Slides from 12/6/2011 webinar on basic social media tactics for advocacy efforts.

1. Using Social Media for Advocacy
VOICES for Alabama’s Children
January, 6 2011

2. Purpose of Social Media in Advocacy
Not a replacement, but a compliment to other efforts
Social media=3 levels of conversation
Organization to Audience
Audience to Organization
Audience to Peers
Attract, inform & retain interested parties
Learn from audience and gain trust
January, 6 2011
VOICES for Alabama’s Children

3. Starting the Effort
Start with the basics of any other marketing effort
What are your objectives
Specific, measurable, tangible
Who is your audience?
Through what channels do they liked to be reached?
*Answering these questions will determine which social media
channels are appropriate
January, 6 2011
VOICES for Alabama’s Children

4. Starting the Effort
There are hundreds of social media outlets, each used for
different reasons
Today’s Focus:
Facebook
Twitter
Next Time:
YouTube
January, 6 2011
VOICES for Alabama’s Children

5. Facebook
Personal and organizational pages
420 word messages
Facebook is for engaging with people you already know
January, 6 2011
VOICES for Alabama’s Children

6. Facebook
“likes”, “shares” and other personal endorsements on Facebook
carry a lot of weight
This often means they are harder to earn
Attach pictures, videos, articles and other links to your Facebook
posts to attract engagement from your audience
Acknowledge those involved or interested in your post by tagging
them in the content
January, 6 2011
VOICES for Alabama’s Children

7. Twitter
Personal and organizational handles
140 character messages
Twitter is for engaging with those you want to know
January, 6 2011
VOICES for Alabama’s Children

8. Twitter
Following someone on Twitter is much less invasive than friending
on Facebook
This means endorsements on Twitter are gained much easier than
other social media platforms
January, 6 2011
VOICES for Alabama’s Children

9. Twitter: Getting Started
Set up your twitter account and profile- Twitter support
Use your current email list to see who you are in contact with that
is already on Twitter
Search topics that interest you to find others to follow
Keep your profile OPEN
January, 6 2011
VOICES for Alabama’s Children

10. Twitter: Lists
Lists are a way to organize people you follow into categories- by
topic, location, etc.
Organizing people into lists is a great way to stay up-to-date on a
topic and to pass this information on to your own network
January, 6 2011
VOICES for Alabama’s Children

11. Twitter: ReTweeting
ReTweets (RTs) are how users pass tweets they find valuable along
to their own network of followers
There are several ways to RT messages
The RT button
Copying a tweet & pasting it into your own tweet with “RT:” in front
of the content (this allows you to add your own comments to tweet)
January, 6 2011
VOICES for Alabama’s Children

12. Twitter: @Mentions
@mentions are a way to
Talk with someone publicly on Twitter
Reference someone when you are passing their information along
Always @mention someone when you are RTing their post
@mentions are a great way to get others engaged in your content
To @mention type in “@” and type in the Twitter handle you would
like to tag
January, 6 2011
VOICES for Alabama’s Children

13. Twitter: Hashtags
Adding a # before you type a word or phrase in a tweet allows you
to post those words as a link within Twitter
To use this function, type “#” along with the word, or group of
words, you would like to be linked WITHOUT spaces or puctuation
#RollTide instead of #Roll Tide or #RollTide!
Users are able to click # links to be taken to a list of tweets that
have used the same #
Great way to spread advocacy
One specific hashtag needs to be adopted by a large group
January, 6 2011
VOICES for Alabama’s Children

14. Twitter: Links
Add links to pictures, videos, articles, other websites, etc. to your
tweets
Tweets with links are much more likely to get engagement
Link shortening services
Bitly
Tinyurl
Goo.gl
January, 6 2011
VOICES for Alabama’s Children

15. Twitter: Tweet Deck
Program to help you organize your Twitter account(s)
Timeline
@Mentions
Messages All in one place
Lists
Hashtags
January, 6 2011
VOICES for Alabama’s Children

16. General Social Media Rules
Quality over quantity
Don’t just broadcast information, participate in the conversation
Don’t be afraid to share updates that aren’t from you or an
organization you are directly connected to
If it’s valuable to your cause, your followers will appreciate it
Stay dedicated to updating your accounts
Don’t connect Facebook with Twitter
January, 6 2011
VOICES for Alabama’s Children

17. Contacts
Carlton Wood- Account Supervisor, Lewis Communications
carlton@lewiscommunications.com Twitter: @Cwood3
Lizzie Yarbrough- Digital Marketing Manager, Lewis Communications
eyarbrough@lewiscommunications.com Twitter: @LizzieYarbrough
Linda Tilly- Executive Director, VOICES for Alabama’s Children
ltilly@alavoices.org Twitter: @VFAC
Presentation Archive can be accessed here
January, 6 2011
VOICES for Alabama’s Children