Social Media for Nonprofits: Tips and tools for using social media to build support for your mission
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This document provides an agenda and overview for a social media training session. The agenda covers introduction and activities, defining social media and strategy, policy, content planning, channels like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and analytics. It emphasizes that social media is about building relationships and conversations through engaging content and storytelling. Cautionary tales are shared and techniques discussed for promotion, working with journalists and running campaigns. Resources for ongoing learning are provided. The goal is to help organizations effectively use social media to support their mission.
Social Media for Nonprofits: Tips and tools for using social media to build support for your mission
- 1. Social Media: Tips and tools for using social media to build support for your mission June 10, 2014 Presented by: Suna Gurol Social Media/Web Producer Jessica Hall Communications Manager Washington STEM
- 2. AGENDA
- 3. Today’s Agenda Introduction Group activity – magic wand What is social media? Strategy and ROI Policy SEO Content strategy & planning Channels Mobile
- 4. Today’s Agenda Cautionary Tales Group activity – share best/worst experiences/stories Analytics Promotion of social media channels Where are journalists? Campaigns Group activity – Plan your own campaign. Quick share / questions Resources / Links Questions?
- 6. Who are we?
- 7. Who are you?
- 9. WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA? A RELATIONSHIP
- 10. What is social? Social is the DNA of an organization – the brand
- 11. Commitment Need to allocate time to the relationship otherwise it will fail. So many failed relationships on social!
- 13. Not a monologue Hence the name “social media” and not “me media” It’s about how people respond to you and how you make them feel.
- 14. Social is all about the conversation
- 15. Storytelling Social helps you tell your story
- 16. You do not control the conversation Control
- 18. And less nice Customer service Private message as the organization
- 19. And even less nice. Try to find a balance when you walk into a hot-button issue.
- 20. STRATEGY
- 21. Why have a plan? You don’t really need one… right? Unless you want to be able to show that your work means something.
- 22. Simple Strategy • Do a baseline comparative analysis of your peers • Identify target audiences (donors, job seekers, mission-focused) • Strategic direction that maps to your orgs mission • Goals – objectives & tactics to help with the strategy • Key Performance Indicators – KPI’s
- 23. Simple Goals for ROI We will post at least four times a week We will comment on another blog two times a month Goal to have 2000 subscribers by end of year Goal to have10 donors or volunteers as a direct result of the blog Others??
- 24. ROI Key Metric - Donations One of the KPI’s – it can be the only one! Ultimate metric is donations, and sustaining gifts have more long-term value Have your fundraising campaigns always include a social component Make sure it doesn’t just appear that you are using your social platforms to raise money Engage your constituents in an ongoing discussion on how to make a difference in implementing your mission – worth more than a $40 donation
- 25. POLICY
- 26. Policy
- 28. SEO “Search is the connection between intent and content”- Bill Barnes, Mediative SEO is completely tied to social You can’t game the system – though people will tell you they can Important to tie your website to social
- 29. Content is Queen for SEO High quality content is still key Ask your readers what they are interested in from you. Chances are these are things that they are searching on. Check to see what people are commenting on and retweeting For enewsletters, see what people are clicking on Do a user survey and post on Facebook, emails -- Survey Monkey
- 31. Yearly calendar
- 32. Weekly calendar
- 33. Weekly calendar
- 34. Weekly calendar
- 35. Finding content: Outreach Make yourself available for simple social media training and strategizing for team/organization members. Training materials – how-to’s, classes
- 36. Finding content: Meetings Bi-weekly meetings with social media team Tap into groups around the organization – Development, Community Relations, Media Team, writer’s monthly meeting Quarterly meetings with any groups/people who do social media for the org
- 37. ‘socialmedia@yourorg.org’ email address Available for design, setup Listserv group Be responsive to internal requests Explain why not running with an idea (you are the expert) Finding content: Availability
- 38. Be involved outside of your organization Social Media Club Content Strategy meetups Reference Smart Brief on Social Media Social Media Examiner Social Media Marketing for Nonprofits LinkedIn groups Continued education UW Master in Communication in Digital Media Social Media certificate at UW Others?
- 39. CONTENT It’s all about the content. Really.
