets.
• It is instant - works in ‘real-time’
• Use hashtags # to group messages together
• You can “follow” or be “followed”
• Your profile starts with @ - eg @NUDOR_RW and you
can ‘mention’ people in your tweets
#advocacysocialmedia

35. Why use twitter?
•500 million registered users in 2012,
who posted 340 million tweets per
day.
•Twitter is now one of the ten mostvisited websites, and has been
described as "the SMS of the Internet
•High twitter usage in Rwanda –
research in 2012 showed that
Rwanda is 7th largest tweeter in
Africa
•High profile leaders and media use
twitter in Rwanda
•Connecting your organisation to
other DPOs, persons with disabilities
#advocacysocialmedia

36. What should you use twitter for?
•
•
Use it to broadcast your opinion, news or links other websites
such as news articles, blogs, videos
For instance, the Global Campaign for Education published their
new report on Education and Disability on 3 Dec - #IDPD. They
promoted key statistics and findings from the report on twitter
#advocacysocialmedia

37. Number of
your tweets
People who
you follow
People who
follow you
Suggestions
of who you
should follow
“Trends” –
what people
are talking
about
Live feed of
tweets
#advocacysocialmedia

38. 13 ‘lucky’ tips on how to use twitter
effectively
1. Have a good biography - 160 characters
•
•
Personal account – list your profession, interests and location. Have a clear, professional
and up to date photograph
Organisational account – list the full name of the organisation, its mission and location.
Provide your website address. The picture should be the organisational logo.
1. Be selective when following – only follow relevant profiles that will deliver relevant
information to your timeline.
2. Credit your sources – if you share some information or retweet a post, make sure
you acknowledge the source such as “via @user”. It will bring a lot of appreciation
from the person you retweet and is also important to maintaining credibility.
3. Make use of hashtags - hashtags (#) facilitate searching the information you’re
looking for within seconds. Using hashtags increases a user’s visibility in a
particular area of discussion and increases the number of followers from a specific
domain.
4. Have a focus – if you are a DPO, you should be tweeting about disability and
issues around improving human rights, NOT the latest football scores. It can put off
people following you.
#advocacysocialmedia

39. 13 ‘lucky’ tips on how to use twitter
effectively cont’d
6.
Engage - Twitter is a two-way street. You should engage and interact with other users. This helps build
a relationship with other users and creates a network for you. It is very easy to interact with somebody
who already replied to you or retweeted you, so don’t hesitate to do it. Take a few seconds to answer,
because you might get a lot in return for it.
7.
Don’t be a RT machine - You need to provide content, don’t just RT content from other people. Why
would somebody follow you instead of the source you retweet 5 times per day?
8.
Avoid arguments - Getting involved in unnecessary arguments will never get you far - If amends need
to be taken, then take them using the DM option or over e-mail, not publicly on Twitter. To ensure you
don’t get caught in such situations, avoid tweeting on hot topics regarding a person’s religion,
relationships, career, professional or personal issues and so on. Never tweet something that you
wouldn’t be comfortable saying publically.
9.
Don’t ask to be followed - If you can’t convince someone to follow your profile with your bio and
tweets, they will never follow you just because you ask them to.
10. Do not delete tweets - apologizing is always better than deleting a tweet, because it will show people
you can accept your mistakes and take responsibility for them.
11. Be responsive - Followers will many times provide company profiles with feedback. It is an asset for a
company profile to be able to respond properly to feedback.
12. Don’t spam - Spamming is the worst thing a organisation’s Twitter profile can do. None of us like spam
and most of us stop following any profile that fills our timeline with spam instantly. Regardless of how
much you want to have more followers, do not spam – it can create a lot of damage from which you
may never recover from.
13. No tweeting about yourself on a organizational account – followers of an organization are
interested in the organization, not not the person behind the profile. Making personal updates on a
#advocacysocialmedia
company profile is not a good idea.

40. Hashtags
•#Kwibuka20
•#FF
•#IDPD2013
•#ndiumunyarwanda
•#disABILITY
•#IDPD2013
#advocacysocialmedia

41. A good biography
Your logo
Job title
and skills
Your
location
Your
Your
activities
activities
Your
website
#advocacysocialmedia
Organization
description
Your

42. Who to follow?
• International agencies: @UN_Enable, @UN, @UNICEF
• INGOs and NGOs: @HI_UK, @PlanGlobal
• Donors: @DFID_UK @VSO_Intl
• Rwandan DPOs: @NUDOR_Rw
• Government: @Rwandalocalgov
• Media: @Igihe
• Influential people: @DonaldKaberuka
•A list of suggested organisations is provided.
#advocacysocialmedia

43. LUNCH

44. Video Sharing
• A video sharing service allows individuals to upload video content
to share, distribute or place on a website.
• The type of video content uploaded can be anything from short
video clips all the way to full length movies.
• Video sharing services are becoming increasingly popular,
especially with the explosion in popularity of blogs, internet forums,
and other interactive pages.
• You tube is the largest and the most popular site
#advocacysocialmedia

