Social Media Planning – Now that you’ve got your staff and board excited about social media, what’s next? Like most plans, it starts with a strategy, one that's based on a desire to build relationships. What does a social media plan look like? What are the key elements? Where should you dedicate your time and how can you make most of your efforts? This session will present strategies and tactics you can employ, and will touch on how it all ties into the communications plan you’ve already got.
5. Traditional Media (Web 1.0 )
vs. Social Media (Web 2.0)
• Traditional media was about publishing.
• Social media is about networks and community.
Many
Few Many
Many
6. Social media isn’t a strategy
• Social media is a tool for accomplishing your
goals
• Start with the question “what are my
goals?” NOT “I want to build a social media
presence”
7. Social Media Tools
Digg
• Social news website
• People vote on news articles
Twitter
• Micro blogging service,
• 140 character limit
Second Life
• Online virtual world
• Explore using avatar
YouTube
• Video sharing website
• Free to upload and share
Flickr
• Photo sharing website
• Can comment on photos
Facebook
• Social networking website
• Suite of features
Delicious
• Social bookmarking service
• Let’s you find similar websites
WordPress
• Free blogging service
• Expansion features with fee
9. Is Your Board on Board?
Has senior management and Board members come
onside with investing in social media … not because
of the hype, but because they understand the stats
and the future of communications?
10. Social Media Policies
Help to:
• Set expectations
• Educate staff and volunteers
• Protect your brand
• Avoid legal liability
• Clarify the reasons you use social
media
11. The Changing Nature of
Communications
• Things happen
much quicker,
easier, faster
• You WANT people
to talk about your
organization
• There’s only so
much control
12. Capacity Issues
• Do you have the
internal skills, expertise
and time internally to
use social media
effectively
• Poll your staff and
volunteers: you might
have an expert blogger
in your midst!
15. Desired Outcomes
• What are your current marketing, fundraising or
programming goals?
• What desired outcomes do you wish to achieve?
• Can social media tools be used to accomplish
these?
16. Goals
• Marketing and publicity
• Fundraising, donor
engagement and retention
• Connecting with others
around your cause
• Building relationship and
online community
• Collaboration and collective
action
• Sharing expertise on our
issues
• Movement building and social
change
17. Examples
• Goal: Attract young professionals as
volunteers and grow their engagement in our
organization.
– Social media tools are likely to help with this goal
• Goal: Build stronger, personal relationships
with our older annual donor base and talk to
them about estate planning
– Social media will likely not be helpful
18. Target Audience
• Who do you want to reach and engage?
• Be as specific as possible:
– Where do they live?
– What do they do?
– How are they currently using social media?
20. Integrate
• With your current marketing &
communications plans
• Tie into other online and offline marketing,
fundraising and social media initiatives
f t
21. Sample Plan
GOAL: To broaden the base of supporters between the ages of 18-22 to the
organization.
OBJECTIVE: To increase the number of our Facebook fans by 10% by the end of the
fiscal year.
STRATEGY: Leverage our connections to the local colleges and universities through our
Board Member, Joe Stiles – President, Learning College.
Audience Tool(s) Tactic Message(s) Timeline Resources
College and
university
students in
our town.
1. Facebook Initiate an
incentive
campaign to
solicit “fans”.
We help 1 in
3 people in
our town.
Help us help
more. Tell a
friend.
Sept – April SWAG for
incentives
23. Types of Social Media Audiences
• Inactives. As suspected, these are the people who aren’t engaged
in any of these social technologies.
• Spectators. These are people who read online information, list to
podcasts, and watch videos but do not participate.
• Joiners. These are people who have a profile on different social
networking sites and visit them with some regularity.
• Collectors. These are people who read lots of information and may
vote or tag pages or photos.
• Critics. These are people who post reviews online, comment on
blogs, or contribute in other ways to existing content.
• Creators. These are people who publish on the web (blog, website,
video, podcasts).
Forrester Research
26. Be a Spectator
• Research the tools
• Observe, read and watch
• Learn the language, customs and etiquette
• Get ideas about what works and what doesn’t
27. Join & Use Your Ears
• Set up accounts
• Join groups
• Follow people
• Play in the sandbox
What are people saying about your organization?
Organizations like yours?