- 40. It’s all about the content Post Great Content. What is that? •Success Stories •Your values/beliefs/mission •Related news •People-oriented stories •Human voice •Photos! •Video! •Promotion of popular fans, people •All of these = ENGAGING CONTENT
- 41. Depends on the channel! Facebook: used to be 1-2 times a day, now 3-5 is okay Twitter: 5-10/day YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn: varies by industry Do you need to be real-time? Depends. Breaking news: yes! Twitter – yes! Especially for events Instagram – yes Facebook – day of or next day YouTube – No Google+ - No Post Frequency
- 42. Images Social loves photos Good photos are a must - snapshots v. professional quality - Volunteers – lots of hobbyists out there - Co-workers - Make it a part of their job People will engage with photos that tell a story without needing explanation
- 44. • 1.28 billion active users as of March 2014 • 802 million active daily • 45-54 year old users are growing • 54 million Facebook pages Facebook
- 45. Facebook: Design
- 46. • Edgerank and algorithm are continually changing: • Edgerank changed in Dec. 2013 to favor ‘high quality stories.’ while this sounds good, it actually DECREASED reach for regular posts (text, links) and old news is weighted higher than brand posts. • How FB weighs posts: • Posts with videos, photos have more weight than text or link only • Engagement: shares, comments have more weight than just likes Facebook is changing…
- 49. • Post photos and videos • Ask questions • Encourage shares of posts • But DON’T say “Like, Comment, Share” • Change cover photo often Facebook: Solutions!
- 50. • Think of as a marketing channel • Contact your fans and get real feedback • Use for news, and place for people to contact you • Paid Strategy: even small amounts make a difference • Post when you know your fans are online – beginning of day, lunch, end of work day, dinnertime Facebook: Solutions!
- 51. Optimize your posts: 1.Don’t cut/paste links. Add in contextual text, edit headline, subhead 2.Track with bit.ly links 3.Photos: weighted higher without a link. 4.Ask questions of fans. 5.Find creative ways to ask for engagement. Facebook: Solutions!
- 52. • Very easy, useful. • Can target interests, demographics. • Keep a strict budget. You don’t need to spend a lot to see results. • Boosted posts – goes to fans who like you already! • Be cautious for asking for likes – can get you people who don’t necessarily care, love your brand. Facebook: Ads
- 53. • 255 million monthly active users • New Profiles – bigger cover photo, pinned tweet • What we don’t know: how the Twitter IPO will change things Twitter
- 54. Twitter: Design
- 55. • Real-time means you can post more! • 100-125 character posts: allow for comments and RTs • Links don’t need to be at the end – experiment with them in the middle • You don’t have to follow everyone – follow volunteers, partner orgs, news orgs, major companies, foundations Twitter: Tips
- 56. • Be mindful. Check throughout the day. • Use hashtags and mentions strategically • Use action words – verbs, not nouns • Timing: Monday – Thursday, 12 noon – 6 PM (not after 8 PM and definitely not after 6 Pm on Friday) Twitter: Tips
- 57. • Don’t send posts from FB to Twitter • Use lists to keep up with hashtags, funders, volunteers, and media. • Lists can be private or public • Make lists of speakers for events • Schedule posts with Hootsuite • Use trackable links: bit.ly, ow.ly Twitter: Tips
- 58. Source: Hubspot, 2009. Twitter: Most ‘tweetable’ words
- 59. • 1 billion unique users a month. • Watch 6 billion hours of video. • Indexed in Google = helps with SEO YouTube
- 60. YouTube: Design
- 61. Nonprofit program: http://www.youtube.com/nonprofits • Overlay • Design – can use an image map to add in links • Annotations • Listed on the nonprofits videos page: http://www.youtube.com/activism SEO: •Describe your video with words your supporters use, not Board member marketing speak •Add in your URL in the description – it’s clickable and the first thing people see YouTube: Tips
- 62. • 135 unique viewers. • 4.9 billion video plays. • Great for private videos, especially while still editing. • High quality. • Filmmakers are here. Vimeo
- 63. • 300 million users • Take ownership of your page: o Upload an image o Be a thought leader o Show company culture • Participate in groups: o Share information o Comment LinkedIn
- 64. • 300 million users, 35% are active • Really high engagement, click-thru rates • Host Hangouts • Photos, videos do best • Starting to do ads • Indexed in Google search Google+
