The document provides guidance on establishing a political social media presence, covering platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Hootsuite. It includes advice on setting up accounts, creating engaging content, and maintaining a professional tone while managing social media interactions. Key considerations involve planning, consistent branding, and the importance of monitoring and moderating posts to ensure effective communication.

1. Building a Political
Social Media Presence October 2014
Carol A Spencer, Vice Chair, NFRW Technology Committee
Building a Political Social Media Presence Facebook • Twitter • Hootsuite
Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence 1

2. What you’ll learn today
• Considerations before getting started
• How to get a Google account & Gmail address
• What are the differences between a Facebook page and profile
• How to set up a Facebook page
• What Twitter is and why you should use it
• How to set up a Twitter account
• What Hootsuite is and why you should use it
• How to send one message many places, all at once
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3. One Post: Many Channels
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4. Considerations before getting started
A little planning goes a long way
• Use a consistent, generic email address to sign up for social media
• Use a consistent “vanity” name (i.e. Twitter.com/NFRW)
• Have multiple administrators for each application
• If you can’t have multiple administrators (Twitter, YouTube, Flickr,
and others), share the username and password
• IF you share the username and password, change the password
when you eliminate someone from posting responsibilities
• IF you share the username and password, be cautious about who
can “speak” on behalf of your organization.
• Adopt “Use” and “Commenting” policies
• Be sure to note the your pages are not forums, but moderated
discussions
• Monitor your social channels
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5. Considerations before getting started
A little planning goes a long way
• Decide on a “communications tone”
• Don’t post original material on Facebook. Beware of copyright issues.
Share from the original document, if that’s offered.
• Anyone can comment on your FB posts. Remember, it’s social!
• Designate editors and moderators for Facebook pages. Assign a team
member to monitor Twitter mentions and YouTube comments.
• Facebook pages are tied to personal profiles. Be sure you trust your
administrators.
• Never let fans / followers upload photos or videos without moderation
• Think about how you’ll market your social presence
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6. Choose an email address
Generic Local or Generic Gmail
• Facebook requires a real name: webmaster@, admin@ are not
acceptable.
• Have a trusted board or campaign committee member who is on
Facebook create your page
• OR use your generic gmail.com account to create your page.
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7. Check Your Chosen Vanity URL
• For example:
Facebook.com/MorrisGOP
Twitter.com/MorrisGOP
YouTube.com/MorrisGOP
Flickr.com/MorrisGOP
MorrisGOP.org (or .com or .net)
• Choose a name. Check it everywhere. (www.namechk.com)
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn, Pinterest
• Find some name where you can be consistent throughout the social
world, and which is memorable for your visitors
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BUILDING A POLITICAL
SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE: FACEBOOK
OCTOBER 2014
Carol A Spencer, Vice Chair, NFRW Technology Committee
Building a Political Social Media Presence
Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
Facebook • Twitter • Hootsuite

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FACEBOOK Profiles vs Pages
Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence

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FACEBOOK Profiles vs Pages
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CREATING YOUR PAGE A different way: Login later
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PAGE TYPE Company, Organization, Institution
Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
A page must be
tied to someone’s
profile.
Facebook policies
do not allow one
individual to have
two profiles.
Once created, be
sure to have two
admins so that if
the person who
created the page
leaves, you can
still administer the
page.
PAGE TYPE Company, Organization, Institution

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PAGE TYPE Company, Organization, Institution
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PAGE NAME [Location Name] [Women’s] Republican [Club]
Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence

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FACEBOOK TOU You must agree to have a page
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DESCRIBE YOUR PAGE ”About” Information
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VISUALLY IDENTIFY YOUR PAGE Unique and Memorable
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ADD TO FAVORITES Skip this if you want
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REACH MORE PEOPLE Monetizing Facebook
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ADMIN PANEL Getting Your Page Ready
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ADMIN PANEL Getting Your Page Ready
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UNPUBLISH THE PAGE Only Admins can see it
Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence

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EDIT THE PAGE Use Facebook as….
Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence

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EDIT THE PAGE Admin Panel
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EDIT THE PAGE Admin Roles
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EDIT THE PAGE Mobile Posting
OR, better yet, use Hootsuite’s mobile app.
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EDIT THE PAGE Insights
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EDIT THE PAGE Promoting Your Page; Boosting Content
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EDIT THE PAGE Help
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FINAL THOUGHTS Before publishing
•Get your “vanity” URL
Facebook.com/username
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FINAL THOUGHTS Before publishing
•Remember to follow Facebook guidelines for timeline photos and posts
https://www.facebook.com/help/search/?q=cover+guidelines
http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/facebook-cover-photos-best-practices-ht
Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
Screen captured in
2012. 637 Likes.
Be sure to identify
your page as the
“Official Page”
Note the failure to
post for well over a
year.

