A quick overview of social media and how organizations can take advantage of its benefits. Learn the basics about popular social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, as well as suggested ways to build your audience on these sites.

1. Social media basics
Leah Hill

2. What is social media?
Social media uses web-based
technologies to turn communication
into interactive dialogues.

3. Top reasons to use social media
Your target market already uses
social media.
Your community’s story is already
being told on social media.
It drives traffic to your website.

4. Who is using social media?
73 percent of online adults now use a social networking site
of some kind1
, but most only use one or two networks

5. Social media use by age
81 percent of teens 12–17 use social media
90 percent of people 18–29
78 percent of people 30–49
55 percent of people 50–64
46 percent of people 65+
Source: (Pew Internet, 2013)
12–17
18–29
30–49
50–64
65+

6. Social media use for business
93 percent of marketers use social media2
B2B organization’s adoption of social media:
• 88 percent use LinkedIn
• 87 percent use Twitter
• 81 percent use Facebook
• 70 percent use YouTube
• 55 percent use a corporate blog
• 20 percent use Pinterest
• 5 percent use Instagram
(Source: Useful Social Media, 2013)

7. Poll question
Are you currently using social
media professionally?

8. Poll question
If so, what networks are you using?
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter
Blog
Other (Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, Google+, etc.)

9. Facebook
Facebook is the largest social networking site with over
1.23 billion active users. For adults who use only one social
networking site, Facebook is typically the platform of choice1
• 1.23 billion active users, 76 percent access their account
EVERYDAY3
• Largest user group is 18–29 year olds1
• 15 million businesses, companies, and organizations have a
Facebook page3
• 91 percent of nonprofit professionals use Facebook4
• 20 million people are fans of pages3
• 4.75 billion pieces of content shared each day3
• Avg users exposed to 1500 pieces of content every time they
log on3

12. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site where
users can find and connect with people, organizations and
groups. Users maintain a list of contacts they know and trust
in business called Connections. Users can invite anyone to
become a connection.
• 277 million users worldwide in 170 industries and 200
countries3
• Average user is 44 years old3
• Largest user group is 30–49 year olds1
• 3 million LinkedIn business pages3
• LinkedIn is especially popular among college graduates and
internet users in higher income households1

15. Twitter
Twitter is a microblogging service that enables users to send
and read short messages (140 characters or less) called
tweets. The tweets are displayed on the author’s Twitter profile
page and delivered to the author’s subscribers who are known
as followers.
• Invented by Jack Dorsey—a Missourian
• 241 million monthly active users3
• 18 percent of online adults use Twitter1
• Average user is 39 years old3
• Largest user group is 18–29 year-olds1
• 24 percent of teenagers use Twitter1
• 69 percent of nonprofit professionals use Twitter4
• 500 million tweets sent each day3

18. URL shorteners
• URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator, and is used to
specify addresses on the World Wide Web.
• This is an example of a URL:
http://www.missouripartnership.com/Industries/Missouris-
Industries/Advanced-Manufacturing
• This is the same URL after it is entered into a url shortener:
http://goo.gl/QqxEQX
• Both links will take you to the same location on the web.

19. Pinterest
Pinterest is a visual discovery tool that people use to collect
ideas for their different projects and interests. People create
and share collections (called “boards”) of visual bookmarks
(called “Pins”).
• 70 million users3
• 21 percent of online adults use Pinterest1
• Largest user group is 25–34 year olds1
• About 500,000 business accounts3
• 25 percent of Fortune Global 100 companies are on
Pinterest5
• 24 percent of nonprofit professionals use Pinterest4
• 5 million article pins each day3

22. Blogs
A blog is a discussion or informational site published on the
World Wide Web and consisting of discrete entries (“posts”)
typically displayed in reverse chronological order (the most
recent post appears first).
• There are over 250 million blogs, not including Blogger6
• 33 percent of nonprofits use blogs4
• 34 percent of this year’s Fortune 500 companies are now
actively blogging5
Advantages of using a blog:
• Blogs drive traffic to your website
• Blogs enhance your search engine rankings
• Blogs can lend your organization more authority in
your field
• Blogs can be a great way to spur discussion of issues
relevant to your community

