2. What is Social Media
• Online ‘media’ that allows and promotes
discussion and sharing.
• User generated content.
• Commonly: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr,
your own blog or website, LinkedIn, podcasts,
Google +
9. Uses
• Sell / promote your service to new clients.
• Inform current clients / users of updates.
• Advocate your mission to the broader community.
• Network with peers / like-minded partners /
volunteers / media.
• Find answers.
• Listen to what others are saying about you.
10. Benefits
• Free* advertising (will take an investment of time and
resources).
• Grassroots discussion / presence.
• Engage with supporters, peers, clients, partners, volunteers,
donors at a deeper level.
• 2-way conversation (information gathering, feedback, even
complaints).
• Allows supporters to self-organise around your organisation or
campaign.
• Unites people around common interests. Fosters niche
communities.
11. Benefits (cont.)
• It is the new norm. Deciding not to participate could potentially
alienate your organisation from audiences, supporters, media,
donors, volunteers and new staff.
• Talks especially to a younger audience.
• Push-not-pull = messages are pushed to followers, instead of
followers having to being pulled to your message.
• Helps with Search Engine Optimisation.
• Helps with brand awareness.
12. Key considerations
Alignment
Does it align to
your
organisation's
strategic
goals?
Resourcing Planning
How much time Integrating
are staff able to social media
spend? + other into your
budgetary communication
issues.
Social s strategy
Media
Governance
Training Policies around
getting staff use, content,
over that initial risk mngmt,
learning curve. style guides,
etc.
13. Tips
• Find people within your organisation and wider networks who
regularly use social media and ask them for help.
• If you want to catch a fish go where the fish are.
• Start with social media tools that your team already know and
use.
• Adding easy to use, recognisable share buttons and comments
sections on your blog or news page turns your content into
‘social media’.
• Link to your social network accounts clearly in the header,
footer or sidebar of your website. People look for these links, and
will follow you.
14. Tips (cont. 1)
• Don’t use social media alone – social media compliments other
online and real world platforms. Think of your website as your
home base on the internet, while a social media page is like a
stall at a fete.
• Using multiple platforms ensures you hit more targets more
often to get your message across.
• Launch your social media accounts ‘quietly’, get the hang of
them, and populate them with a bread-trail of content before you
launch ‘loudly’.
• Be friendly. Be welcoming.
• Always check your content before and after posting.
15. Tips (cont. 2)
• Don’t use social networks as a soapbox, use a ‘1-for-me, 1-for-
you’ style of approach, sharing other people’s content in addition
to your own.
• Represent yourself online as you do in the real world.
• Online tools are available to relay messages from one social
media platform to another.
• Free applications like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck allow you to
monitor and update all your social media accounts in the one
place. Hootsuite also provides statistics on clickthroughs.
• Remember that social media is noisy.
