Social Media for Jr. League Communications

Training PresentationBy Sarah Granger, PublicEdge

What is Social Media?

Social media is defined differently depending on who you ask. Most people think of social networks like Facebook & Twitter, but it can include blogs, Evites, interactive websites and e-mail… anything that’s online and involves interaction between people.

Why Should the Jr. League Use It?

• Social media is the best modern method of word-of-mouth marketing

• Free PR• Easy ability to reach large numbers of people

quickly• Reusable content allows for speedy

dissemination of information• Web 2.0 is all about collaboration and

community – a perfect fit with the League

Best Social Media for Non-Profits

• E-mail Groups• Facebook• LinkedIn• Twitter• Flickr• YouTube• Blogs• Custom networks (like Ning)

E-mail Groups

• Group communication online for the League has been highly successful

• Committee e-mail aliases makes internal communication easy

• League members can also create subgroups• Googlegroups is recommended over

Yahoogroups – better user interface and document sharing is enabled

Facebook

• Second only to e-mail, Facebook is becoming the place where everyone shares the causes and organizations they care about with their friends and colleagues and it’s where everyone finds out about them

• Share League events, stories, links and photos all through personal feeds or group pages

• Promote League membership, events and projects

Promotion on Facebook

• Join the group or Fan Page, searchable under ‘Junior League’

• Build out the Fan Page with sub-events and causes, even raise money!

• Raise awareness for community projects and issues

• Push out press releases, messages from leadership & other League content

• Merge feeds with Twitter, FriendFeed, etc.

Facebook Privacy

• Under Settings/Privacy Settings, configure your personal account to preferred settings

• Select by topic who can see each part of your personal profiles: just friends, network or all

• Protect who can see your data when searching• Determine exactly what gets posted to other

peoples’ news feeds• Limit what 3rd party applications can see• (See handout.)

LinkedIn

• Great way to do professional networking & answer non-profit-related organizing questions

• Wonderful way to showcase your League skills & find common professional interests

• All League members on LinkedIn should be in the Junior League group

• Building a complete profile is key• Maintain regular group updates• Pose questions to the community

Twitter

• Twitter is essentially micro-blogging or a mini-news feed

• Who’s on twitter? Arnold Schwarzennegger, Gavin Newsom, Oprah, media, bloggers, SPAC

• Twitter is only useful when used to follow members, community partners, media, their staffs and when they start following you

Twitter Lingo

• @name = this is how everyone refers to each user on Twitter and can be seen in @replies

• RT = Retweet, which is essentially someone repeating what someone else tweeted

• DM = Direct Message, i.e. private correspondence via Twitter

• #hashtags = these are used for topic differentiation, like #politics or #woc (women of color), groups use these to find each other

Twitter Tools

• Search.twitter.com – searches for topics• Twitterfall.com – can watch threads as they

continue• Tweetie – great tool both as software and on

the iPhone• Tweetdeck – more for Blackberry, windows• (Longer list available via e-mail by request.)

Blogs & Blogging

• Blogs can be considered casual online magazines or online newspapers

• People flock to blogs because they tend toward a more conversational atmosphere

• Post as often as possible• Assign someone to monitor the comments &

keep out the spammers, trolls• Keep the content fresh - don’t always use the

same as in email & other social media• Network with related bloggers

Why Blog for the League?

• It’s a way to reach people in the community and bring them closer together; it’s like an online diary of League people and activities

• If you have a personal blog, consider writing about what you do in the League on that blog – you never know who you might reach

• If you know bloggers, ask to write guest posts on their blogs or ask them to write on ours

Social Media Communications Strategy

• Stick to one theme per message, note, etc.• Reuse content for each medium/network so

the same info reaches everyone• Make it “sticky” - keep people there & get

them to return• Personalize – friendly, specific content, stories• Use Images - photos, video make a big

difference

Using Social Media for Outreach, Recruitment

• Don’t be afraid to use your social network online – it’s the modern way of asking a friend to lunch and telling her about the League

• Facebook is an awesome way to recruit people for causes and to inform about our community projects

• Social media can help break the “white gloves and pearls” illusion and bring others to us

Social Media for PR

• Changing a few words here and there to personalize content will make bloggers more interested in using our info in their articles

• Bloggers and media will follow our activities on Twitter and if they can click on a link to a blog post or a page on our site to get info, it’s that much easier for them to post about it

• Online, buzz is viral – word spreads quickly

Integrating Social Media & Etiquette

• Always take an integrated approach• If someone puts up a blog post, resends your

facebook message, retweets your alert, sends e-mail to their network, etc. make sure to thank them for both their time and their commitment to the issue.

• Put anyone who helps you out on a list and make sure to keep them informed as the bill status changes.

Other Online Tools for Meetings

• Online chat tools (Jabber, etc.)• Instant messaging (AIM, YIM, MSN, Skype)• Text messaging (via mobile phones SMS)• Online conference call tools

(freeconference.com)• Online polling tools• Event management tools – Evite, Doodle, etc.

Warning!

Social Media can suck up all of your time… use with caution.

Questions?

Contact: Sarah Granger(415)377-6676 cell/textsarah@publicedge.com@publicedge on TwitterPublicEdge on Facebookhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/sairy