45. The social impact of video sharing
• Changed the face of video broadcasting, with major media outlets,
celebrities and politicians using You tube for communicating.
• Said to have changed education and supported a higher level of
human learning and information sharing.
• development of "visual journalism", in which citizen eyewitnesses
and established news organizations share in content creation.
• YouTube has enabled people to more directly engage with
government, such as in the CNN/YouTube presidential debates
(2007) in which ordinary people submitted questions.
• An activist described the organisation of political unrest such as the
Arab Spring now involves using "Facebook to schedule the
protests, Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tell the world.”
• The White House's official YouTube channel was the seventh top
news organization producer on YouTube in 2012
#advocacysocialmedia

46. YouTube
• More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month
• Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube
—that's almost an hour for every person on Earth, and 50% more
than last year
• 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute
• 80% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US
• You can create your own channel to post your own videos – for
example NUDOR and NPC Rwanda have their own channels
#advocacysocialmedia

47. Advocacy through video sharing
Using visual media as a targeted tool that will engage people to create change.
•Participatory video – pushing for change through telling the story through the lens of
a person with a disability. Participatory video is a form of participatory media in which a
group or community creates their own film. The idea behind this is that making a video
is easy and accessible, and is a great way of bringing people together to explore issues,
voice concerns or simply to be creative and tell stories.
•Educational video – introducing a general
audience to a cause or idea
•Inspirational – trying to change a perception
about a certain cause
•Campaigning – trying to motivate you to
move to action
#advocacysocialmedia

48. Disability in Ngorerero
http://vimeo.com/71246683?
email_id=Y2xpcF90cmFuc2NvZGVkfDlkYTg0ZjY1ZjQ1YzIxZmY2NGExNjNjYTkxYTgxYWNkOTcxfDE5ODA0M
DA0fDEzNzUwOTk2NTI%3D&utm_campaign=7701&utm_medium=clip-transcode_complete-finished-
#advocacysocialmedia

49. Know your rights – Scottish Human Rights
Commission
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUwHIbQFszU
#advocacysocialmedia

50. Forgotten and ignored - Kenya
http://vimeo.com/73136461
#advocacysocialmedia

51. Stand by me - ending disability hate crime
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lZvZ6zQcXU
#advocacysocialmedia

52. NPC -TV Portrait: Athanase Rugerinyange
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS535a3lxkg
#advocacysocialmedia

53. What type of videos have you
seen?
• Educational?
• Campaigning?
• Participatory?
• Inspirational?
What did the videos make you feel?
Did they change your opinion on anything?
What did you learn?

54. Top tips on making a video
1.
Define your objectives.
–
–
–
–
What is your budget?
Where will you be showing your video?
Who’s going to be in charge of managing the video production?
How will you measure the return on investment?
•
Know your audience - What is the purpose of your video? There are many types of video:
talking heads, raising awareness of a humanitarian issue, fundraising, user generated content,
documentaries, developing brand awareness.
•
Be inventive. How do you cut through and make your video shine?
•
Optimise your videos for search engines. Videos on sites such as YouTube and Vimeo often
appear on the first page of the search engine results page (SERPS). In addition
•
Ensure that your video ties in with your NGOs digital media or social media guidelines.
Does your organisation have standard assets such as title bars, intros and outros.
•
Make sure your video portrays your brand’s tone of voice and is informed by overall corporate
objectives.
•
Making a viral video. Viral videos can quickly get your brand concern out to a wide audience,
but there is no guaranteed way to “make” a video viral. Seed your video carefully and
strategically.
•
Plan, plan, plan. A storyboard however basic will save you time and money.
•
Measure your impact – analyse your viewing demographics and relate them back to your
objectives to assess your success.
•
Be creative!
http://social-media-for-development.org
#advocacysocialmedia

55. Promoting your video
#advocacysocialmedia

56. COFFEE
BREAK
•Can we help you set up
a Twitter account?
•Come find us!

57. Facebook
• Free platform to upload
video, photos and more
detailed information
• Create a network of people
with an interest in your work
• Huge number of users
• They have to ‘like’ your
organisation to subscribe to
your ‘feed’
• Develop links with other
organisations
#advocacysocialmedia

58. RNUD facebook page
Number of supporters
Organisational details
Stories and updates
News and campaigns
#advocacysocialmedia

59. NUDOR ‘likes’ VSO Rwanda
Developing your networks
#advocacysocialmedia

60. Blogging
•
A blog is a discussion or informational site published on the internet consisting of
discrete entries ("posts”) - the most recent post appears first.
•
Either single contributor or multiple authors.
•
Majority are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each
other - blogging can be seen as a form of social networking service.
•
Bloggers do not only produce content to post on their blogs, but also build social
relations with their readers and other bloggers.
•
A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other
media related to its topic.
•
The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important
contribution to the popularity of many blogs.
•
Many blogs provide commentary on a particular subject - feature your news and
opinion pieces. Forum to provide insight and analysis
•
150 million active blogs; 350 million people globally read blogs
•
Relies on regular updating and promotion on other social media channels.
#advocacysocialmedia

