Social Media Gameplan for Food Day MA

1. HOW TO
ORGANIZE
YOUR
STATE’S
FOOD DAY
SOCIAL
MEDIA
EFFORTS
Developed for FoodDay.org and the CSPI
Created by Tim Stansky
November 2012

2. INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this presentation is to
suggest a plan to build cohesion and
participation across multiple platforms
to amplify the efforts of Food Day
groups across a state based on
Massachusetts’ Food Day Media
Group experience in 2012.
We did it with no budget, lots of
enthusiasm and an old New England
truism that “many hands make for light
work”.

3. INTEGRATION

4. STARTING POINTS
Pull together a core team who volunteer to manage a social media
tool that they are good at and let them be the lead to post, Tweet, Pin,
etc. We were Twitter-centric, used facebook and dabbled in Pinterest.
I wish we had “Pinned” more considering that platform’s growth at the
time. New social media channels will crop up in the future, embrace
the ones with momentum and critical mass.
Create a gmail account with your group’s affinity name as a master
email account that you will use to build a WordPress site, enroll in
social media platforms, and use to communicate as the voice of your
group. Avoid the use of an individual’s name or personal account. If
a facebook or Twitter account already exists don’t worry about it – as
long as the owner of that account is on your core team.

5. SAVING, SHARING & SIGNING UP
Create a Dropbox account using your new gmail account where you will
save documents, keep a Master Blogging Schedule, store logos,
photos/images, a contact list and other necessary assets. Create a folder
and you can invite members with a simple “sharing” option.

6. BUILD
Using the basic Microsoft Paint accessory modify the free national
Food Day logos to create simple state identities.
Build your social media tools using the gmail account you created –
Twitter, facebook, Pinterest.

7. FREE TOOLS AND RESOURCES
Build a WordPress site using the
gmail account you created. Add
your logos and the widgets for
the social media accounts you
created. When I built the Food
Day MA website there was no
easy widget to plug in a Pinterest
button. Many thanks to
betweenheandshe.com, I found a
VERY good post that taught me
how to add a Pinterest button to
individual posts.

8. INVITE WITH AUTHOR STATUS
Invite guest bloggers with different levels of
access to your WordPress site. I suggest you
offer Author status to the group at large and just
a few with Administrator or Editor access.
2.
1.

9. SAVING, SHARING & SIGNING UP
Email to guest bloggers:
I saved the text of a an email First THANK YOU.
on the Dropbox that I sent to You should have received an invitation to
www.fooddayma.WordPress.com with Author status and an
every new guest blogger with invitation to the FoodDayMA Dropbox folder. If you’re not a
instructions on claiming a current Dropbox user and install it on your desktop we earn
more storage space. You can always uninstall it.
date to post along with a There’s a word document in the Dropbox named “FDMA
blogging schedule”. Add the information on the date you plan
heads-up that they’d also to post the blog and the other information and SAVE your
receive two separate emails changes.
Write and post your blog or schedule it to publish on the date
inviting them to the Dropbox you chose. Promote your blog on the social media platforms
you frequent. If you Tweet about it please include
and the WordPress site. This @FoodDayMA in the Tweet to notify us to call out the birds!
made the recruitment of guest Post it on facebook, pin it on your Pinterest account, etc.
We’re here to help you with anything you need. If you’re not
bloggers pretty easy once I comfortable with WordPress and can at least provide text and
images we can tee it up for you.
set up the system.
Tim Stansky

10. GET A PAINT BRUSH
Use your Dropbox account to build and store your Press/Media
Contact list, Media Advisories and Press Releases. Sending your
releases from the gmail account you created allows you to manage
your efforts.
Now you have become your organization’s “Tom Sawyer” and it’s
time to recruit guest bloggers, showing them how easy it is to be part
of your bigger effort and that many hands make for light work.

11. IN SUMMARY
We’re still tallying the collective
tide of exposure that we
created through the blogging
site and social media. It’s clear
that the WordPress site was a
powerful anchor point.
The highest traffic day for the
site was the week before Food
Day, coinciding with a story in
The Boston Globe.

12. STEP BY STEP
1. Assemble a core team
2. Create a gmail account
3. Build social media platforms
4. Create a Dropbox account and save a Master Blogging Schedule on it
5. Build a WordPress site using the gmail account you created
6. Write your first post and publish it
7. Invite your core team members to the Wordpress site and the Dropbox
folder
8. Send an email to your core group that explains the guest blogging
process.
9. Use your Dropbox account to build and store your Press/Media Contact
list, Media Advisories and Press Releases
10. Recruit guest bloggers, send them invitations and an email
11. Promote each blog post on your social media channels

13. SITES AND RESOURCES
www.foodday.org/resources
www.fooddayma.wordpress.com
www.gmail.com
www.dropbox.com
www.facebook.com
www.pinterest.com
www.twitter.com
How to: add the Pin It! button in wordpress.com
http://www.betweenheandshe.com/how-to-add-the-pin-it-button-for-
wordpress-com-blogs/
Tim Stansky @timstansky
www.wickedbostonaccent.wordpress.com