a November 2017 presentation to Volleyball Alberta's Club Presidents on the key things to have, do or remember when using social media to provide customer service, communicate, and promote your volleyball club

2. Social Media:
Policy.
Plan.
Best Practices.

3. Who Am I? David Caughran
Principal Consultant at CONNECTED THOUGHT.
As a social media consultant, community manager and digital strategist, I create and deliver digital and social
strategies that enable clients to create and maintain engaging user experiences. With a track record of creating
and implementing successful campaigns, I’ve delivered digital marketing strategies in the non-profit, consumer
and business-to-business markets; developing programs across a range of categories including IT, sport,
entertainment, non-profit, politics, food & beverage, retail, business to business, and business to consumer.
If you don't find me on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook, I'll be laughing with my son, golfing or doing all things
beach volleyball & volleyball...

4. Are you, personally, on social media?
Facebook?
Twitter?
Instagram?
LinkedIn?

5. Is your volleyball club on social media?
Facebook?
Twitter?
Instagram?
LinkedIn?

6. What’s your social
media goal?
Do you want to take
over the world?

7. Be the best
in…
Alberta?

8. Or something more…realistic.
Achievable.
Be the best in Alberta club
volleyball, at social media.

9. You have to start
somewhere.
Some of us may be
further along than
others.

10. In the beginning, it can be like…
drinking through a fire hose…

11. So…
Start…
Slow…

12. Even if you ‘never’ use social media, your club needs to
have some form of one of these:

13. Without a policy, one
that your coaches,
parents and athletes
know about, your team
could go from this….to…

14. THIS.
Thus, have a
social media
policy, and make
it widely known
and available

15. It can be
straightforward
and simple or
comprehensive
and complex,
but regardless,
have a social
media policy
that protects
you, and your
coaches, and
athletes..

16. Photo: tosocialmediaworkshops.com
Got A Plan?
“Doing” social
media is very
different from
having a social
media plan and
activating it.

17. So…Have a plan

18. Our Mission: To provide services that create quality
opportunities for the growth, development, and enjoyment of
volleyball in Alberta.
Our Vision: To be the Premier Volleyball Association in Canada.
Accountability - Excellence - Integrity - Leadership - Participant Centred
It should closely mirror your
mission, vision and values.
Here are Volleyball Alberta’s

19. Our Social Media Mission: To share and discuss quality news,
information and multimedia promoting the growth,
development, and enjoyment of volleyball (and beach
volleyball) in Alberta.
Our Social Media Vision: To be the Premier Volleyball Association in
Canada.
Our Social Media Goal: To share and communicate our passion for
volleyball and beach volleyball.
Accountability - Excellence - Integrity - Leadership - Participant Centred
…and their corresponding
social media mission, vision
and values.

20. Ask yourself these
questions, each step
of the way as you
draft your plan

21. Then… get started.
And remember these
simple “Do’s and
Don’t’s”

22. Just Broadcast…

23. Confuse quantity
with quality

24. Post, tweet, reply infrequently or not at all

25. Synch Facebook to/from
Twitter or Twitter to
anywhere else…
RT @westcoast_dave: @CNN says #FF
is no longer a thing, but
@for_example thinks #FollowFriday
still better than #TBT cc @NoOneCares
CNN says Follow Friday is no longer a
thing, but John Doe thinks Follow
Friday is still better than Thro…

26. Just. Sell.
It’s called social media, not
“buy my stuff media”

27. Set aside time for social
media

28. Use an aggregator and
schedule content

29. Post, tweet, upload, ‘add
photos’ during prime times.
Find your audience when
they’re online.

30. Use pictures, or video,
when appropriate and
possible

31. Tag businesses/organizations
in posts.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
Google+, etc.

32. Be authentic, Be honest,
Be yourself

33. Do:
Have a policy.
Be consistent
Proofread
Be responsive
Listen to others
Be authentic
Give credit where credit is due
Be helpful
Post when your audience is online
Be honest
Be yourself.
Don’t:
Be inactive
Leave your profile incomplete
Be self-absorbed
Abuse #Hashtags
Pretend to be someone you’re not
Toot your own horn
Broadcast
Use Auto-DMs
Automate between networks
Be Meh!
So, to
summarize…

34. Remember these girls?
Keep them in the back of your mind, as
a “cautionary tale”, because it’s not
“just” social media.

36. “These are the things I learned (in Kindergarten):
1. Share everything.
2. Play fair.
3. Don't hit people.
4. Put things back where you found them.
5. CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS.
6. Don't take things that aren't yours.
7. Say you're SORRY when you HURT somebody.
8. Wash your hands before you eat.
9. Flush.
10. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
11. Live a balanced life - learn some and drink some and draw some and paint some and sing
and dance and play and work everyday some.
12. Take a nap every afternoon.
13. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
14. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Stryrofoam cup: The roots go down
and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
15. Goldfish and hamster and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they
all die. So do we.
16. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest
word of all - LOOK.”
― Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
Have some ‘guiding
principles’ to help you put
your best foot forward.
Whether they’re just like
Kindergarten, or…

37. Plain AND SIMPLE.
like this

38. ONE LAST THOUGHT

39. While you want to be memorable, and
engaging, and maybe even go viral, like this kid.
Keep ‘your mission’ in mind.

40. …because wouldn’t it be great
to have a 3 time Olympic Gold
Medalist share your content?

41. …like Kerri did for
Mallory (and Autumn)

42. Image: http://www.socialable.co.uk
Scott Stratten of UnMarketing is right:
“People don’t share “meh”. People
share awesome.”