PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL

SOCIAL MEDIA BEST PRACTICESAgent Guide to Posting at Events

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AGENT SOCIAL MEDIA AT COMMUNITY EVENTS

Participating in community events is a great way to show

people who you are and what you stand for and Social

Media is a great vehicle to help you share those

experiences.

The following is a Best Practices guide when participating in

events to help you get the most out of your social media

platforms when you’re out in the community.

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Facebook

Facebook is the most widely used platform with nearly 1.4 Billion monthly active users

worldwide, and 180 million user within the US.

• Posting: Post no more than 2 times a day on Facebook. You don’t want to clog up your followers’

Facebook newsfeeds. So what do you do with all those photos you’re taking? Create a Facebook

album, so your followers can see them all in one post. **Note – Albums can only be created

from the desktop version, so best create that before you leave.

• Tagging: Tag your photos on Facebook. You can tag individual people (i.e. you and staff) as well

as other Business Pages . ALWAYS tag! You may also tag the local event page (if they have

created one) as they will likely share out content from participants.

• Events: If it is an event you are hosting, think about creating a Facebook Event yourself that you

can promote to your followers. It’s a great way to garner interest and engage with those that are

interested in attending.

• Hashtags: Although Hashtags aren’t as widely used on Facebook, Hashtags are used to make

your content searchable. Make sure to leverage Hashtags in use by event participants to ensure

the best traction. Many events will promote there hashtag onsite or in pre-event communications.

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Twitter

Twitter is the most widely used for current events and has nearly 500 million tweets sent

daily.

• Posting: Post as much as you want on Twitter! Twitter is a great place for in-the-

moment updates.

EX 1. “Just set up my booth at the #BoiseFair!

EX 2. “First time at my @LocalChamber! We’ll see how this goes. #NewComer”

EX 3. “Check out this amazing #sunset! What a treat after a hard day’s work.”

• Hashtags: Hashtags help people find your content. For example, if I’m watching

Dancing with the Stars and want to know what people are saying about it, I can

search #DWTS on Twitter and every tweet that has that hashtag in it will pop up. It’s

a great way to join a conversation about a particular topic. Here are some tips:

o DO hashtag cities, common items, common sayings, places, events, and

campaigns.

o DON’T #hashtag #your #whole #tweet

o DON’T #hashtagyourwholesentence

*Looking for the perfect hashtag? Twitter is here to help.

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• Tagging: Tag people and organizations in your posts whenever you can. It helps

more people to see your content. Tagging is different on Twitter than it is on

Facebook. On Facebook, you can tag photos, and you can simply write a person’s

name in your post and Facebook will automatically tag them. Not the case for Twitter.

To tag a person or organization on Twitter you must know their Twitter handle and

post it in the text.

EX. 1 “So proud to serve my customers as a @WeAreFarmers agent!

EX. 2 “Watching @RickieFowler rock the @PGAChampionship. #SundayOrange

• Twitter handles and hashtags for common volunteer events

#StBernardProject @StBernardProj

#FarmersCares @WeAreFarmers

#SeaBright @SeaBrightBoro (the city of Sea Bright)

#HurricaineSandy @Habitat_org (Habitat for Humanity’s nat’l org)

#WeAreFarmers @SalvationArmyUS (Salvation Army’s US org)

#GiveBack

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Instagram

Instagram has quickly gone from a trendy iOS-only app to a massive social network now

backed by Facebook.

• Posting: Instagram is all about pictures! This is the place to showcase your beautiful

photos of the event, yourself and the people in your agency. You can post photos

AND videos here, but keep in mind, your videos will cut off after 15 seconds.

Whatever you post, make sure it’s visually stimulating!

o DO Post photos of beautiful landscapes, i.e. sunsets, the ocean, etc.

o DO Post group photos of people attending & working the event

o DO Post time-lapse videos

o DON’T Post photos of the backs of people’s heads

o DON’T Post photos with no particular focus

o DON’T Post blurry photos

• Hashtags: Hashtags work the same on Instagram as on Twitter. However, Instagram

does not have the same 140 character limit as Twitter. Therefore, people use a lot

more hashtags to categorize their content and make it searchable. The general rule

of thumb is at least 4 hashtags on every Instagram post. This helps more people

see your content, so you can get more followers.

