This document provides an overview of using social media, particularly Facebook, for political purposes. It discusses considerations for setting up pages and accounts, how to set up and customize a Facebook page, how to post and boost content, and how to create and share events. The goal is to help people and organizations build an effective political social media presence using Facebook and other platforms like Twitter.

1. 1Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
Building a Political
PresenceSocial Media
September 2018
Carol A Spencer, President, Lost Pines Republican Women
Building a Political Social Media Presence
Facebook • Twitter • Hootsuite

2. 2Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
Session 1: GETTING STARTED
• Considerations before getting started
Session 2: FACEBOOK
• What are the differences between a Facebook page, group and profile
• How to set up a Facebook page
• Events, Boosting & Advertising
What you’ll learn in this course
Session 3: TWITTER
• What Twitter is and why you should use it
• How to set up a Twitter account
Session 4: INSTAGRAM
Session 5: HOOTSUITE
• What Hootsuite is and why you should use it
• How to send one message many places, all at once

3. 3Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
• Use a consistent, generic email address to sign up for social media.
This works everywhere but Facebook.
• Facebook requires a real name: sales@, admin@ are not acceptable.
• If you don’t know how, have a trusted board or campaign committee
member who is on Facebook create your page.
• Facebook pages are tied to personal profiles.
• If you don’t have a FB account, get one.
• Never let someone create a page for you on which you are not also
an administrator.
• If you have enough people, designate some as editors and
moderators for your FB page.
• Remember: admins can delete other admins, so choose carefully.
Considerations before getting started
Advance planning goes a long way

4. 4Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
• Set up your page on a desktop, not a tablet or phone.
• Decide on a “communications tone”: Business like? Folksy?
• Never let fans / followers upload photos or videos without
moderation.
• Don’t post original material on Facebook. Beware of copyright issues.
Share from the original document, if that’s offered.
• Anyone can comment on your FB posts. Remember, it’s social!
• Use “Commenting” policies (see FB.com/LostPinesRW)
• A good commenting policy is how you’ll deal with trolls, bad
actors, spammers, and attack posters.
Considerations before getting started
Advance planning goes a long way

5. 5Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
• Have at least two administrators for each application
• If you can’t have multiple administrators (Twitter, YouTube, Flickr,
and Instagram), share the username and password
• IF you share the username and password, change the password when you
eliminate someone from posting responsibilities
• IF you share the username and password, be cautious about who can “speak”
on behalf of your organization.
• Monitor your social channels. It’s a social, not broadcast, medium.
• Think about how you’ll market your social presence.
Considerations before getting started
Advance planning: Multiple Social Channels

6. 6Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
Check Your Chosen Vanity URL
• Use a consistent “vanity” name so people can easily find you
For example:
• LostPinesRW@gmail.com
• LostPinesRW.org
• FB.com/LostPinesRW
• @LostPinesRW on Twitter, Instagram & YouTube
• Choose a name. Check it everywhere. (www.namechk.com)
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn, Pinterest
• Find some name where you can be consistent throughout the social
world and which is memorable for your visitors
• Once you decide what it is, grab it on each major social channel even
if you’re not going to use it right away.
• This stops your opponents from putting up fake or derogatory
channels using your advertised name.

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
BUILDING A POLITICAL
SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE: FACEBOOK
SEPTEMBER 2018
Carol A Spencer, President, Lost Pines Republican Women
Building a Political Social Media Presence
Facebook • Twitter • Hootsuite

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
FACEBOOK Profiles vs Pages vs Groups
TIMELINE: Your personal profile
PAGE: For an organization you manage.
Viewable by the FB public at large
GROUP: Must be invited to participate.
Can be public, closed, or secret

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
FACEBOOK Political Candidates should have PAGES

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
FACEBOOK Political Candidates should have PAGES

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
CREATING YOUR PAGE A different way: Login later
A page must be tied to someone’s
profile.
Facebook policies do not allow one
individual to have two profiles.
Once created, be sure to have two
admins so that if the person who
created the page leaves, you can still
administer the page.

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
PAGE TYPE Business or Brand VS Community or Public Figure

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
PAGE TYPE Business or Brand VS Community or Public Figure

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
SETTING UP YOUR PAGE It’s all about the visual – photos & videos

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
PAGE ELEMENTS Start with Settings!

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
ADMIN PANEL Getting Your Page Ready

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
ADMIN PANEL Getting Your Page Ready

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
UNPUBLISH THE PAGE Only Admins can see it
Now you can work with your page without anyone seeing what you’re doing.
CAVEATS:
1. Any photos or videos you add will generate a “post”. Delete these before
you re-publish your page.
2. Posts can be added while you work and will show up when you publish.
Use this technique so you don’t launch a “new” page.

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
ADMIN PANEL Settings are CRITICAL. Do them FIRST.
Change tab
order & more
All those
crazy emails
Add admins,
editors
Go through
all of these

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
EDIT THE PAGE Page Structure

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
EDIT THE PAGE Edit Page Info

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
POSTING Post to Facebook

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
POSTING Post to Facebook as….

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
POSTING Urge people to contact government officials
Interesting Note:
Facebook has removed
this functionality from
political organization
posts.
These screen shots are
from Jan 2018, and now,
in Sept 2018, this option
is gone.

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
POSTING Other Posting Choices

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
POSTING Save as draft, Publish now, Backdate, or Future Schedule

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
EDIT THE PAGE Insights

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
See your Pages Feed for posts to share.

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
EDIT THE PAGE Help
Google is your friend.
Google anything:
1. YouTube is the 2nd largest search
engine after Google. See how to do
things, step by step. Once you search,
choose the video with the most views to
start.
2. When using Google Search, be sure to
click on “Tools”, then on the little arrow
next to “Anytime”. For most tech
questions, choose “Past Year” so you
don’t get old answers.

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
EVENTS Create

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
EVENTS Share An Event

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
EVENTS Share An Event

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
EVENTS Share An Event

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
EDIT THE PAGE Promoting Your Page; Boosting Content

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
EDIT THE PAGE Promoting Your Page; Boosting Content

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
EDIT THE PAGE Promoting Your Page; Boosting Content

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
ADDITIONAL TOOLS Policies, Registration Forms, FB Live
• Politician or political organization pages need policies
• Commenting policy is most important. Example to copy:
https://www.FB.com/LostPinesRW/app/201742856511228/
• Get a free account at Thunderpenny.com for StaticHTML
• StaticHTML needs someone with HTML (web) knowledge.
Drag and Drop application does not.
• Don’t be confused by “pricing” tab. Some of the Thunderpenny apps are free.
From their website: “Free plan: You can use Static HTML and our other free
features on unlimited pages. :)”
• Wufoo.com
• Excellent Forms application. $350 / year for forms that take
payment
• Facebook Live: the new cool thing
• Click “live” in a post and you’ll immediately go live.
Good for presentations, interviews

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
Don’t forget to publish your page, then post, post, post

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
BUILDING A POLITICAL
SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE: FACEBOOK
SEPTEMBER 2018
Carol A Spencer, President, Lost Pines Republican Women
Building a Political Social Media Presence
Facebook • Twitter • Hootsuite

41. 41
Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
Building a Political
PresenceSocial Media
September 2018
Carol A Spencer, President, Lost Pines Republican Women
Building a Political Social Media Presence
Facebook • Twitter • Hootsuite