Social Media for Beginners

Carie LewisDirector of Emerging Media

The Humane Society of the United States

How many of you have… • A personal Facebook profile?• A Facebook page for your org?• A personal or professional Twitter? • Watched a video on YouTube?• Read a blog?• Looked at pictures on Flickr?

These are all social networking venues and opportunities for recruiting and engaging supporters!

My name is Carie, and I’m a social networking addict.

What is social networking?Connects people online by similar interests or other individuals.

Fosters two way communication, collaboration, and sharing among users.

Used to expand the number of one’s business and/or social contacts by making connections through others.

There’s a huge learning curve with social media. Welcome to 101!

By people:

■ Connect with their favorite organizations■ Recruit & network with others■ Obtain useful resources■ Self expression■ Keep in touch with friends and family

By organizations:

■ Connect and build community■ Educate people that you might not reach any other way■ Raise money and awareness■ Get your message out to a hard to reach demographic■ Turn friends into online advocates and donors (build email list)■ Give a “face” to the organization using a conversational tone

How social networks are used

Terms to Know

Tweet

Hashtag

Tagging

Like

Publisher

Others?

The differenceYou have a website. Isn’t that enough?

Website Social network

One way communication Two way communication

Content generated in house Content generated by users

Organization’s voice People’s voice

Talking to people Talking with people

Marketing Conversations

Expect information Expect interaction

Social networking has revolutionized the way we communicate and share information with one another in today's society.

What does this mean?We must not ignore traditional channels, but embrace the new ones, and fit them

into our overall communications strategies.

We must adapt by having a presence in places

where people are.

This means:

• Finding new ways to engage our existing supporters.• Recruiting new supporters, donors and advocates.• Giving people a way to show they support us.• Giving people an easy way to recruit friends, family, and strangers.

Where We Are

humanesociety.org/connect

HSUS Social Media Strategy•Be where people are

•Stay on top of latest trends

• Research new opportunities

• Train staff

• Have guidelines

• Take an integrated approach

• Measure everything!

• Executive participation

• Showcase successes

• Listen

• Don’t be afraid to fail

• Learn from mistakes

Facebook Options & HSUS Structure

Facebook Fan Pagefor businesses, organizations, public figures

official HSUS presence – only one

Facebook Groups organized by interest

each state / campaign can have one

Facebook Causesfor specific movements

each state / campaign can have many

Facebook Profilea real person

each person has one – but only one

We started out with one person

Went under the radar

Began by recruiting like minded members and participating in discussion boards

Built up a supporter base

We proved its worth by speaking their language

We compared the ROI to our paid banner campaigns

Got a tech-savvy employee to train executives and staff

Sensitive to all curiosity and comfort levels (we got some on Facebook, some just a daily digest of our Twitter feed to their email

…Don’t just tell them about it: get them involved!

How we did it

• Sharing information, successes, failures with other orgs

• Elevated importance within the org

• integrated into all communications plans

•featured on redesigned org homepage

• sharing links on every email, webpage

• Exponential program growth from 08 to 09:

• 312% increase in number of fans

• 585% increase in number of Cause supporters

• 249% increase in amount raised on Causes

• Recognition by Fast Company, Huffington Post, Mashable

• Facebook is now the #1 referring site to our website

• Raised over $300k from social media outreach in 09

It’s working…

Success is no longer just about

how many friends you have.

Do those friends do what you want them to?• Sign advos and petitions• Donate• Recruit friends• Share your content• Subscribe to your email list

Measurement

A Note About Facebook PrivacyIt’s a GREAT idea to have someone teach your employees about online privacy, particularly Facebook.

Dual accounts are a violation of Facebook’s Terms of Service

Use Friend Lists to organize

Categorize friends based on what you do (or don’t) want them to see

Set up friend lists > set privacy settings > set search settings

NEVER post something you wouldn’t want on the front page of the New York Times!

(Or something you wouldn’t want your mother or boss to see!)

What Does… And Doesn’t Work• Decide where you want to be and why, and how it fits in to your goals

– DO NOT just be everywhere because everyone else is.• Keep the tone conversational

– DO NOT just repost press releases and web stories – provide links • Keep content fresh

- DO NOT create a page and walk away from it – stale info is annoying and discouraging• When you have new content, alert people passively (post to your newsfeed)

– DO NOT over-use messaging features – only when you want people to do something• Use visual content

– DO NOT make your profile text heavy – use photos, videos, graphics• Take the time to build your friend list and customize your profile

– DO NOT assume that if you build it they will come• Respond to every message / comment back

• DO NOT ignore messages – you’ll be missing the point of social networks• Provide downloadable content (I support X org)

• DO NOT make it difficult for them – give them the download code

NOW.. DON’T FREAK OUT.Isn’t it just a bunch of teenagers?How do I know if it’s worth it?What if people say bad things?What if I’m a small nonprofit?How do I find someone to do this?What if I don’t have fancy equipment?What if people run off with my message?How do I handle blog comments?Doesn’t it take a lot of time?How do I make my campaign sexy?How do I convince the higher-ups?

The Good Stuff!• Low cost• Wider reach• Obtain free and original content• Follow in other’s footsteps• Take advantage of the viral nature of the internet• Another, new venue to reach your goals• Reach a hard to reach demographic (start lifelong relationships)• Reach people you may not reach any other way• Take existing content from website and repurpose

How to Get Started#1 - Decide if you’re ready.

You are ready if:• You have the time and resources to invest in getting started.• You’ve gotten over the fear of losing control of your message.• You are okay with opening the door to criticism.• You know how to measure your success.• You’ve got buy in from the top – down.

#2 – Google yourself.See where others have already established a presence for you:• MySpace profiles and groups• Facebook Fan Pages, Groups, Causes, and other Apps• Flickr photos and YouTube videos• Blogs• Social bookmarking sites (Digg, StumbleUpon)

#3 – Assign resources.• Get a volunteer, intern or existing staffer• Young, internet savvy, on social networks ALREADY! SO

important

#4 - Pick one venue and build it up• Take what you learn and expand to other networks• Repurpose your Flickr, YouTube content on MySpace, Facebook

#5 – Track your successes (and failures!)• Referring stats for visitors from your website• Source codes for conversions from your CMS• Friend and commenting trends from the networks

What You Can Do Now

#1 - Decide on one network and focus on building it up.

#2 – Get a tracking system. Google Analytics is free.

#3 – Sign up for YouTube Nonprofit Program and Google Grants.

#4 – Subscribe to industry publications like Mashable and SmartBrief.

#5 – Look up your org’s profile on Facebook Causes to see the what’s already created for you.

#6 – Set up daily Tweetbeep and Google Alerts for your name.

#7 – Build your friend list first. Don’t assume that if you build it they will come.

#8 – Replicate all of your events on Facebook and determine Twitter hashtags early.

#9 – Make all of your content shareable with a tool like AddThis.

#10 – Make your page media-driven by uploading content and embedding.

Get started by joining the fun here at TAFA!humanesociety.org/

tafacommunity

Thank you!

Carie Lewis

Director of Emerging Media

The Humane Society of the United States

Email: clewis@humanesociety.org

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/carielewis

Twitter: @cariegrls

Blog: cariegrls.blogspot.com