Unlocking Social Media - pacf.orgpacf.org/wp-content/uploads/BSD-Social-Media-Presentation2.pdf · Policy changes happen. Social Media mistakes happen. You can turn them into an opportunity

1 © 2012 Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential

Unlocking Social Media Getting Started, Best Practices, and Cautionary Tales

Blue State Digital

May 8, 2012


Sarah Newhall

Senior Web Analyst

Blue State Digital

Meet Your Expert

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© 2012 Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential

Online Approach

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Tell Stories


Your digital presence is about

connecting your supporters with your

organization. Use email, social

media, and your website to:

• Bring your organization’s issues to

life

• Enhance what you’re doing offline

• Get your community (your

audience) emotionally invested in

your cause

Why Tell Stories?


Ultimately, the reason you’re going to

use stories is to bring issues to light

and persuade people to:

• Join your cause

•Volunteer

•Make a donation

•Advocate for your cause

What’s the End Goal?


• Establish the issue/problem you are

trying to solve

• Develop an emotional core to the

narrative

• Articulate the personal connection to

the story

• Identify the solution or vision for the

path forward

• Provide a clear call to action

What Goes in the Story?


Think about which channels are best

suited to your story and for your

audience:

TV

Radio

Newspaper

Magazine

Email

How do You Get Your Story Out?

Facebook

Twitter

Tumblr

Blog


Develop a Broader Narrative

Think about each piece of communication as building to a large

whole. Advance an argument, support existing activities or

associations within your community, and build excitement and

emotional engagement.

Build to milestones.


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But the absolute biggest,

most important

thing you should do

in all online

communications is....


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Always provide a clear

call-to-action.


“Click here

to sign-up.”

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Use Social Media to tell a story, but

make sure it fits with your larger

strategy.



Green Bay Packers: Connecting Fans

Bringing Far-Flung Fans to Lambeau

Produced engaging content across channels

• Recipe contest: garnered attention from different news outlets and 400+ submissions

• Photo contest: extensive user-generated content and excitement

• More than 100K members of the PackersEverywhere community...and growing



StudentsFirst: #6WordEssay Contest

• 106,178 votes

• 28,145 essays

• 13,782 new signups

• 54% open rate to 228,000

‘participant’ segment

• Significant increase in

reach on Facebook and

Twitter

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Getting Social


Social media provides an opportunity for

translucency and authenticity: get beyond

the institutional voice


Social media lets you connect more

informally with your audience. Embrace it.

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Facebook


Why Facebook?

•Facebook is a “wall garden”

social network with over 800

million users

•Excellent driver of traffic

•Generates more engagement

than other social networks


Getting Started on Facebook

Cover Photo

• Choose wisely

• Change every few months

• Offer your former Cover Photos

to your fans to adopt as theirs

About Box

• Include a URL to allow fans

access to your website


Post Daily

Studies show that Pages that post daily have far more interactions across

the board.

Weekends matter: users log on over the weekend.

Keep posts short, sweet, and actionable.


Use Image Macros / Infographics

On Facebook, images rule.

• Images are valued in the Facebook

Newsfeed.

• Try to include a URL in your image’s info,

that will drive traffic to your site.

• Always include a clear call to action in

posts and images, and make sure you link

actions to your site.

• Link content to email messages, Tweets,

etc.

Bonus: Image content spreads well over

Twitter, Pinterest, & Tumblr.

Images are the major social share of 2012.


Use Facebook Questions

Asking your fans questions is a great way to expand outside of your

network.


Highlight & Pin

Highlight & Pin: Drive Your Stories

• Star to highlight (features posts in your

Timeline)

• Pin drives users to an app where you

can capture information or encourage

them to like you.

• “Pinned” posts are brand-generated

content: they are a change to tell your

org’s story, and should be used that

way

• The pin can - and often should - include

a direct link to your site and signup form


Private Messaging

• Receive direct messages as

your organization

Two way one-on-one

communication


• Don’t post content on Facebook more than once every 3 hours; it

will hurt your impressions.

• Sometimes ask your friends directly to “Like and Share to help

spread the word.”

• Posting on the weekends works.

• Tag your posts so you can see how well they work.

• Use Facebook Insights to monitor your Facebook engagement.

Quick Summary

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Twitter


Why Twitter?

•Twitter is an open network with

nearly 300 million accounts.

•Creates Buzz & Attention

•Connects with influencers


Signing up is fast and easy.

• Use your real name

• Be able to verify email

• If account is professional, use

variation of name for your user

name.

• Use a clear, friendly picture

• Your bio is 160 characters: use

them wisely

Creating an Account & Profile


Here are some basic facts about all tweets.

• All tweets are up to 140 characters: keep

them short & direct with a clear purpose

• They are broadcast to users following you

and are searchable by all Twitter users

• You can retweet tweets you agree with to

broadcast them to your followers

• URLs are auto-shortened

• When you @ Reply a friend, it will be sent

to them but is still public

The Fundamentals of a Tweet


Hashtags help classify and connect tweets

related to events or subjects. Hashtags are

shown on main page as trending topics:

citywide, nationally, & worldwide.

Example Tags:

#California

#P2

#LGBT

#BTWFLive

#BornBraveCA

Hashtags


Sample Tweets: Direct Asks


Sample Tweets: Quotes


Sample Tweets: Blogs


Sample Tweets: Statistics / Data


Sample Tweets: Conversations / @ Replies


• Each Tweet lives and dies in thirty minutes.

• Keep Tweets short and sweet

• Remember to use campaign hashtags

• On Twitter, conversation matters. @Message your friends.

• Make sure to Tweet any of your posts on other social networks and connect them to website content and email sends.

Quick Tweet Tips

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Control the Conversation


Mistakes Happen: Control the Conversation


News Happens: Control the Conversation


News Happens: Control the Conversation


Mistakes Happen: Control the Conversation


News stories happen. Policy changes happen. Social Media

mistakes happen. You can turn them into an opportunity with the

right response.

•You can’t hide or not respond

•Act quickly so you own the conversation

•Admit your mistakes

•Use humor (when appropriate)

•Use your network to your advantage

•Make sure employees have separate social media handles

Mistakes Happen: Respond


Questions

Documents

Unlocking Social Media - pacf.orgpacf.org/wp-content/uploads/BSD-Social-Media-Presentation2.pdf · Policy changes happen. Social Media mistakes happen. You can turn them into an opportunity