- 65. Google+: Design
- 66. • Integrated with Google search • Pages can email followers via Gmail • Integrated with YouTube • No Edgerank – so all posts show up to your followers • Google+ not banned from work like other social media channels (FB, Twitter) because part of browser. Google+: Tips
- 67. Hosts over 5 billion images Flickr
- 68. • 200 Million monthly active users • 60 million photos per day • 1.6 billion likes daily Instagram
- 69. • In Oct. 2013 43% of users were 18-29 • Share good photos, graphics • Be active – commit to the channel • Tag photos, use hashtags (#tbt/throwbackthursday) • Promote text to give, donation campaigns, event photos, premium, thanks • Can send/integrate with Facebook Instagram: Tips
- 70. • 48 million users. 80% of users are female. • Visual! Related photos, infographics, videos. Pinterest
- 71. • Make it fun! • Fundraising: • Auction items for events, can add in the $ symbol and the amount • Events general – create boards for every event with images • Cause marketing – add a Pin button to a cause marketing product so people can share the photo of the product on their boards Pinterest: Tips
- 72. Foursquare + Swarm • 50 million users • 1.7 billion business • Now 2 apps, Foursquare = exploring. Swarm = check-ins • Have volunteers check-in • Check-ins at events
- 73. • Audience of 47.49 million users • Visually driven blog platform • Other successful posts: quotes, links • Reblog posts from volunteers, supporters Tumblr
- 74. • Awesome SEO – often 1st , 2nd , 3rd link in search results • Another web presence – for free! • Anyone can edit – so it needs to be monitored regularly • Won’t allow for what it sees as marketing speech • Can be a bit of a morass Wikipedia
- 75. • Commitment - Don’t commit unless you have the time • Design – branding • Mission - Have a mission statement, purpose for blog • Frequency – at least once a week. • Writers – don’t not just have corporate communications people writing for the blog • Reporters – let them know about the blog • Enhanced content – videos, slideshows, photos • Tone - “I” posts, personal interest Blogs
- 76. MOBILE
- 77. Mobile Who doesn’t have a mobile device here? (Who has checked FB since we started? How many times?) Has become the “1st ” screen Add social media links to your mobile website, if your site isn’t already responsive. For timeliness, use mobile phone to post to your organizations social channels… but be careful (see aforementioned tales of woe)
- 78. TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE
- 79. Cautionary tales Twitter: CNN reporter LinkedIN: Change in title – whoops! Facebook: - Cranky post – Boss is your friend - Photos to wrong group – haha! - F-bomb on company page – eek!
- 80. Success tale
- 81. Activity Share your story Eeek! Or Yay!
- 82. ANALYTICS
- 83. Basic Analytics Which stories are the most liked and retweeted? What content lead to donations? What social media campaign increased volunteer sign-ups? What images, pages gets the most clicks? Use this to help shape your content Key Performance Indicators – engagement rate, referral traffic, overall reach
- 84. Analytics Pages with high traffic – edit with new content and repost Bitly – use different links for each social channel and then track in conversion tunnels in Google Analytics. Find out which channel brings in the most.
- 85. Google analytics
- 90. Normally a chart on gender/age demographics would go here but we’re going to focus on the harder metrics Normally a chart on gender/age demographics would go here but we’re going to focus on the harder metrics Facebook: Inbound
- 91. Key Drivers & InsightsMarch: Top Post By Likes March: Top Post By Comments March: Top Post By Shares Facebook: Outbound
- 93. Social Icons Email signature Websites – prominent social media buttons, Facebook “like”, Google+1 Cross-promote Enewsletter Email Business cards Intranet or internal communications – all employees should be following your org
- 94. More promotion Events: o Ask for FB ‘likes’ at events and encourage speakers to promote (easier than just saying “And like us on social”) – put up URL on screen o Use Twitter as a way for people to ask questions at events Facebook contests – Definitely get ‘likes’ but be prepared for some work Facebook ‘like’ gates Facebook Ads – easy-peasy and effective Employees! They are your biggest advocates. Intranet, in- house emails, events. Ask everyone to follow.
