Making Social Media Work For You: National Housing Federation, West Midlands Region

1. Making Social Media Work For You
20th September 2013
Emily Wightman – Social Media Manager
Michael Patterson – Director
20/09/2014

2. What is Social Media?
Social media refers to the means of
interactions among people in which they
create, share, and/or exchange
information and ideas in virtual
communities and networks
(Wikipedia)
Social media is your opportunity to enhance social
communication.
Social Media is here to stay!
20/09/2014

3. What can social media do for
your organisation?
Establish and develop your online presence
Empower people who use your services
Develop or refine your social media strategy
Communicate with people you work with or support
Optimising Fundraising
Get you noticed by the people you want to get noticed by
Recruit employees and volunteers
Engage with people who are hard to reach
Develop new contacts, partnerships and collaborations
Save you money: Reduce costs of traditional media
Engage staff and people who use your services
Increase your Social Return on Investment
20/09/2014

4. Launch Date: 2006
Registered Users: 500 Million (2012)
Active Users: 200 million (Feb 2013)
UK Users: 10 million (2012)
Top ten most visited websites
Tweets Per Day: 400 million (Sept 2013)
Largest Age Group: 18-24
20/09/2014
Benefits:
Build connections
Interact directly
Follow your target audience
RT, @mention and ‘favourite’
140 characters- ‘short and sweet’
Instant
#hashtags and trending topics
What could hold you back?
With 400 million tweets per day,
your tweet can get lost
Is 140 characters- too short?

5. 20/09/2014
Launch Date: 2004
Active Users: 1.15 billion (March 2013)
Average User has 141 Friends
Average Age: 22
Worlds largest social media network
Benefits
Largest social media platform
Group and business pages
Like, share and comment
Recent introduction of #Hashtags
What could hold you back?
Time consuming to gain ‘likes’
Difficult to engage with those not
following you

6. 20/09/2014
Launch Date: 2003
Active Users: 238 million
Company pages: 3 million
Linkedin Groups: 1.5 million
Largest Age Group: 25-44
User who check profiles: 40%
Benefits:
Recruiting
Engage with communities
Improves Google ranking
Build company profile
What could hold you back?
Be careful of head hunters!
No secrets- your search activity
informs individuals
Is this the right audience for your
organisation?

7. 20/09/2014
Launch Date: 2005
4,000,000,000 views everyday!
60 hours of video uploaded every hour
Benefits:
Showcase your expertise
Engage those who prefer visual and audio
Set up your own channel
Record events, feedback from service users
What could hold you back?
Recording equipment
Uploading time
Privacy

8. 20/09/2014
Launch Date: 2010
Active Users: 70 million
Pins: 80% of pins are re-pins
What could hold you back?
Copyright
Original links can get lost
Not much room for content on Pin
Benefits:
Visual
Share projects and work
Attractive
Generate ideas & inspiration
Links to website

9. Staff, Customers & Stakeholders
• Staff should be involved in the social media
conversations that organisations have, within
the parameters the organisation agrees
• Social media is a far more "equal" means of
communication with people you support in a
scenario of inevitable power imbalance: it's a
much more comfortable, convenient,
"detached" & interesting way of
communicating. People have a voice.
20/09/2014

10. Staff, Customers & Stakeholders
• Commissioners, funders and other supporters
know who you are and what you do and the
fact that you're really committed. You can
have an ongoing dialogue with them outside
of formal meetings.
20/09/2014

11. Staff, Customers & Stakeholders
• Engage staff and empower the people you
support. Anyone can use social media, it's a
leveller. Participation in social media should be
within defined parameters but with the emphasis
on wide communication.
• An organisation's social media presence should
have a "personality" in the same sense as the
organisation has a brand with the difference that
the "personality" is the way you relate to people
you communicate with via social media.
20/09/2014

12. Staff, Customers & Stakeholders
• Social media is an increasingly important way
of raising and developing your profile with
people who matter to your organisation for
whatever reason.
20/09/2014

13. The Message
• How are you going to manage your
communications via social media?
• Who are you trying to communicate with?
– Bristol Drugs Project: Enjoy #BrisFest safely.
Advice on #drugs at http://bit.ly/15GsnY3
@BristolDrugsProject
– Brandon Trust: #SROI and services for people with
#learningdisabilities http://bit.ly/18F9wJv
@BrandonTrust
20/09/2014

14. The Message
– An infographic explaining the Welfare reform Act:
http://bit.ly/159NTkm
• What means are you going to use?
• Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn are the big 3 but
there are many others spanning most of the
sensory inputs that the brain absorbs: words,
sounds, colour, images, movement
20/09/2014

15. Social Media Management
• It's best to have someone with overall
responsibility for social media
• You should have a social media strategy. Often
it will be part of your organisation's wider
communications strategy.
• Reputation management matters. A positive
social media presence that engages people
within clear parameters is really important
20/09/2014

16. Social Media Management
• Make sure you measure the efficacy of your
social media work. You can always learn new
things and do the same things better.
• Manage your “reputation” via social media
• The Media Bubble White Paper:
http://bit.ly/1gFa0El
20/09/2014

17. Questions?
emily@themediabubble.co.uk
www.themediabubble.co.uk
0845 271 3081
Download our White Paper: The Extent and Nature of Social Media Usage Within
UK Social Organisations That Support Vulnerable People
20/09/2014