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• Tagging: Tag organizations and people in your posts if possible. There are two ways to

do this on Instagram:

1. Tag people by typing their Instagram handle in the text of your post.

2. Tag people by selecting “Tag People” when you’re posting your image. Click on

your photo and type in the Instagram handle of the person or organization you

want to tag.

Example of a good Instagram photo Example of a bad Instagram photo

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HEARSAY

The majority of the content you post during a community or volunteer event should come

from you, not Farmers. Your posts should show your followers a first person perspective of

your time at the event.

However, for ongoing larger community efforts such as Thank America’s Teachers, pre-

written content is available in Hearsay for your use. To post this content you must have a

Hearsay account.

1. Log Into Hearsay.

2. Search the tag “Farmers Cares” or “Thank America’s Teachers.”

3. Choose which post you want to publish.

4. Select the platforms you want it to publish to.

5. Click “Publish.”

If you do not have a Hearsay account, you can subscribe in the Agency Marketing Store.

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CALENDARING CONTENT

Depending on the type of event, it may be appropriate to post content leading up to and

after the event. A good best practice would be to develop a content calendar within your

Hearsay account, and schedule content out for each of your accounts. Below are some

examples and suggestions by event.

If it is an event you are hosting, we absolutely encourage you to be promoting the event

weeks before to ensure you garner your local community’s attention. (e.g. Open House)

As a result, we’d recommend:

– Publishing content at least one month in advance

– Capturing content onsite that may be used no later than a week following

For Events you are participating in (e.g. Sports Sponsorship/Community Fair) we’d

recommend:

– Publishing the week leading up to the event, and leverage existing messaging or

hashtags from the promoter of the event.

– Capturing content onsite to be published while at the event or by end of day

Giving your event some legs

Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Friday Sat

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PHOTOS TIPS

Try to always include a photo in your posts

Social media is increasingly visual. People expect photos and videos, or they will scroll

right past your name in their newsfeeds. Remember, you are competing with all of your

followers’ friends and family who are posting photos of their kids, pets, and exciting

vacations. A simple text update can easily be missed.

Post a mix of photos

Your audience will tune out of they see the same photos over and over (i.e. five photos

in a row of a check presentation). Take a variety of kinds of photos: people working and

not looking at the camera, people smiling at the camera, group photos, people laughing,

a local dignitary speaking, etc. Social media is a place to tell the story of the event.

Create a Facebook album

If you have a lot of photos that you want to post, a Facebook album is a great way to

provide your followers with one place to see all the day’s events. Anytime you want to

share another photo from the event, simply add it to the album.

LinkedIn is NOT the appropriate platform for your photos

Post your photos from events on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (Snapchat too for

those social media rock stars out there). LinkedIn is better for professional updates

about the insurance industry and recruiting for your agency.

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HOW TO TAKE A GREAT PHOTO

Frame your subject, making sure that no heads are cut

off and there’s not too much space above or below the

subject.

If you’re taking an action shot, make sure you can see

the action and not just the backs of the people

performing the action. Also, if using an iPhone, use the

Photo Burst option to capture just the right image.

Do not backlight your subjects. If the sun is behind the

subject you’re photographing, the subject will be dark

like a silhouette.

Blurry pictures are the worst! Focus your camera before

taking the photo. If you have an iPhone, you can tap the

screen where you want to focus.

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VIDEO TIPS

Videos perform great in social media, but keep them SHORT! Videos that are shorter

than 30 seconds are more likely to be watched to the end.

Shoot short videos of the action happening around the event.

Interview people at the event, possibly a town celebrity personality.

If you have an iPhone6, create a time-lapse video. These are hyper-speed videos that

are really fun to watch. To create one, you:

– Go to your phone’s camera.

– Choose the “time-lapse” option. It’s the first camera option to the left, next to slo-mo,

video, photo, square, and pano.

– Remember, the time-lapse compresses the video. 30 seconds of shooting will equal

about 2 seconds of video. Click on the link below to see an example.

Example of a Hyperlapse video

You can also create a Hyperlapse video on older phones by downloading the Hyperlapse app

from Instagram in the Apple App Store.

Post your videos on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Remember, that Instagram will

cut your video off at 15 seconds.