May 2013 Using Social Media to Advance Your Mission and Program Reach Audio Portion: 1-800-768-2950 Web Portion: www.readytalk.com Code: 4796976 2013 National Council on Aging 1
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What We ll Cover Questions to consider Twitter: what is it, who uses it, how to use it, and more Facebook: what is it, who uses it, how to use it, and more How to measure results Other social media platforms Resources 6
Questions to consider when using social media Who am I trying to reach? What do I want them to do? What resources do I have to develop and maintain a social media presence? How do I plan to measure success? 7
Twitter: What is it? www.twitter.com Micro-blogging site that allows users to post messages of up to 140 characters You can follow people & organizations on Twitter, and they can follow you 8
Twitter: Who uses it? Anyone or any organization can set up an account (doesn t have to be tied to a single individual) 16% of all Internet users are on Twitter (Pew Internet & American Life Project) Only 2% of those aged 65+ Highest use among those aged 18-29 African-Americans, urban residents are more likely to use Twitter 9
Twitter: Setting up your account Choose a good handle (name that your account will be known by) Keep it short and recognizable Examples: @MaineAAAA (Maine Association of Area Agencies on Aging), @iowaaging (Iowa Department on Aging) Set up your profile page Logo Mission Website or contact details 10
Twitter: How to tweet Encourage action: vote, click through to resource, attend events Shorten links (bit.ly, owl.ly are just two tools free online) Don t talk AT people, talk WITH them Mix it up: reply to others, retweet/mention other organizations, share others resources Acknowledge other people/orgs by including their handle (@NameofOrg) and they ll know you mentioned them 11
Twitter: How to tweet (cont.) For organizations, weekday tweets get more traction than weekends 4-6 daily tweets is ideal Tools exist to help you schedule tweets in advance (e.g., Twuffer, Hootsuite, Tweet Deck) 12
Twitter: What s a hashtag? Hashtag: a word/phrase in a tweet with the # sign in front Examples: #OAA, #stopelderabuse Used to group messages/themes If you click on the hashtag, you will find all tweets that use that same word/phrase Anything can be a hashtag; no central repository 13
Twitter: Watch out for hashtags! Watch out for generic hashtags that may contain multiple uses, e.g., #seniors Beware hashtags than can be misinterpreted 14
Twitter: What if I make a mistake? You can delete tweets (better if done immediately, before anyone has time to retweet) You can issue a correction, e.g., Oops! Senior Center Wii games at 2 pm not 1 pm Or be humble and own up to it, like the Red Cross did: 15
Twitter and the aging network Use your Twitter account to advertise community events (health fairs, fundraisers) Brag about your good work! Share quotes from clients, links to newspaper articles Follow local reporters/news channels and legislators to tell them about your activities or challenges Participate in online conversations about issues of importance 16
Twitter: Organizational examples 17
Facebook: What is it and who uses it? www.facebook.com Created in 2004 with a focus on the individual users create personal profile, then can add friends, exchange messages, and create or join interest groups ( like pages ) Organizations/agencies can only have pages that are administered by individual users 67% of all Internet users are on Facebook (Pew Internet & American Life Project) 35% of those are aged 65+ Highest use among those aged 18-29 (86%) Women use Facebook more than men 18
Facebook: Setting up your account 19
Facebook: How to post Post short, timely updates at least once a week (several times a week is ideal; don t over-post!) Share links, photos, resources Announce events Ask question/poll friends Use visuals 20
Facebook: How to post (cont.) Like Twitter, you can schedule posts in advance Using your page s Sharing tool: Choose the type of post you want to add to the page Click the clock icon in the lower left of the tool Choose future date (can do up to 6 months in advance) Click schedule 21
Facebook: Having conversations Check page often to read comments/questions Like appropriate comments Reciprocate likes/friends if an org likes you, do the same for their page Respond to comments/questions (can hide/delete those that may be inappropriate). Use a first person voice to create connections 22
Facebook: Organizational examples 23
Facebook: Organizational examples (cont.) 24
Twitter vs. Facebook: An unscientific comparison Twitter: More professional audience Better for having conversations/talking about current news Requires more effort to concisely share idea/message in 140 characters Facebook: More consumer audience Better for sharing visual media Requires more effort to respond to likes/shares/comments Better for fundraising (however, when combined with Twitter, generates 10x response than using FB alone) 25
How to measure results: The simple way In Twitter, you can use the @connect function at top of page to count # of new followers, retweets, mentions, conversations In Facebook, you can count the number of likes, friends, and shares on your posts 26
How to measure results: Sharing links Several tools exist that allow you to set up a free account, linked to Twitter/Facebook, to use shortened links to share with friends & followers Bitly (https://bitly.com/) Ow.ly (http://ow.ly/url/shorten-url) Whenever you post a link to your website/fb page, use the shortened link Visit your account at one of these sites to track traffic to your site from social media 27
How to measure results: Sharing links (cont.) 28
How to measure results: Site analytics A more complex way to measure site traffic/audience Usually handled by dedicated website manager or social media guru Talk to your organization s website/it manager about whether the site is set up with an analytics account (e.g., Google analytics) Use source codes in all links you share on social media?utm_source=twitter_ncoa&utm_medium=socialmedia&utm_ca mpaign=twitter_ncoa_13-05-03 Site analytics can measure how people got to your site, which pages they went to, how long they stayed on page, where they jumped off the site 29
Other Social Media Platforms: Pinterest www.pinterest.com Online corkboard/scrapbook that allows users to pin items (recipes, photos, instructions) from around the web May be useful for collecting inspirational stories/items related to a campaign (e.g., AoA s Unleash the Power of Age) 30
Other Social Media Platforms: Photo- & Video- Sharing Sites YouTube is world s largest video sharing site, but many others exist, too Tumblr: micro-blogging site that allows users to post photo/video/music without uploading it first (reposting) Numerous sites exist to share photos: Instagram (owned by Facebook) Flickr Picasa web albums 31
Resources Facebook s Nonprofit Resource Center: www.facebook.com/nonprofits Best practices for causes and nonprofits on Facebook: https://fb-public.box.com/s/8dxyv66biabfnesvr3jj Movember Case Study: https://fb-public.box.com/s/rcuh91fe3s4n9zzm4qkj Leveraging Twitter for Marketing & PR: A promising practice: http://www.ncoa.org/enhance-economic-security/centerfor-benefits/promising-practices/how-6-words.html 32
Questions/Comments? Contact Us! Visit us on the web at: www.ncoa.org www.facebook.com/ncoaging www.twitter.com/ncoaging Today s Presenters: Brandy Bauer: Brandy.Bauer@ncoa.org Emily Dessem: Emily.Dessem@ncoa.org Kristie Kulinski: Kristie.Kulinski@ncoa.org 33