24. Flickr: (flickr.com)
An image and video hosting website.
FourSquare: (foursquare.com)
Foursquare is a location-based social networking
website for mobile devices, allowing users to “check
in” at venues to earn points and badges.
Google+: (plus.google.com)
A social networking and identity service owned and
operated by Google Inc.
Instagram: (instagram.com)
Allows users to share pictures and videos with
followers on a variety of social networking services.
YouTube: (youtube.com)
A video-sharing website with over a billion users.
Other social networks

25. Managing your social media accounts
• Post at the right time.
• Cross-promote.
• If you are just getting started, take it easy.
• Always be learning.

26. Tips for Facebook
Ideas for getting people to “Like” you on Facebook:
• Publish fresh content
• Add your Facebook page url to your marketing collateral
• Invite people to like your page
• Promote other people and businesses
Ideas for getting more interactions:
• Try to include a picture, video or link as much as possible
• Frequent posts get noticed
• Give people a reason to look forward to your posts
But be realistic:
• Facebook is (always) changing how (if) many fans see
your posts
• Must pay for targeted access (Facebook Ads)

27. Tips for Twitter
Ideas for getting people to follow you on Twitter:
• Follow people and organizations you would like to
follow you
• Retweet them
• Send them a direct message asking them to follow you
Ideas for getting more interactions:
• Avoid shameless self-promotion
• Listen as much as you share
• Put a call to action in your posts
• Post regularly and don’t be afraid to repost content

28. Measuring effectiveness
Tools:
• Web traffic
• Built in analytics if available
• Hootsuite (hootsuite.com) or Tweetdeck
(about.twitter.com/products/tweetdeck) analytics for Twitter
What to measure:
• Facebook: number of fans, interactions (shares, likes)
• Linkedin: followers, interactions
• Twitter: number of followers, quality of followers,
engagement (retweets, shares and favorites)
• Pinterest: followers, repins, and likes
• Blog: comments, shares, share of website traffic

29. Examples to follow
Economic development organizations:
• Facebook: Economic Development Corporation KC
(facebook.com/EconomicDevelopmentCorporationKC)
• LinkedIn: Metro Orlando
(linkedin.com/company/metro-orlando-edc)
• Twitter: Metro Denver EDC (twitter.com/MetroDenverEDC)
• Pinterest: Texas Economic Development Corporation
(pinterest.com/texaswideopen)
• Instagram: Hamilton Economic Development
(instagram.com/hamiltonecdev)
• YouTube: Missouri Department of Economic Development
(youtube.com/user/MoEcoDev)

30. Examples to follow
Communities/nonprofits:
• Facebook: Missouri State Parks (facebook.com/mostateparks)
• LinkedIn: UMSL
(linkedin.com/company/university-of-missouri---st.-louis)
• Twitter: VisitKC (twitter.com/VisitKC)
• Pinterest: Visit Columbia MO
(pinterest.com/visitcolumbiamo)
• Instagram: Missouri Botanical Garden
(instagram.com/mobotgarden)
• YouTube: Missouri Division of Tourism
(youtube.com/user/VisitMO)

31. Footnotes
1
Pew Internet, December 2013
2
Fast Company, 2013
3
Digital Market Ramblings, 2013
4
Hubspot, 2013
5
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 2013
6
Wikipedia, accessed 3/2014

32. More questions? Contact:
Leah Hill
T: +1.314.725.0949 Ext: 202
C: +1.314.954.9252
E: Leah@missouripartnership.com
Website: missouripartnership.com
Industry Insight Blog:
missouripartnership.com/Sites-Incentives-Data/Data-Center/Industry-Insight-Blog
Twitter: twitter.com/MOPartnership
Facebook: facebook.com/MissouriPartnership
Pinterest: pinterest.com/mopartnership
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/missouri-partnership