A presentation for Pastoral and Spiritual Care United on building community through social media.

1. Building Community
Through Social Media
a workshop for
Pastoral and Spiritual Care United
by
Scott H. Payne

2. What Is Social Media?
Wikipedia’s definition:
The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile
technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Social media
are media for social interaction, as a superset beyond social communication.
Enabled by ubiquitously accessible and scalable communication techniques,
social media substantially change the way of communication between
organizations, communities, as well as individuals.
Building Community Through Social Media

3. What Is Social Media?
Let’s break that down:
- web-based and mobile technologies
- interactive dialogue
- social interaction, as a superset beyond social communication
- ubiquitously accessible and scalable communication techniques
- change the way of communication between: organizations, communities, and
individuals.
Building Community Through Social Media

4. Why Should I Use Social Media?
What does social media have to offer me professionally?:
- built in networks
- unprecedented audience access
- highly personalized interface
- optimized infrastructure and tools
- constant R&D
- unbeatable cost effectiveness
Building Community Through Social Media

5. Which Social Media Should I Use?
What are the strengths of different platforms?:
- Facebook: popular, community focused, built in tools, staying power
- Twitter: gaining in popularity, fast-paced, amazing reach, straightforward
- LinkedIn: professional networks, high SEO, rapid R&D, good discussions
- YouTube: highly interactive, very accessible, easy to manage
- Google+: building off mistakes of Facebook, versatile, “cutting edge”
- Blogging: conversational, familiar medium, more versatile
- Others?
Building Community Through Social Media

6. How Should I Use Social Media?
How does social media lend itself to building community?
- unparalleled community and relationship building capacity
- social media and the Web 2.0 emerged from a context of community
- connection through technology has become normalized
- the popularity of social media has demonstrated a real hunger for connection
- social media is highly accessible
- social media is becoming more and more embedded in the activity of our
every day lives
Building Community Through Social Media

7. How Should I Use Social Media?
What are some of the first steps to building community via
social media?
- identify your community members
- determine what the purpose of your community is/might be
- choose the platform that best meets the needs of your community
- come up with a catchy title
- invite people to your community and be inviting in your actions
- work up come content for your community before launching
- commit to your community
Building Community Through Social Media

8. How Should I Use Social Media?
Once I’ve built a community, how do I grow it and keep
the members engaged?
- ensure the content you provide is relevant to your community and varied
- the 60-30-10 rule of engagement
- always seek input and contributions from your community members
- always respond to contributions and comments
- listen to and incorporate feedback continually and as quickly as possible
- use the tools at your disposal
- encourage emotional investment by your community members
- let go of your community, let it surprise you
Building Community Through Social Media

9. QUESTIONS?
http://www.eastsidemedia.ca/presentations
Building Community Through Social Media