Let’s get Social!Social Media 101

Brought to you by the Oakville Arts Council and Town of Oakville

Presented by:Bernadette Ward

Director, CommunicationsOakville Arts Councilbward@oakville.ca

& Janine Ivings

Senior Communications AdvisorTown of Oakvillejivings@oakville.ca

Show time! Social Media Revolution

Search YouTube for more great videos and social media tutorials!

Wha

t is s

ocia

l m

edia

?

“Social media refers to the means of interactions among

people in which they create, share, and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks.”Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Why

use

socia

l m

edia

? People are talking. Why not be part of the conversation?

Why use social

media?

Did you

know?Canada is

one of the

top ten most

engaged

countries for

social networking.

It’s not just another

marketing channel.

It’s so much more.

* Public relations

* Customer service

* Loyalty-building

* Collaboration

* Networking

* Thought leadership

* And yes, some

marketing as well.

What are m

y

options?Think about your social media options.

Most commonly used are:

* Twitter

* Facebook

* YouTube

* LinkedIn

* Instagram

* Pinterest

* Wordpress, Tumblr (Blog)

* Flickr

* EtsyWhat are your goals and objectives?

What are you trying to achieve?

Online should support offline efforts.

Face

book

(Fa

mily

BBQ

)

Facebook represents the digital mapping of a person

or organization’s real-world

connections. Communicating with friends

and other users is done through private or public messages (called status updates). Users can also create and join interest groups, and "like pages.”

Facebook users want a story.

They also love photos!

Twitt

er(C

ockt

ail P

arty

)

Twitter is a free social networking

service that allows people to

communicate in a short and

simple way that can be broadcasted to the world.

The platform enables its users to

send and read text-based

messages known as “tweets” of

up to 140 characters displayed on

the author’s profile page and

delivered to the author’s subscribers, known as followers.

YouT

ube YouTube is a video sharing website

where users can upload, watch

and share videos. YouTube has

grown to become the second

largest search engine in the world.

With the popularity of YouTube and

online video sharing growing,

businesses and groups across

Canada are beginning to take

advantage of its many benefits.

Linke

dIn

LinkedIn is the world’s largest

professional network with over 175

million members and growing rapidly.

LinkedIn connects you to your trusted

contacts and helps you exchange

knowledge, ideas, and opportunities

with a broader network of

professionals. LinkedIn serves as a

great way to recruit new employees.

 LinkedIn is a social networking site

designed specifically for the business

community. The goal of the site is to

allow registered members to establish

and document networks of people

they know and trust professionally.

Inst

agra

m A relative newcomer to the social

media landscape, Instagram is a

photo-sharing and social networking service. Incredibly

popular (with reportedly over 100

million users), Instagram enables

users to take photos, apply filters

and share them on other social

media platforms including Twitter,

Tumblr and Facebook.

Pinte

rest Pinterest is a pin-board style of

social bookmarking site where

users are able to collect and

organize photos and videos into

categories such as events,

interests, hobbies. Users can visit

other pinboards and “like” or “re-

pin” images to their own boards.

Flick

r

Flickr is a photo management and

sharing site used for personal

photographs and videos. Yahoo

reported in June 2011 that Flickr

had a total of 51 million registered

members and 80 million unique

visitors. As of August 2011, Flickr

reported hosting more than 6

billion images. If you plan to publish a blog, you

may find this site useful for

hosting any images you use.

Blog

s

Blogging is form of social networking used to present

information, create discussion and

build relationships. Blogs can offer

commentary on a particular

subject such as health, politics,

education or travel, function as a

type of personal diary, or as a

method of advertising (corporate

or club blogs). There are currently

over 150 million blogs in existence.Popular blogging tools include

Blogger, Tumblr and WordPress.

Reso

urce

s

“I don’t have time…”Determine the resources available, both in terms of

tools and team.Be part of the discussion. Build social media into your day-to-day activities.

It takes minutes per day to

build your online presence.

You don’t have to be online

all the time.

Getting

started…What is your biggest

challenge?

Fear, lack of knowledge, technology

shock, cultural mindset, resources?

Develop a strategy, guidelines

and an editorial calendar.

