When you go to an event such as this one, often times, the most useful pieces of the event occur in the hallways or at lunch. Why? Because you make connections, you discuss, that is, you participate. Who uses Facebook?
Example of social media. Content created by “us”. Search “organic”.
Who uses Twitter?
Twitterfall.com search #morpc
Blog post from 2008 explaining the natural alignment of social media and sustainability.
Social media encourages the decentralized production and distribution of content. Efforts toward local energy creation are on the rise, as are personal choices to reduce our footprint upon the world. Natural partners.
How do you get started? Here are some reasonable steps.
Don’t use social media just to use social media. Decide why you are using it. Define a purpose. Audience – know who your audience is and what social media and social networking tools they use. Your goal might be to increase awareness or increase the number of participants in a program.
Experiment. Make mistakes. I cannot give you a specific how to guide book to social media because everyone’s situation is different. Auden Schendler suggests we share our failures. With social media, there are lots of failures to share. A couple of my mistakes: Posting school district of my kids on Twitter. Encouraging MORPC to have multiple Twitter accounts – maintaining them is difficult. They cut back on the # of accounts.
I strongly suggest that before you jump into using social media professionally, you use it personally. Sign up. And pay attention. You will quickly see things other do that you think is a good idea. And things you think are not such good ideas. To fit use of social media into your busy day, set it up on your phone.
Your social media activity should not be independent of all your other outreach and marketing plans. Integrate them.
Who here uses Facebook socially? Who uses Facebook professionally?
Who here is Friends with Chester Jourdan on Facebook? Last I checked Chester had 3845 Friends on Facbook. Most common reaction is “what??? really? why?” That was my reaction when Chester when fully charged into gathering FB Friends. But its worked fabulously for him. People at meetings feel connected to him. He encourages all those Friends to “like” the MORPC page. And they do! Essentially, his actions as an individual help encourage conversation. Offline and Online.
The Ohio Farm Bureau hired a social media director. They are everywhere. And they created a social media guide for their members. They’ve pulled me in once when they were overwhelmed but for the most part, they are self-sufficient.
MORPC distributes use of social media among staff. MORPC is choosing to have outside guidance (Shinydoor) that includes training current staff. Many of the staff use social media personally. Some of those who use it personally integrate their professional with their personal use. This means more conversations about MORPC issues.
MORPC distributes use of social media among staff. MORPC is choosing to have outside guidance (Shinydoor) that includes training current staff.