The document is a comprehensive guide on social networking for nonprofits, detailing various platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others, and their importance in community building and engagement. It emphasizes the need for strategic use of social media to achieve organizational goals, enhance communication, and foster relationships with audiences. The guide also covers best practices and key questions to consider when implementing social networking strategies.

1. Social Networking: A How-To Guide for Nonprofits Jennifer Leigh Nonprofit Communications Director and Consultant Providence, RI [email_address] 401-595-9885

2. Overview of this session What is Social Networking and why is it important? (or...”I barely have time to do what I’m already doing and you want me to do more?”) The tools in the toolbox (what they look like, how to use them, and who is using them well) Thumbs up for Facebook To tweet or not to tweet? The million other sites to pay attention to Being strategic with your social networking How to make it work in your organization

3. What is Social Networking? A web...all interconnected Like-minded people sharing ideas and interests Online community building People yapping about their lives

4. Why is Social Networking a big deal? Change in the media landscape nearly 300 newspapers folded in 2009 eight magazines with a circulation of one million or more ceased publication hundreds of editorial positions were eliminated in print media 10,000 jobs lost in radio more than 100 TV stations affected by Chapter 11 filings of parent companies

5. Lots and lots and lots of users so many stats and reports that show that there are a heck of a lot of people and organizations using social networking Why is Social Networking a big deal?

6. Isn’t it just a bunch of kids that use it? NO !!! Here’s who is online that you could/should reach: Colleagues Members Constituents Policy-makers Media Donors Board members etc. etc. etc.

7. Why people love social networking Fosters individualism Increases connections Enhances community Rejects commercialism Offers multi-media platforms

8. How does it help my organization? FREE! create real connections with real people greater and more frequent engagement new avenue to raise awareness, advocacy and funds convenient popular quick to set up two-way communication another tool for your communications toolbox

9. So many sites...

10. The major sites… Facebook: Friend builder Twitter: Broadcast & Community Builder YouTube: Broadcast content to the world Flickr: Photographs to inspire LinkedIn: Professional connections MySpace: Talk to teens and musicians Blogs: Your own online newspaper Social Bookmarking: Sharing information SOURCE: NTEN conference: Social Media Basics for Nonfprofits

11. Facebook: What it is Site that lets people share updates photos, videos, articles, links and more with Friends who they have to approve to be in their network Business and organizations can create “Fan Pages” which other Facebook users can “like” By numbers alone, the most popular social networking site today, with more than 400 million registered users If Facebook were a country, it would be the 4th largest behind China, US and India

12. Facebook: Why people love it ME ME ME! Great way to promote yourself and your organization Interactive multi-media...post photos, videos, links Interactive web of friends Reconnect with long-lost friends

13. Facebook: Anatomy of the NEWSFEED

14. Facebook: Anatomy of the NEWSFEED NEWSFEED FACEBOOK ADS FRIEND SUGGESTIONS: YOUR DASHBOARD SEARCH BAR: EDIT PROFILE VIEW PROFILE, ACCOUNT SETTINGS REQUESTS: EVENTS CHAT CHAT FRIEND REQUESTS, MESSAGES, NOTIFICATIONS NEWSFEED VIEWS STATUS UPDATE

15. Facebook: Anatomy of the NEWSFEED YOUR DASHBOARD

16. Facebook: Anatomy of the NEWSFEED REQUESTS: sent from friends

17. Facebook: Anatomy of the NEWSFEED FACEBOOK ADS FRIEND SUGGESTIONS: generated by Facebook EVENTS CHAT

18. Facebook: Anatomy of the NEWSFEED NEWSFEED Shows your friend’s photos, who they are friends with, interactions between your friends, and who “like” and comments on their status updates NEWSFEED VIEWS STATUS UPDATE

19. Facebook: Anatomy of the NEWSFEED NEWSFEED NEWSFEED VIEWS STATUS UPDATE NEWSFEED Also shows posts from the organizations you “like” as well as re-posts from friends.

