FACEBOOK & SCOUTSFacebook, Social Media, and your Cub Scout Pack

Going where the people are• Email? Filled with spam, not regularly checked• Postal mail? Expensive – and filled with junk mail• Website? Hard to set up and manage. People don’t

remember to check• Facebook?

• 95% of Facebook users check in daily• We spend 3 times as much time on Facebook as on email• 73% of moms and 68% of dads regularly use Facebook

• Go where the people are already.

How to Facebook as a Pack?• Social Media Guidelines from the BSA:• http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Marketing/Resources

/SocialMedia.aspx

• Have 2-deep leadership running the page• Turn off ‘messaging’• No names – no image tagging of parents or kids, even by

the parents.• Must be monitored

Building the Page

Page InformationTalk about your Pack here. When was it founded? When do you meet? Do you have an elevator speech?

The BSA requires specific boilerplate disclaimers to be placed in the General Information, see the guidelines.

Be sure to have a contact phone (Cubmaster) and email address!

Cover Photos• 851x315 image• Should reflect

your pack• Change

occasionally based on theme

Profile Picture• Square• Should stay relatively constant – this is your brand logo• Represents your Pack in many places on Facebook

Setting up the Page• Turn off messaging. No private messages.

• Publish some content – welcome message, news, about.• ‘Like’ some pages from your page. HOAC, Cub Scouts,

Boy Scouts, Camp Naish, other Packs.

Do you have photos from past events? Make albums!

Photos on Facebook• Photos are great – and get the most response!• Photos must conform to the Scout Law and Youth

Protection.• One rule – no names, no ‘tagging’ people.

Turn off in Settings.

More content on Facebook• You can post photos, stories, videos and short quips to

the page. • Several posts a week work better than one big monthly

post. • Keep your page on peoples newsfeed with regular

updates• Users can post to your page too – monitor daily for

inappropriate content. Remove content that does not conform to the Scout Oath and Law.

Promote your Page!• Add the URL to your emails, webpage, handouts and

more.• Invite all your parents to like the page by email.• Use the page regularly. • Post relevant fun content supporting the scouts, activities

and volunteers• Use it to thank your volunteers.

Advanced: Managing ‘Likes’• Some folks will ‘like’ the page

for less than honorable reasons.

• People who like your page will see all the content, photos and more in their timeline.

• If they have no connection to the pack, ask them why they liked the page

• Problems? Click the ‘X’!• Monitor daily.

Advanced: Events• You can use Facebook to manage public events – Pack

Meetings, Blue and Gold, Pinewood Derby and more.• dfd • Events show on

your timeline.• They allow guests to

RSVP.• Photos can be

posted to events too!

• And guests can check in to the event!

Advanced: User Management• Edit page – Manage Admin Roles• Manager – has full control of the page. • Content Creator – Everything but manage

admins• Moderator – responds to and can delete comments• BSA Rules require two admins, at least one Youth

Protection trained.

Advanced: Location

In Page Info, set your address.A day or so later, try to ‘check in’ there to claim the location!

Adds ‘checkins’ on Facebook, and a Map!

Advanced: Scheduling Posts• You can schedule posts six months in advance! • Camp reminders, event news and more, • Click the ‘clock’ below the post to set a date and time• Review all scheduled posts in the ‘Activity Log’

Advanced: Managing the Negative• Social media takes a thick skin. Negative conversations

are happening already, but now you have a voice in the conversation. Don’t delete negative comments unless they violate the terms laid out in the BSA Social Media Digital Contract.

• Be prepared to respond to negative or inaccurate posts if response is warranted. Some negative comments do not require a response, while others should be taken seriously and addressed.

• Be Scout Like. Display the Scouting Values