- 95. PROMOTING YOUR MISSION – JOURNALISTS
- 96. What happened in the last several years? Fewer newspapers Fewer reporters – they are working in organizations now Tighter budgets, more beats with fewer reporters, fewer resources at established papers. Shorter news cycle, tighter deadlines.
- 97. Where are the reporters? Journalists are all on social! Be Facebook friends / LinkedIn contacts with your journalist contacts Understand the journalist and the news angle Read outlets and journals, follow conversations, follow the source
- 98. Don’t forget the citizen journalists
- 99. CAMPAIGNS
- 100. • Have a plan • Use similar imagery • Change language, tone, voice of message depending on channel – speak to the audience that’s on that channel • Make sure your social channels are on printed materials Campaigns
- 102. Activity • Choose a story/campaign, write out how you would use each channel to tell that story • Discussion/Feedback
- 103. USEFUL STUFF
- 104. Resources Tweet grader – tells you how influential you are. Hootsuite – scheduling and posting software. Worth it! Bitly – link shortener, useful for tracking clicks Simply Measured: http://simplymeasured.com Sprout Social Spredfast Social Media Sizer cheat sheet: for design of social media channels. http://visual.ly/social-media-sizing-cheat-sheet-edition-20-2014 Social Media Examiner Smart Brief on Social Media Beth Kantor John Haydon Social Media Marketing for Nonprofits Google Alerts Metia blog: http://www.metia.com/blogs/ Social Media Examiner: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/ Hootsuite: http://blog.hootsuite.com Mashable: http://mashable.com/
- 105. References Social media reporting template from Vanessa Au at Tableau Scientific Guide to Great Tweets http://blog.bufferapp.com/writing-great-tweets-scientific-guide Social Media Strategy for NonProfits http://www.slideshare.net/SM4nonprofits/michael-bellavia- helpsgood Guide to Facebook 2014 by Derek Belt at King County, WA http://www.slideshare.net/kingcountywa/state-of-facebook-2014 Why Google+ will demand your attention in 2014 http://socialmediatoday.com/sanchitkhera7/2064111/why- google-will-demand-our-attention-2014 State of Social Marketing 2014 http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/2110-the-state-of-social- marketing-2014 Top Nonprofits on Twitter http://topnonprofits.com/lists/top-nonprofits-on-twitter/ Top Nonprofits on Facebook http://topnonprofits.com/lists/top-nonprofits-on-facebook/
- 106. Questions???
- 107. Contact us Jessica Hall T: @jessicahall0625 L: www.linkedin.com/in/jessicanicolehall E: Jessica@washingtonstem.org Suna Gurol T: @SunaG L: www.linkedin.com/in/sunagurol E: sunagurol@gmail.com W: http://www.sunagurol.com/
Editor's Notes
- #13: So we can just talk about what we are interested in, right? It’s all about me me. Uh, no. Don’t be an egomaniac.
- #16: Reporting on the organization v. corporate communications
- #17: Meant to be a recruiting photo. Instead it elicited fond memories and great stories.
- #20: Constant vigilance isn’t always necessary, but it pays to pay attention… especially for any hot-button issues Don’t be afraid to ban users who are out of line… Often your community will help with that - for example, these comments were marked as spam by supporters and not by us.
- #23: Baseline: Review peer organizations and competitors Note likes, followers, comments, etc. Compare your own company to these results. … Now… make a goal. Strategic direction: Communicate scientific breakthroughs and our life-saving cancer research
- #24: Conversions The number of page view Donations The number of members Site traffic
- #27: May not be needed, unless the size of your organization needs it.
- #29: Search for “Suna Gurol” as an example
- #37: Team is myself and the two writers who post to Facebook & Twitter. Other team members include analytics person and designer.
- #38: Email the requestor back.
- #40: Content is the trees in the forest, the coffee in the cup, the books in the bookstore. Without content there is nothing.
- #44: Content is the trees in the forest, the coffee in the cup, the books in the bookstore. Without content there is nothing.
