This document provides a step-by-step guide for nonprofits to develop listening literacy on social media. It outlines 7 steps for setting up a social media radar using free tools like RSS readers and keyword searches to monitor conversations and engage effectively. The goal is to understand what audiences are saying about your nonprofit in order to improve programs and communications.

1. Social Media Listening
Literacy For Nonprofits
Beth Kanter, Beth’s Blog

2. Listening Literacy: Step-by-Step
1. Get your nonprofit ready to listen
2. Key skills
3. Essential Tool: RSS Reader
4. Your Radar
5. The Art of Responding
6. Pattern Analysis, Trends, and
Reporting
7. Listening in A Blizzard

3. Share Pair
• What is your organization’s
experience with listening?
• What do you want to
improve?

4. 1. Get your organization ready to listen

5. How will you organize listening?
•Who will do the listening and
responding?
•Response policy?
•How much time will you allocate?
•How will you analyze the results
and share insights?
•How will you know if listening
has be useful?

6. 2. Listening: Key Skills
• Keywords Are King: Composing & Refining
• Pattern Analysis
• Engaging Effectively

7. Keywords Are King: Composing & Refining

8. What to search for?
• Nonprofit Name
• Other nonprofit names in your space
• Program, services, and event names
• CEO or well-known personalities
associated with your organization
• Other nonprofits with similar
program names
• Your brand or tagline
• URLs for your blog, web site, online
community
• Industry terms or other phrases
• Your known strengths and
weaknesses.

9. What NOT to search for?
Try to avoid generic terms.
If your organization's name or program
names contain generic words, use
Boolean operators like quot;ANDquot; or
quot;NOT.quot;

10. Think like your audience
“It is important to connect with people
based on their interests (I will
sometimes search twitter for quot;kids
outsidequot; and then compliment them on
giving their kids a green hour!) ”
Danielle Brigida

11. Think Offline ….
List Your Key Why Important Brainstorm
Words/Phrases Related Words
Share Pair: Brainstorm some key words

12. Use Online Keyword Tools
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

14. Revise Keywords Based On Results

15. Use Your RSS Reader
Like A Rock Star!

16. Which one is
right for you?

20. Good RSS Habits
Small block of time
for daily reading
Clean house,
reorganize
Don’t feel obligated
to read everything

21. Let’s Set Up Your First Social Media Radar
(using free tools)

22. Ego Searches Basics
Persistent Searches Key words phrases
Key Bloggers Blog Feeds
Other Places Social Networks,
YouTube, Etc

23. Your Ego Feeds
Name or URL
Put into folders in your reader

24. There’s not a (free) magic wand ……

25. Exercise: Set Up A Few Ego
Feeds in Your Reader
• Do search at site for the first time
• Add a RSS feed to your reader
• Monitor in your reader
• Pattern Analysis
• Engage when needed

26. Persistent Search: Use Keywords, Rinse and
Repeat

27. Exercise: Set up Keyword Searches

28. Listening to Bloggers

29. These steps require a few hours of
research in the beginning …

30. Browse and scan blogs at directories

32. Look for bridge
bloggers

33. Add to Your Reader

35. You read the blog in your reader ..

36. Building Your Feeds and
Finding Influencers
• Slow growth at first, spider out
• Don’t be afraid to clean, unsubscribe, and
reorganize
• Spreadsheet analysis
• Check out Google Page Rank
• You can check out their monthly views
• You can check out their technorati
ranking

38. Other Places To Set Up Listening Posts
If you’re planning to set up a presence or you
know your audience is there …

39. Source: Kd Paine – Buy her book, read her blog

41. Most important:
How many times was a video watched?
How many times was it rated and what
were the ratings?
How many comments did it get?
Also record:
How many times has it been favorited?
How many times has it been embedded?
How many times has it been linked to?

43. The Art of Response

44. If you find people talking
about you ….
Problem Not Problem
Big Problem Keep track of themes
Little Problem
Keep track of positives
Track themes
Be prepared to discuss
Source: KD Paine

45. Swing into crisis mode and call in the boss

46. If Keywords are Kings, Comments are Queens

47. Read and comment on blogs
Think before you respond!
What did they say well?
What did they miss?
Answer questions
What are other people saying
How does it apply to you
Look forward
Look backward
Ask what if?

48. Pattern Analysis
Tools

49. The Most Important Tool

50. Excel Spreadsheet

51. Review Trends, Share

52. Listening in a Blizzard: Professional Tools

53. • What can professional tools do that
free ones can’t?
• Start with free tools, perfect your
radar, look for ways that professional
tools can save you time
• Growing number of vendors, do your
due diligence
• Demo

54. Listening Literacy: Step-by-Step
1. Get your nonprofit ready to listen
2. Key skills
3. Essential Tool: RSS Reader
4. Your Radar
5. The Art of Responding
6. Pattern Analysis, Trends, and
Reporting
7. Listening in A Blizzard

55. Happy Listening!

56. Sources of Inspiration
Inspiration and Sources
KD Paine, Queen of Measurement
http://www.themeasurementstandard.com/
(Buy her book, read her blog)
WeAreMedia: Nonprofit Social Media Starter Kit
http://www.wearemedia.org/
(I’m the wiki facilitator and gardener. Check out
the Tool Box section)
All Photos Creative Commons Licensed
from Flickr and attribution in notes

57. Beth’s Writings and Resource
Collections
I have two personal learning spaces
Social Media Listening
http://socialmedia-listening.wikispaces.com/
Social Media Metrics
http://socialmediametrics.wikispaces.com/
Plus you can check out my blog posts on the topic
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/listening/

58. Thank You!
Beth’s Blog
http://beth.typepad.com
Have a blog post topic idea?
beth@bethkanter.org