20. Facebook: Anatomy of the PAGE

21. Facebook: Anatomy of the PAGE STATUS UPDATE NEWSFEED YOUR ORGS PHOTO EDIT YOUR PAGE PEOPLE THAT “LIKE” YOUR ORG INSIGHTS INTO HOW YOUR PAGE IS DOING TABS

22. Facebook: Anatomy of the PAGE YOUR ORGS PROFILE PICTURE EDIT YOUR PAGE SUGGEST TO FRIENDS

23. Facebook: Anatomy of the PAGE PEOPLE THAT “LIKE” YOUR ORG INSIGHTS INTO HOW YOUR PAGE IS DOING

24. Facebook: Anatomy of the PAGE: The Wall

25. Facebook: Anatomy of the PAGE

26. Facebook: Anatomy of the PAGE

27. Facebook: Creating your page

28. Facebook: Creating your page Must have your own individual page, first Go onto another org’s page, click on “Create a page for my business” You are now the administrator, and can set other facebook users as administrators, as well Upload a picture that will appear as your “Profile Picture” Edit all information (best to get approval on this, first) Begin posting! (you must go onto your profile’s page to have the status update appear from your organization) Easiest way to get to your profile page: go to the “search” button on the top of your Newsfeed page, type in your orgs name

29. Facebook: The LINGO News Feed: your homepage that shows your posts and your friends posts Status Update: What you and your friends have to say “ Like”: a quick way to appreciate a friend’s post; puts a “thumbs up” on their post Comment : a response to a post that goes directly beneath the post in the newsfeed and profile page

30. Facebook: The LINGO Friend Requests: someone that asks to be your “friend” and therefore have access to your wall posts, photos, etc. (can control what they see via privacy settings) Profile: a person’s personal page that shows all of that person’s posts, friends posts to them, their photos, etc. Wall: the section on your profile page that show your posts and the posts from your friends

31. Facebook: Recent Changes “ Fan” to “Like” No longer are a “Fan” of a page...you “Like” it (though you still get the same updates and interaction as you would as a Fan) “ To improve your experience and promote consistency across the site, we've changed the language for Pages from "Fan" to "Like." We believe this change offers you a more light-weight and standard way to connect with people, things and topics in which you are interested.”

32. Facebook: Recent Changes Community Pages built around topics, causes or experiences. intended to capture public-facing topics, concepts themes and anything else that doesn’t fit into an “official” page won’t generate stories in your News Feed won’t be maintained by a single author Users can help improve the page, and add content (like a wiki) Examples: geographic locations, types of cuisine

33. Facebook: Recent Changes Connections : asking users to link their profiles to pages that currently exist Will most likely boost the “like” counts of Pages More interconnectivity, more interlinking Hovercards : if you mouse over a linked item in a profile, you’ll see a box pop up showing a little more information about the item as well as the option to like Increased privacy settings : so that people have more control and options over their privacy settings

34. Facebook: Best in Class

35. Twitter: What it is Social networking service that allows users to communicate with their “Followers” It’s open to anyone, so you can follow or be followed by people you know and people you don’t Communicate via short messages and updates called “tweets” that have a maximum length of 140 characters

36. Twitter: Why people love it Changing the definition of “real time” news Top reasons why people love Twitter Finding love Finding fame (big with YouTube, too) Staying up to date on current events Making friends around the world Stalking Celebrities Connecting with like-minded people (“Lost”ies)

37. Twitter: Anatomy of the FEED Strategic Communications © Jeffreys and Ryan

38. Twitter: Anatomy of the FEED

39. Twitter: Anatomy of the FEED: Timeline HANDLE REPLY OR“AT”ING SHORT URL RETWEETING

40. Twitter: Anatomy of the FEED

41. Twitter: Anatomy of the FEED

42. Twitter: Anatomy of the FEED

43. Twitter: Best in Class

44. Twitter: THE LINGO Tweet: A post to Twitter - text only, 140 characters maximum (including spaces) Timeline: A series of tweets displayed on a Twitter page Follow: When you follow someone on Twitter, that means you elect to see in your timeline the tweets that they post Your “friends”: are the people who you follow Your “followers”: (a.k.a. “tweeps,” or “tweeple”) are the people who have chosen to see your tweets @ Replies: Supports back-and-forth conversation via tweet replies

45. Twitter: THE LINGO Direct (private) messages : sometimes abbreviated to “DM.” You can send private messages on Twitter that are visible only to you and the recipient Short URLs: You can include links in your tweet simply by posting the complete URL, including “http://” Hashtags: When you insert a # in front of keywords, you make it easy for Twitter users who don’t already follow you to find your public contributions to the coverage or discussion on that topic. Trending: hashtags categorized by popularity, which depends on a vast number of people tweeting on the topic at the same time

46. Other great tools MySpace One of the original social networking sites Similar to Facebook, but profile is more customizable Still very big with teens and bands/musicians (which was its original intent)

48. Other great tools YouTube Online community where users can create, upload and share their videos Thorough, searchable database of videos YouTube is 2nd largest search engine next to Google. Every minute, 24 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube. How your can use it Organization Channel Upload news clips, trainings, webinars, Create a short promo video for your organization