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Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
Screen captured in
2014. 649 Likes.
Post. Post. Post.
This page is
abandoned. Not
good for Green
Township.
Once you start,
keep it up!

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Click here
See your stream for posts to share.
Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence

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BUILDING A POLITICAL
SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE: FACEBOOK
OCTOBER 2014
Carol A Spencer, Vice Chair, NFRW Technology Committee
Building a Political Social Media Presence
Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
Facebook • Twitter • Hootsuite

38. 38
BUILDING A POLITICAL
SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE: TWITTER
OCTOBER 2014
Carol A Spencer, Vice Chair, NFRW Technology Committee
Building a Political Social Media Presence
Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
Facebook • Twitter • Hootsuite

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TWITTER 140 Powerful Characters
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TWITTER Signing up
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TWITTER Setting up an account
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TWITTER Setting up an account
You’ll have to do this a few times….
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TWITTER Setting up an account
Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence

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TWITTER Setting up an account
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TWITTER Setting up an account
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TWITTER Setting up an account
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TWITTER Setting up an account
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TWITTER Setting up an account
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TWITTER Setting up an account
Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
Use the photo
from your
Facebook page….
Consistency builds
brand.

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TWITTER Setting up an account
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TWITTER Setting up an account
Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence

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TWITTER Tweeting
• 140 characters. Try to use less. Link to more details.
• Learn Twitter lingo.
• Use abbreviations. Eliminate punctuation where possible.
• ALL CAPS is shouting. Don’t shout.
• Write your message, then start eliminating words and using abbreviations
to say the same thing in 140 characters.
• RT is re-tweet. MT is a modified RT.
• @TwitterHandle is a public message to TwitterHandle
• DM TwitterHandle (note the space) is a direct message (private)
to TwitterHandle. You can only DM your followers.
• Mention means someone used your Twitter handle in a tweet.
Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence

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TWITTER Tweeting
• Tweet valuable content and your followers will grow:
Road closures, meeting reminders, posted budgets, closed fields, events,
important web postings, celebrations, honorees, good press, #tbt (Throw-
Back-Thursdays). Use photos where possible.
• If someone asks you a public question, answer publicly.
• If someone asks you a public question, answer it.
• If someone DMs you, and you need more information to answer,
give them a link to your feedback form.
• If someone DMs you, answer them.
• If people RT your tweets, thank them with an @ message.
• Create a Twitter widget for your website.
Put it on your home page.
(https://twitter.com/about/resources/widgets)
Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence

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BUILDING A POLITICAL
SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE: TWITTER
OCTOBER 2014
Carol A Spencer, Vice Chair, NFRW Technology Committee
Building a Political Social Media Presence
Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence
Facebook • Twitter • Hootsuite

55. Tying it Together
Using Hootsuite
Carol A Spencer, Vice Chair, NFRW Technology Committee
Building a Political Social Media Presence Facebook • Twitter • Hootsuite
Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence 55

56. Sign up for Hootsuite FREE version
Use the same email as Facebook & Twitter
Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence 56

57. Hootsuite Dashboard
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58. Hootsuite Dashboard
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59. Hootsuite Dashboard
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60. Hootsuite Dashboard
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61. Hootsuite Tools
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62. Hootsuite Tools
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63. Hootsuite Tools
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64. Before Posting
Double check before you post
Information is accurate
Information is authorized for public release
Post is 140 characters or less
Spelling is accurate
Link is accurate
Copy it into a new browser window to be sure it goes where you want
Date and time are correct if scheduling into the future
Selected social networks are the correct ones
Once it’s out there, you can delete it but anyone who has read it,
has read it.
To delete in Hootsuite, hover over the tweet in the ‘sent tweets’
stream and click the x.
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65. A few more things…
Searching, deleting, filtering
To search Twitter, enter the search criteria in the search box and
click the magnifying glass.
To create a stream of a particular search term, click “+Add Stream”.
Choose a search term or use logic as per examples
To create a stream of keywords, enter the terms. Tweets using any
of the keywords will be returned.
To use hashtags so your comments will be included in a stream using
that term, precede your term with a #. Example: #MCLibrary;
#Jan25; #gov20; #superbowl, #SOTU
To be sure your tweet ends up in someone’s mentions stream,
use @ before their Twitter handle.
To delete in Hootsuite, hover over the tweet in the ‘sent tweets’
stream and click the x.
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66. Tying it Together
Using Hootsuite
Carol A Spencer, Vice Chair, NFRW Technology Committee
Building a Political Social Media Presence Facebook • Twitter • Hootsuite
Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence 66

67. Building a Political
Social Media Presence October 2014
Carol A Spencer, Vice Chair, NFRW Technology Committee
Building a Political Social Media Presence Facebook • Twitter • Hootsuite
Carol A. Spencer • Building a Political Social Media Presence 67