1. Using Social Media to
promote FAO’s work
Gauri Salokhe, OCCI
13 June 2017
2. Social Media
Has become the preferred communications channel for many
Is easy to connect, engage and interact with other people
Has made communication an instant and two-way conversation
Like other international agencies, FAO maintains official accounts on a select
number of the most popular and strategic social media platforms
Office for Corporate Communication (OCC) is responsible for maintaining
these accounts and clearance of any additional accounts (such as on Twitter)
3. Why is FAO on Social Media?
Position FAO as the key United Nations agency to lead the
effort to achieve #ZeroHunger
Mobilize support and engage around FAO’s mandate and
the SDGs
Increase visibility to our work and engage in a global
dialogue with the stakeholders
Educate our audience and get them involved
Increase traffic to FAO.org
Be open and transparent
4. FAO’s social media presence
Single corporate presence on:
Facebook
Google+
Instagram
LinkedIn
Medium
Pinterest
SlideShare
SoundCloud
YouTube
Multiple Twitter accounts in addition
to corporate presence
Two corporate channels and a pool
of affiliated accounts on Flickr
The combined audiences of FAO’s the different social
networks totals over 2 million users (and counting)
5. Facebook
Single corporate presence
facebook.com/unfao
Over 1 million followers
General audience
Posts are in English, Spanish,
Arabic, French, Portuguese and Italian
What works:
Short engaging content on
FAO’s key priorities
First-person human interest
stories
FB Live
Videos/animations
Visual content/infographics
Quizzes
7. 2 corporate accounts:
twitter.com/faonews
Twitter.com/faoknowledge
Almost 90 multilingual
thematic/country accounts
Almost 1 million followers
Audience interested in specific
topics or regions such as climate
change, statistics, Africa, fisheries,
forestry, etc.
What Works:
Short engaging content
Joining existing conversations
Videos/animations
Visual content/infographics
Quizzes / Twitter Chats
Twitter
8. Examples of Tweets
Given the real-time nature of Twitter, content strategy is a combination of sharing existing
multilingual content and creation of new visual content.
We also regularly share most engaging content from thematic and country/regional accounts.
Twitter lists:
Corporate FAO accounts https://twitter.com/FAOnews/lists/fao-twitter-accounts
FAO Employees https://twitter.com/FAOKnowledge/lists/fao-staff
9. Instagram
Single corporate presence
instagram.com/unfao
Over 80k followers
General audience
Posts are in English
What works:
Visually striking high resolution
FAO photos
Images with personal stories
Quizzes / GIFs
Photo contests
11. LinkedIn
Single corporate presence
linkedin.com/company/fao
Over 150k followers
Technical audience
Posts are in English, Spanish,
Arabic, French and Portuguese
What Works:
Vacancy announcements
Latest Publications
Training/Webinar
announcements
12. Google+
Single corporate presence
plus.google.com/+UNFAO
Over 15k followers
General audience
Posts are in English
Primary purpose is to optimize
Google search rankings for FAO.org
What works:
Short engaging posts
Videos
Infographics
13. YouTube
Single corporate presence
youtube.com/FAOoftheUN
Over 18k followers
General audience
Playlists by topics/country/region
What works:
Videos
Animations
15. Flickr
2 corporate accounts:
flickr.com/photos/faonews
flickr.com/photos/faooftheun
FAONews
Managed by OCCM
Official HQ meetings and DG
Travels
FAOoftheUN
Photos by FAO Employees on
mission / in country offices
Country collections
16. SlideShare
Single corporate presence
slideshare.net/faooftheun
Technical audience
Presentations are by FAO employees
Mostly in English, Spanish, French
17. Social media content production
Closely monitor organizational priorities (International Days, key events, DG
visits to the field, etc.)
Produce content specifically for social media
Animations
Infographics / Infovisuals
Videos / GIFs
Write stories targeting specific audiences
In Action
Zero Hunger
Regularly monitor FAO websites, document respository
Ideas can be sent to social-media@fao.org
18. FOOD WASTE SOCIAL MEDIA
CAMPAIGN
In collaboration with Food Waste and Loss team
19. Food waste – social media campagin
One week campaign on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn to
raise awareness about the issues surrounding food loss and waste
Develop strategy targeting general audience with a strong call-to-action
Content created specifically for the campaign
Visual identity/ color palette
Gif, video, visuals with photo and graphics, web content
Multilingual content
20. FOOD WASTE SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN
It is by far the most
viewed video ever
launched by FAO,
with over 1.7M
views on all FAO
social media
channels combined.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SqLz4O32vc
23. In summary..
Each tool has it’s own unique audience and content requirements
In general, we need to tell FAO stories through human voices on digital
channels
Respect real situations – show beneficiaries as active actors in the change FAO is
making through its work
First person narratives / portraits – the 5 Ws and 1 H apply to digital story telling.
Use them to capture a complete story.
Capture the reality - To change reality, even with the best of intentions, is to
imply a different reality or to misrepresent
Language and branding – FAO doesn’t need to be mentioned explicitly, tell the
story through the lens of an individual without the institutional narration.
If content is intended for social, the digital team can be contacted for
guidance and support
24. Ground rules for employees
All employees are encourage to share FAO content on their personal accounts
Social media tools present opportunities, but also risks. Remember:
Nothing is private – protect confidential information, respect internal embargoes
Identify yourself - and add a disclaimer: “The postings on this site are my own
and do not necessarily represent FAO’s views, positions, strategies or opinions.”
Consider your audience, be passionate and keep your cool – respect your audience
and avoid negative personal comments or inflammatory subjects. If you come
across misrepresentation of FAO’s work, correct it with factual information and,
whenever possible, a link to additional information.
Respect privacy rights of colleagues – particularly when posting photos and
videos. Posting personal or identifiable information (including times, location and
travel information) may raise safety and security concerns.
On social media just as in the office, you must abide by FAO’s code of
conduct and staff rules