50. Other great tools LinkedIn The more “professional” social network of the Big Three. It lets users create an online resume and network with their peers, colleagues, business associates, etc. Businesses and orgs can also set up profiles on the site 6-degrees nature of the site allows you to reach out to people through already existing connections How you can use it Recruit and check references of new hires, volunteers

52. Other great tools Blogs: a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog . News Politics Organizations Community

53. Other great tools Blogs: How you can work with bloggers Build relationship with bloggers Comment on blogs Send info/help blogger write a blog Write a blog Promote a blog Cross posting Live blog

54. Other great tools Blogs: Creating your own blogger, wordpress, typepad establish a strategy define an editorial policy find a voice create compelling content use keywords post on a regular schedule link from homepage engage with readers spread your content

56. Communicating Strategically Whether it is short-term or long-term planning, it’s crucial to figure out: What are our goals Who is our audience What is our message What are our tactics 14

57. 3 key questions to ask yourself before embarking in social media: Do you have engaging content that provides indisputable value? Can you maintain a consistent flow of content that can draw attention and inspire others to share and advocate Where will the content come from? Internal resources? Volunteers? Board? 14

58. Is social networking for you? Start small...build big Set goals...what are you trying to accomplish with your communications? increase engagement? acquire new supporters of your work? raise money? increase membership? Define your audience...is social media a good tool to reach them? (it’s ok to say no!)

59. Making Social Networking Work in your Organization If you decide that social media is a tool you want to use.... Meet with your team to discuss objectives Put someone in charge of social networking (though many can be involved in generating content) Define your tone, clarify your standards Set a schedule Create a posting calendar Set standards and institute policy Create a submission form Create Social Media Policy form Monitor how your sites are doing

60. How to use social media well LEVEL 1 Involvement: “Listen” Mode Create your profile Follow/Friend those you feel are relevant (media, legislators, other orgs, your “competition”) so you can “listen” to what they say and stay up-to-date on what is going on/being discussed Facebook: Do a search for keywords, pages or people relevant to your issues Twitter: follow dialogues and research key issues using Twitter Search and hashtags (#). Create Twitter lists to keep track of these people YouTube: watch videos on relevant topics or from similar organizations Blogs: keep a list of important blogs on your issues, and monitor them on a regular basis

61. How to use social media well LEVEL 2 Involvement: “Reactive” Mode Post timely information from your organization news articles you are mentioned in upcoming events you are hosting new reports, materials, etc. from your organization encourage people to sign-up to your e-news or donate Reply to those that comment on your page/feed

62. How to use social media well LEVEL 3 Involvement: “Proactive” mode Come up with new content for your page/feed contest polls exclusive content for your social media users Comment, interact and encourage conversation on other pages/feeds use @tagging Retweet/repost information comment on relevant blogs and encourage bloggers to post on a certain issue Host online events via social media sites Twitter parties / Twinterviews Event Invitations via Facebook

63. How to promote your page and get followers Twitter: follow people Facebook: Suggest to friends (and have others suggest to friends!) Promote in all aspects of your marketing E-news website e-signatures at events donor materials Be a resource, and they will seek you out

64. Cardinal Rules of Creating Content Key word in social marketing: SOCIAL. Be social! Share photos, tell stories, and offer great content that your followers will want to share with their fans Write in a personal tone Use “we” Write as if it is a 1-1 experience

65. Cardinal Rules of Nonprofit Social Networking Be human: establish a familiar and appropriate tone Expect the unexpected: Plan, experiment, adapt Be relevant: acknowledge and build upon the existing community and what members are already talking about Be patient: building a following takes time; be in it for the long-term Listen: follow what others are saying, don’t just be a “volume-out” experience Be transparent: communicate as if it was a face to face experience’ Stay active and involved Promote sharing and seek dialogue

66. Remember... People often stress the importance of reaching certain numbers of followers/fans on Twitter, Facebook, etc., but the essence of social media lies in relationship building in an effort to build a community. It’s not about using the latest tools…but the tools that work for you. It’s not about listening to experts, it’s about person-to-person, genuine interaction that you will have with people. You will find the most value in your own experiences with social media.

67. Conclusion...what we learned Social networking is one big web The ins-and-outs of Facebook and Twitter pages Other important social networking sites to consider How to tell if social networking is a tool you should use Integrate into your organization properly Start small, build big...3 levels of involvement Be genuine and real Social networking is just one tool in the tool box of communications tactics

68. THANK YOU AND QUESTIONS!