- #46: Case study from Washington STEM: grant application – 35 likes, comments, and shares. 15/21 likes were on shared posts. 2 comments were on shared posts. 1 person shared a share. 39 post clicks. 4 link clicks. Shares were from staff members (3) and partner orgs (1 we asked to share, 2 shared on own). Reached 742 people. Average on other posts: 150
- #47: Every brand is on FB so it’s hard to be heard over the noise. People are using FB for news. Because of these changes some brands are leaving like Eat24 Number of fans does not equal who sees your posts
- #48: Study by social@Ogilvy – organic reach for pages with over 500K like at about 2%, drop from October of last year when it was much higher. To show up in newsfeed, you may HAVE to pay. Good news: you can really target the right audience, get engagement, which will then show up in newsfeed. Eat24 – left Facebook because of these reasons: http://blog.eat24hours.com/breakup-letter-to-facebook-from-eat24/
- #49: Eat24 – left Facebook because of these reasons: http://blog.eat24hours.com/breakup-letter-to-facebook-from-eat24/ Life after Facebook: http://blog.eat24hours.com/eat24-life-after-facebook/ What happened afterwards? Higher open rates, more emails, can spend money on their coupons, swag, etc.
- #50: Case study from Washington STEM: grant application – 35 likes, comments, and shares. 15/21 likes were on shared posts. 2 comments were on shared posts. 1 person shared a share. 39 post clicks. 4 link clicks. Shares were from staff members (3) and partner orgs (1 we asked to share, 2 shared on own). Reached 742 people. Average on other posts: 150
- #53: Washington STEM has 6k+ fans, about half are in Egypt and we’re still not sure why
- #54: Use the new profile – not only does it look good but it allows you to pin a tweet. This can be your latest campaign, or just to learn more about you. People are on at all times of the day, use lists to organize key volunteers, funders, partners to engage with them Follow hashtags as well to stay up to date on news, engage with others
- #55: Use the new profile – not only does it look good but it allows you to pin a tweet. This can be your latest campaign, or just to learn more about you. People are on at all times of the day, use lists to organize key volunteers, funders, partners to engage with them Follow hashtags as well to stay up to date on news, engage with others
- #60: -YouTube: indexed in Google, help with search -people love videos but have a short attention span -can go viral/help Vimeo: no ads, easier to password protect YouTube: Create playlists, intro video, Google for Nonprofits
- #63: Great for private videos. High quality. While still editing
- #64: When in groups: not just about you, share tips, don’t just promote yourself/your company
- #65: -Can increase web traffic, Google will index in search/help with search
- #66: -Can increase web traffic, Google will index in search/help with search
- #67: -Can increase web traffic, Google will index in search/help with search
- #68: Visual Organize by event Use tags so people find your work
- #69: Users are mainly 18-44 Highly engaged Visually driven Use popular hashtags
- #71: -Visual -Selling something? Pinterest sees really high levels of click thru and purchase -share ways to get involved -23% all referral traffic to e-commerce
- #72: Growing exponentially – becoming most popular social media channel If selling things: grey banner with price will be on upper left corner. Automatically added to gifts tab in
- #86: Google Analytics social tracking goals
- #89: Can use Hootsuite for a variety of reports, but this is the only one more affordable. $50 more gets you bigger analytics, but they don’t tie into Google.
- #91: Average Daily Reach: Page Level Data -- Average of months Daily Total Reach (Key Metrics Tab, Column O) Fan Interactions: Post Level Data -- Sum of Likes, comments, shares, answers on Lifetime Post Stories by Actions Tab Engagement Rate: Fan Interactions/total fans x100 (should be a percent number) Followers – New: Page Level Data -- Sum of Key Metrics Tab, Column I “Daily New Likes” Followers – Total: Page Level Data -- Take the number on last day of the month from Key Metrics Tab, Column H “Lifetime Total Likes” Average Daily Unlikes: Page Level Data -- Average of “Daily Unlikes” Key Metrics Tab, Column J Trend: Percent Change from February to March – see worksheet also posted to Canvas for formula Insights: See lecture notes for tips on what to comment on
- #92: Top post by Likes Top post by Comments Top post by Shares Find this in Post Level Data Lifetime Post Stories by Actions tab. Take a screenshot of the actual post on the Facebook Page (look for time/date posted and manually scroll) Insights: See lecture notes for tips on what to comment on
- #102: Red image: White House instagram, Michelle Obama Instagram, used White House FB, Twitter. Celebs joined in.