Think before you leap. Keep it simple and

manageable. You communication and

conversation should be clear and

articulate. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Expect a few missteps.

Train others to feed you

content.

Wha

t’s y

our

stra

tegy

?

A good social media strategy

recommends integrated use of

online and traditional communications. By embracing the world of social

media and creating a strategically

planned approach to it, businesses

and groups can capitalize on the

opportunity to inspire, enable,

nurture and facilitate more

relevant, authentic and effective

communications with their

audience and other stakeholders

to create a more informed and

engaged community

How

do I

know

wh

at to

say?

To be successful, understand how messages should be shared in each medium.

InvestListenShare

Inve

st Your online community will only be as good as the amount of effort you put into cultivating one. Get involved in the conversation.

Liste

n

Do your research. What are people talking about?

Who is your target audience?Find out how your

audience and competitors are using social media.

Shar

e

You’re unique. Does the information you’re sharing convey that? Ask yourself. Is my content relevant, timely, useful, engaging, authentic, emotional, entertaining, outrageous? Give your

community something to think about or enjoy!

Have

fun!

@SuburbiaYFC @mrmuzzdog Haven't

seen any polar bears in Oakville…except

this once. And on Jan 1 @PolarBearDip :)

pic.twitter.com/GXCaNKrt

Reco

gnize

ot

hers

!

Thanks for your support @FordCanada @timhortons and

Budds' Oakville! pic.twitter.com/RkAg1nOm

Take

the

bait!

@Teemu_Favotberg @NBC is correct.

Here's a pic of @vankayak & @

OakvilleMayor following 2008 Olympics.

So proud! pic.twitter.com/9IkUXzo0

Follow thought leadersScott Stratten @unmarketing

@aekyo @dan_bowman @jamesrathwell I'm one of the

few over here that knows Toronto isn't the center of Canada :) Oakville is.

Town of Oakville @townofoakville

@unmarketing @aekyo @dan_bowman @jamesrathwell Love it :)

Scott Stratten @unmarketing@townofoakville well played

Social Media Tips

Think before you post. Once you

click share, your comments will live

forever in cyberspace. Be respectful

and use common sense.

Share useful information, images

and perspective, but never post

anything that you wouldn’t want

repeated to your boss or to appear

in the paper. Think about what might

happen if your post goes viral.

Do you want to be a social media case study?

Be kind to others; Use one toy at a time;

Use your indoor voice; Play by the rules; Practice patience.

- Laura Finlayson, Beckerman Communications

Think great

contentBe yourself!

Talk about

things you care

about and be

true to yourself.

People are

hungry for

knowledge,

tips and trends.

Be the expert!

If you know

something,

share it.

If content

offers no value,

then that’s how

you will be

perceived.

Represent your

brand wellSocial Media Etiquette

Remember – you are

representing your brand

and everything you have

worked for when using its

social media sites.

Customer service issue?

Ask how you can help. Be

nice and say thanks.

Be accurate and make sure

you can back up your

posts. Ensure your

message is consistent with

other information released

publicly via other channels.

Don’t steal other people’s

content. Source and share!

Share complimentary

posts or thank and share!

Correct misinformation

politely and with sources.

Don’t be defensive Offer

helpful information.

If necessary, take the

conversation offline.

Be protective of your

brands interests and

ensure that all content is

consistent with your

values and professional

standards.

Learn from

the bestFollow others! What’s

working for them? What

posts make you stop and

read? Engage with

followers and key

trendsetters. Show them

what you’ve got.

Find your voice.

The moment you do, speak up!

Monitoring and

Measurement

Start talking!

Free tools can make it easy to monitor,

listen and respond.

Check out

* Hootesuite

* Facebook Insights

* SocialMentions

* Klout * TweetReach

* TwentyFeet

* Google Analytics

…and more!What’s your ROI?

Influence vs. Ignoring

Helpful

reference sites!Some Helpful Social Media

Resources…

* socialmediatoday.com

* sproutsocial.com

* prdaily.com

* marketingprofs.com

* mashable.com

* socialmediaexaminer.com

…and more!

When all else fails, Google it!

What’s your

social media

story?

Let’s chat!Any questions?

Thanks for joining us!