3. TL;DR
Too long; didn’t read
Attention span isn’t just about length
It’s about how you present yourself
It’s about whether you’re engaging
It’s about whether you’re authentic
4. What platforms does your organization
use?
Facebook?
Twitter?
Instagram?
Other?
Pinterest
Snapchat
Periscope
Vine
Tinder
5. How do you handle social media at your
organization?
Does it fall under the purview of one specific person?
Is it the communications person? Intern? Other staff
person?
6. “How do I social media?”
Anyone who claims they can answer
this question with one solution is lying.
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution:
Only you know your org’s culture, audience, and the
best ways to reach them
7. Obstacle 1: social media is expensive
(but not in the way you might think)
In order to have an effective social media presence, you
need to:
Put in TIME
Put in ENERGY
Put in CREATIVITY
Put in MONEY (sometimes)
Put in STAFF (which = time + money + energy +
creativity + lunch hopefully)
8. Obstacle 2: Social Media is Crowded
Facebook just passed 1.7 billion active monthly users
9. Obstacle 2: Social Media is Crowded
How do you stand out when everyone just wants to see:
10. Obstacle 3: Social Media is
Algorithmically Curated
Your organic audience is getting more and more
segmented (intentionally)
This can be a good thing
It can create strong active users
This can be a bad thing
It makes it hard to reach more people
11. All is not lost!
With some pre-planning, cool (read: free) resources,
and commitment, you can tackle these obstacles
But make no mistake:
There is no way around the time-suck
It just doesn’t have to all be on you!
12. Step 1: Make Your Plan
Ask yourself: who is your audience? Use that to:
Decide what platforms work best for your organization and its audience:
Facebook: general interest (basically mandatory)
Twitter: news-heavy, quick and digestible, conversational, hashtag
searchable
Instagram: image/video heavy, skews younger, hashtag searchable
Snapchat: image/video exclusive, skews younger, “wild west”
Pinterest: image heavy, products/idea focused
Linkedin: no.
It’s pretty difficult to effectively moderate/maintain more than 3 pages
GO TO YOUR AUDIENCE, don’t expect them to go to you
13. Step 1: Make Your Plan
Find your organization’s purpose and voice on these channels
Social media is a tool, why will/should people use it to connect with your
organization?
Decide why you’re here. Are you:
A news or information resource?
A way to raise awareness for an issue?
A nonprofit with a revenue stream that wants to sell products?
How is that goal communicated?
Is your voice intellectual?
Is your voice dry?
Is your voice self-deprecating?
14. Step 1: Make Your Plan
Determine the best ways to keep your content
flowing, and codify it in your organization
Create opportunities for information sharing
Establish regular meetings and brainstorming sessions
Make sure everyone is aware of the organization’s
social media pages and is following along
They can be a great advocate for gaining followers!
Schedule weekly posts if you know they’ll be
relevant
15. Step 2: Keep your content flowing &
engaging
“Content is king” is misleading
People are smarter, more selective, and more skeptical than
ever
Social media is a telephone not a megaphone
The content you post should be relevant to your mission,
your voice, and your purpose
But it should be about trying to bring people along in a
conversation, not (just) an advertisement
16. Step 2: Keep your content flowing &
engaging
How do you start that conversation?
Never miss an opportunity for people to participate!
Ask for their thoughts, ideas, etc.
Run contests
The more people engage with content, the more
invested they will feel in your organization
Your content will also be visible to more people
17. Step 2: Keep your content flowing &
engaging
How do you start that conversation?
You’re not alone in this: give credit where it’s due!
Tag people, businesses, and orgs in posts whenever possible
It can be tedious, but put in the time to find the pages!
By the other token: make sure YOU’RE easily searchable as
well!
Invite people to tag themselves if you have group photos
All this increases visibility and drives even more engagement
18. Step 2: Keep your content flowing &
engaging
How do you start that conversation?
“Talk” to people!
Find like-minded people and pages who might support
your cause and interact
Comment or give (positive) feedback on things people
post
Don’t be afraid to engage your competitors
Besides, you can mine them for followers/supporters
19. Step 2: Keep your content flowing &
engaging
Where do you get content?
Remember those information sharing opportunities you
created?
Capture stories, vignettes, images, etc. from whole staff
Never miss an opportunity to take a picture for social!
Social media is not just a one-person job, it should be woven
into culture of your org
Decreases time-suck
Keeps your content fresh and relevant
20. Step 2: Keep your content flowing &
engaging
What kind of content is “engaging”
Pictures and video (ESSENTIAL)
Motion is far more eye-catching than stills, but ANY
image is more eye-catching than text
<<
21. Step 2: Keep your content flowing &
relevant
Photography doesn’t have to be expensive
It’s better to have less than professional photos
than no photos at all
(But professional photos are great.)
Don’t forget the snipping tool if you’re in dire
need.
Mac: command + shift + 4
22. Step 2: Keep your content flowing &
relevant
Stories are engaging…
But don’t stray into TL;DR territory
Hook ‘em, then link ‘em
24. So let’s catch our breath:
Your organization has taken a good, hard, look at your goals for
social media presence
You’ve used those goals to pick two or three platforms to
provide content on
You’re creating a storytelling/social media culture in your
organization, sharing ideas, content, and stories from your work
to post on channels
Once you have these ideas and content, you’re consistently
sharing out these things (preferably pictures or video) on your
platforms, but inviting people to engage with you by
commenting, sharing, providing feedback, etc. and also doing
some commenting and feedback-ing of your own
27. Step 3: Engage, Drive, Repeat
“Engagement” is the driver, not the destination
Make sure your most relevant content has a call to
action
Not only does it need to create an emotional
connection, but it needs to drive people to act
29. Step 3: Engage, Drive, Repeat
What did you notice about these two videos?
How did they differ?
Which was more compelling?
What was missing?
30. Step 3: Engage, Drive, Repeat
Honesty and authenticity are priceless
Being too slick can be a detriment
You don’t have to re-invent the wheel to break
through noise
Capitalize on trends, pre-existing hashtags, and
movements to spin it in fun directions
Live tweet/update events that are going on that you have
a presence at
Use Facebook live streaming or Periscope (tastefully and
within reason)
You’re (probably) not going to go viral—that’s okay!
32. Step 4: Analyze and Adjust
But if it’s really not working, then look at the numbers
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have great analytics to
help you get the most out of your posts
Even if you think your presence is healthy, you should
still be checking analytics and adjusting as necessary
33. Step 4: Analyze and Adjust
You can also opt for paid placement
And—unfortunately—it works.
Social networks are a business—it’s designed to take your
money and deliver a product
But never buy likes, followers, etc.
There are entire businesses devoted to creating fake
accounts for this—they’re not real followers and won’t
translate into supporters!
34. Now the fun (FREE) stuff
There are some great tools that can help alleviate
social media related stress
35. Now to tie a nice bow on this:
Social media is an abbreviated form of storytelling–
Your Facebook post/tweet/Instagram is like the back cover
of your novel, you’ve got to hook them to tell your story
(thanks John!)
Social media is not a solitary task
Your whole organization should be helping, including the
board (thanks Rachel!)
Social media is how you represent your organization
…and how your employees represent it. Make sure your
voice is consistent (thanks Patrick!)
There is no one-size-fits-all answer
But you have the answers already!