Homework: Set up a Google Alert OR do a Twitter
Search
28. Learn From Others
• See how other organizations started and see
what they have done
• Ask others about their successes and
disappointments
Flickr + Facebook
30. Which One?
• We recommend starting with one tool at a time
• Take a look at your goals, audience and
message: what’s the best tool for the job?
31. What Does What?
Tool Uses
Blogs
• Blogger
• WordPress
• News outlet – the “new” newsletter
• Highlighting donors and partners
Media Sharing
• YouTube
• Flickr
• Enhance visual storytelling
News & Social Bookmarking
• digg
• delicious
• Sharing online resources
• Finding like-minded people and organizations
Social Networking
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Expanding supporter base
• Another channel for calls to action
32. Still not sure? Try Facebook to start …
A little bit of everything:
• Creation of a webpage on a commonly visited site
• Build a community / “fan” base
• Talk about stuff your organization is doing or involved with
• Post pictures and videos
• Connect from your website to this page
• Ability to test several things at one time
38. Be A Story Teller
• Adapt your story to an online platform:
• Keep it simple
• Easy to remember
• Easy to retell
• Adapt your story to your desired audience
39. A Compelling Fundraising Event Story
Example: Fundraising event
• Blog: interview an attendee and ask
others to share their experience in
comments
• YouTube: bring your video camera and
ask people to tell you why they came
• Facebook: ask everyone who attended
to share images/stories
40. A Compelling Fundraising Story
Example: Capital campaign
• Flickr: show people the direct impact they
can have through images
• Twitter: Tweet regular updates on success
and how much support is still needed
• Blog: weekly blog post during campaign
about the impact of your organization
(get various perspectives: Board,
community, volunteer etc…)
41. Tips
• Don’t just write about your latest fundraising
campaign
• ask your donors to tell their story
• Don’t just publish a news release about
government cutbacks hurting your cause
• give your supporters the tools and platform to
take action and share their passion with others
43. Build a Following
• Become the expert
• Link everything back to your website
• Offer opportunities to do something
• ASK!
44. Starting Conversations
• Remember: social media is about engaging
and building community
• Don’t just talk at your supporters
• Think of the conversations you want to start
47. Listen, Learn and Adapt
• Get feedback! Ask:
• What is working, what isn’t?
• What else would you like to see?
• Implement changes and keep trying
48. Use What You Get
• People’s stories are opportunities
for you to talk about the work you
do
• Complaints are an opportunity to
improve what you’re doing
• Members of a page or a following
is a group already interested in
you … what else can they do for
you?
49. Monitor & Measure
• Number of visits
• Number of unique visitors
• Search engine rank
• Message inclusion
• # of followers/likes
• Article/post readership
• Click-thrus and view-thrus
• Repeat visitors
• Duration of stay
• Subscribe to feeds (RSS)
• Comments/posts ratio
• Change in awareness
• Change in attitudes
• Association with your brand
• Donations
• Tell a friends / Referrals
• Petition signatures
• Surveys filled out
• Visits to the organization
• Reduced number of calls
• Number of event attendees
• Volunteers signing up
• Downloads
50. • Get used to the tool and the
conversations happening
• Be trustworthy & consistent
• Create distinctive content
that fits with your
organization’s identity and
mission
Build Confidence
51. Make it Part of Your Day
Make it part of your work routine
– Creating content
– Responding & engaging
52. Keep the Brand Consistent
• Offline and online branding should be very
similar in appearance
• But don’t copy the copy!
53. Promote to your Network
• Use other outlets to promote a new initiative
• Leverage your following and promote to
whoever you can
59. MyCharityConnects.org
What is MyCharityConnects?
CanadaHelps' online resource centre for charities – a website dedicated to
connecting charities and nonprofits to the technologies they need to succeed.
What can I find on MyCharityConnects?
• Free online resources for charities
• Information about technology , Web 1.0, Web 2.0 & social media
• Video demonstrations
• Webinars (online seminars)
• 2009 & 2010 conference materials
60. UPCOMING WEBINARS
November 24 – Everything Old is New Again: Getting Back to Fundraising
Fundamentals
December 8 – Technology - a Source of Frustration or Creativity for Your
Organization?
www.mycharityconnects.org