How to be prepared to use social media during emergencies with a view to engaging with victims and beneficiaries of humanitarian aid. A presentation by Caroline Austin (@carolineawrites) and Philippe Stoll (@pstollicrc) done during the Beneficiary Communication Boot Camp organised in Colombo (Sri Lanka) between 07-11.10.2013 and organised by the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (@federation), the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (@SLRedCross) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (@ICRC).

1. Ben COM and social media
Colombo – 09.10.2013
Caroline Austin and Philippe Stoll

2. Session today
Programme
1. Expectations
2. Introduction
3. Discussion on Social media - uses
4. Presentation
5. Exercise
6. Testing the guidelines

3. Expectations
Tell us in two
words what you
expect from this
session

4. 1. Introduction
Ben COM and social media

5. What are Social Media Platforms?
Online services, websites and mobile phone apps
through which people can communicate publicly.
• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Blogs
• Pinterest
• Instagram
• Flickr …..
1,000s of different
platforms – all
based on the same
ideas.
5

7. Thai Floods case study: twitter
• Increase in activity with hashtags related to flooding in
October as water reached the urban areas of Bangkok.

8. Thai Floods case study: twitter
• Information sought included the following:
– People sending information updates and
alerts (39.1%)
– People feeding back, complaints and
comments (37.3%)
– Requests for assistance (8.4%)
– Support announcements – i.e. where to get
aid or assistance (10.2%)
– Specific request for information (5%)

10. 3. Discussion
a. Who is active on social media and on which channel?
b. What is the difference between private and professional
use?
c. Which channel do you use for which objective?
d. List the channel used by your NS?
e. Give one positive and one negative story (not necessary
linked to BenCom)
f. What is your top 2 tips for two way communication on
Smed (only if you do this)?

11. 4. Presentation
How to engage with people/beneficiaries
on social media?

12. 4. Presentation
• Who are beneficiaries:
1. People we provide a service to
in RCRC.
2. Someone having an impact on the
bens (govt, stakeholders)

13. 4. Presentation
1) Before
2) During a crisis
3) After

14. 4. Presentation
a.
Preparedness
- Work on a strategy
- Get the leadership by-in
- Internal workflow
- Budget and resource
- Be conversant with the social media
environment of your country
- Choose the correct social media streams
- Testing and practicing across your network
(HQ To branch)

15. 4. Presentation
a.
Preparedness (cont)
- Content creation
- Understand the risks of communicating
in your context on Smed
- Partnerships
- Donation mechanism
- Agreement with Smed companies
- Training

17. What content works
on social media?

18. Regular, useful and relevant updates
that keep people interested.
17/10/13
18
Social Media for Good –
www.sm4good.com

19. Humour can help: Don’t be tooooooooooo
serious, even if the topic is serious
17/10/13

20. 21 types of
content we
all crave
17/10/13
Source:
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/06/contentwe-crave/

23. Visual content is essential
• On Facebook, videos are shared 12X
more than links and text posts combined.
• On Facebook, photos are liked 2X
more than text updates.
• On YouTube, 100 million users are liking/
commenting on videos every week.

24. 4. Presentation
b.
Understanding
- How do your beneficiaries use Smed?
- Which are their preferred channel?
- What information are they sharing?
- How do people participate in your community?
- Will they voice their needs over social media?
- Will your Smed strategy place them at the centre
of your programme
- Work off and online

25. 4. Presentation
c.
Scanning
- Identify and monitor key players
(individuals and organisations) in Smed
- Identify and monitor key words
- Adapt your system to the latest
developments
- Scanning is for action
- Work online and offline

26. 4. Presentation
c. Scanning
- Tools and tips (Hootsuite)

30. 4. Presentation
d.
Connecting
- Build your own audience
- Engage online and off-line with
key players
- E-volunteers
- Publicity?

31. 4. Presentation
2. During a crisis
a. Communicating
b. Responding
c. Engaging
d. Analysing

32. 4. Presentation
a.
Communicating
- Be timely
- Be proactive, but don’t forget to listen
- Use different channels and different
mediums
- Dedicate staff
- Work as directly as possible with
leadership and operations

33. 4. Presentation
a.
Communicating (cont.)
- Use targeted languages
- Schedule posts
- Target posts (on Facebook)
- Be consistent and avoid mixed or
contradictory messages
- Activate your network (external and
internal)

34. 4. Presentation
b.
Responding
- Be timely
- Chain of decision
- Use appropriate language
- Don't be afraid to acknowledge
- Link to your official documents

35. 4. Presentation
b.
Responding
- Use different channels for the response
- Personalise the message
- Thank people
If reputation crisis
- identify the origin of the information

38. 4. Presentation
c.
Engaging
- Be timely
- Ask questions but be prepared to answer
- Ask people to contribute
- Use your network
- Understand the people’s need
- Match your organisations capacity/
objective and people’s needs

39. 4. Presentation
d.
Analysing
- Be timely
- Identify leaders of opinion
- Identify words that work
(#hashtags)
- Identify trends
- Identify flow of information

40. 4. Presentation
During a crisis:
Challenges of mis-information and
verifying on Smed.
“Twitter had over 500 million users generating 400 million messages a day” WDR
2013
Tips: Intervene where possible:
Australian emergency personnel used a hashtag #mythbuster to tag every tweet to
counteract rumours and disinformation

41. Advice to verify information
• What has this user posted in the past?
• What does the user’s profile tell you in this
context?
• Are there other sources?
• Ask internal and external experts
• What about GPS data
• Reverse image search (
http://www.tineye.com/) or (
http://www.tineye.com/)
17/10/13
41

42. 4. Presentation
3. After a crisis
- Lessons' learned (include your
leadership)
- Maintain your network, esp. the new
connections – provide feedback
- (if not done during the crisis – thank
the people)
- Continue the monitoring
- More training?

43. 5. Exercise
Fill in the table:
a. List the players on social media that
you need to connect with in your context
b. List the people in your NS that you
need to convince
c. Issues for scanning
d. Training needs
e. Any possible partnerships

44. 6s. Testing the guidelines
Split in two groups
Group A (experienced users of social
media): review and comment on the
"response worthy" flow chart
Group B (with less experience use of
social media):
- give your input to the social media
guideline

45. 6. Exercise

46. Thank you for your attention
@pstollicrc
pstoll@icrc.org
@carolineawrites
caroline.austin@ifrc.org

47. FILM