61. Blogging
News and opinion pieces
Insight pieces
#advocacysocialmedia

62. Social media as a fundraising tool
• Social media is an opportunity to tell people about your
cause, why it is important and how you are helping.
• Using every-day stories makes your projects come to life
for donors, so they can see the impact of your work.
• Reporting on progress in real-time (little and often)
increases transparency.
• It gives supporters a place to ask questions and hold you
to account – so make sure you respond to queries!
• It allows you to reach a global audience, including people
it might usually be difficult to contact e.g. celebrities.
• It is free!
#advocacysocialmedia

63. Social media as a fundraising tool
Usually a social media update will do one of the following:
1.Demonstrate need: Tell a story about the problems the people you
support are facing.
2.Show your impact: Explain the difference your project is making.
This doesn’t need to be complicated – it can be as simple as a project
officer saying they liked seeing everyone enjoying an activity you
organised.
3.Ask for support: You could request funds, volunteers or an
accessible space to hold an event.
4.Thank supporters
5.Help you to network or be more transparent: A place to answer
questions, talk about the day-to-day running of projects & connect
with people or organisations with similar interests.

64. Exercise: Social media as a
fundraising tool
Here are some tweets and facebook updates from some
charities to show you how they use social media as a
fundraising tool. Let’s decide together whether they:
1. Demonstrate need
2. Show impact
3. Ask for support
4. Thank supporters
5. Help with networking or transparency
#advocacysocialmedia

65. Exercise
#advocacysocialmedia

66. Exercise
#advocacysocialmedia

67. Exercise
#advocacysocialmedia

68. Exercise
#advocacysocialmedia

69. Exercise
#advocacysocialmedia

70. Exercise
#advocacysocialmedia

71. Make sure you’re connected
– Make sure your website is linked to your social media channels
and your social media channels are linked to your website!
Twitter
Facebook
#advocacysocialmedia

72. Measuring your success
•There is no point in using social media unless you set
some specific objectives – then you can evaluate your
success.
•Set some milestones and outcomes that you can work
towards.
•For instance:
– engaging a Minister on twitter to highlight your work, with an
acknowledgement of support
– increasing your supporters and raising their awareness of your
work
– X number of likes or followers
#advocacysocialmedia

73. Measuring your reach
Facebook
•Number of facebook likes
•Number of comments
Twitter
•Number of Twitter followers
•Number of retweets
•Number of @ mentions
Youtube
•Number of views
Blog
•Number of followers
•Number of views
•Number of comments
#advocacysocialmedia

74. Measuring your influence
• The Klout Score is a number between 1-100 that
represents your influence. The more influential you are,
the higher your Klout Score.
• Barack Obama – 99
• DFID UK - 80
• VSO UK – 60
• Kate Turner - 52
#advocacysocialmedia

75. Measuring your influence
• Twtrland - a visual snapshot of your online presence on
Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Displays your
influence metrics, audience demographics and close
network
#advocacysocialmedia

76. Write a social media plan
1.
Define your goal(s) and objectives
–
What will be different? What does success look like?
1.
Identify your target
–
Who do you want to influence? Map your audience
1.
Prepare your content
–
What are you going to communicate – think of your audience
1.
Select your platform
–
Do you want to network, share, publish or discuss? Twitter, facebook,
etc?
1.
Develop your connections
–
Make sure you’re following the right people and have the right connections
1.
Contact
–
Make sure it is easy for people to follow you – have the social media icons
on your website
1.
Engagement
–
Have lots of conversations and develop relationships
1.
Action
1.
Develop an activity and editorial plan to keep your social media channels
fresh and up to date
•
Monitor and Evaluate
1.
Analyse the stats relating to traffic to your website, monitor any
increase/decrease in followers / likes/connections. Assess against your
objectives. Use social media analytics tools to assess your influence.
#advocacysocialmedia

77. The risks of using social media:
protecting your reputation
• As social media is participatory, you can receive
comments; some can be positive, others negative.
• You can use the opportunity to respond to criticism and
provide evidence about a certain situation.
• You also need to be aware of the content that you post
– you should avoid any inflammatory, derisive, negative
or confidential content that may derail your advocacy
goals and affect your reputation.
• Use common sense, if you wouldn’t say something to
someone face to face, then don’t post it online!
#advocacysocialmedia

78. Exercise: what would you do?
• A media personality or celebrity writes a demeaning
tweet about a person with disability, saying that children
with disabilities should not be allowed to go to school.
What would you do?
• Somebody writes on your organisation’s facebook page
saying that it does not matter if a girl with a mental
disability is raped and subject to gender based violence.
What would you do?
• You’ve just attended a private meeting with a
Government Minister and received some confidential
news about a new initiative about a programme that will
benefit persons with a disability. What do you do?
#advocacysocialmedia

79. #advocacysocialmedia

80. Let us know what you thought!
• Please fill in the feedback form
• Copies of the presentation can be downloaded from
Slideshare
•http://www.slideshare.net/kateturner45/social-mediapresentation-vso
#advocacysocialmedia

81. Thank you
for being
here