The document discusses how the American Heart Association is using social media to fulfill its mission. It provides examples of how AHA is using platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and internal social media like Yammer to share health information, fundraising efforts, and stories from survivors to wider audiences. The document advises asking important questions around goals, management, and measurement before launching social media initiatives.

1. 2009 Copyrighted material
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2. What is Social Media?
A place to share ideas, thoughts/opinions,
photos, introduce new products, company
news, breaking news, information about
special events, etc., in a web-based connected
community
Social Media: Mission Possible 2
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3. What Types of Social Media Are Out There?
The canvas for Social Media keeps growing.
The most popular ones are:
•Facebook
•Twitter
•Yammer
•You Tube
•Blogs
•Linked In
Social Media: Mission Possible 3
Projections are already being made for what Web 3.0 looks like. Because the canvas keeps
changing, it is important that you familiarize yourself with at least the basic functions of
each type of social media.
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4. Elements of Social Media
•Social Media should ALWAYS support and reinforce
the Mission of Your Organization
• Your Organization MUST have a clear reason why
you are using Social Media (what is your goal and
what do you hope to gain)
•Who are you connecting to your Social Media
community and how do you find them?
Social Media: Mission Possible 4
The decision to do social media really should begin with the mission of your organization.
You must ask yourself the important questions: Are we ready for this? Is our audience
ready for this? And when the answer is yes and you have a clear reason of why you want to
use social media, you are ready to begin the next steps of moving forward.
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5. How American Heart Association is using Social
Media:
A social utility that helps people
communicate more efficiently with
their friends, family and co-workers.
A tool for making companies and organizations
more productive through the exchange of short
frequent answers to one simple question: 'What
are you working on?’
Social Media: Mission Possible 5
In considering where to begin, do you want to start internally or externally? With
Facebook, do you want to build a cause page or a fan page? Who will update it and how
often will it be updated? Remember also that Facebook happens in real time. You can and
should make updates daily. Keep in mind that you can make updated via your cell phone
(Blackberry, iPhone, etc.). You can upload pictures from your event as it happens and give
snippets of what’s happening on the scene. You can also add video or link video to the
page. Yammer is an internal tool and is akin to Twitter in that it asks “What are You Doing
or What are You Working On? It is a “right now” medium and the level of engagement is
immediate. Communication happens as soon as you enter your question or answer and hit
submit. A response is less than five minutes away.
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6. How American Heart Association is using Social
Media:
Say it quick, succinctly and in 140 characters
or less; you can lead and follow others on any
given topic; done in real time
Social Media: Mission Possible 6
Don’t think of social media as an alternative to what you are already doing; rather look at it
as a complement to what you are doing. Consider the audience in its totality – your
colleagues, sponsors, donors, volunteers AND your media partners. Think about the benefit
to all involved and how it helps to further carry the message of your organization’s mission.
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7. How American Heart Association is using Social
Media:
Go Red For Women
Campaign
Social Media: Mission Possible 7
Visit www.goredforwomen.org to see more
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8. •Launched Feb.
2008
•400 Stories in the
First Month
•Women told their
personal stories of
heart disease,
lifestyle changes,
choosing to live
healthy, etc.
Social Media: Mission Possible 8
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9. Red About You Blog
•Connects “real
survivors” to the
community
•Shares health stats,
recipes, and life-
saving information
•Registers women
for the GRFW
Campaign
Social Media: Mission Possible 9
About this site: Real survivors write and submit their stories. We have a “filter” or
“gatekeeper” policy in place. The stories are submitted to our On-line Communications
Director. She reads through them before posting to ensure that there is noting that
conflicts or interferes with the mission or message of American Heart Association. I
recommend that you build a “filter” process so that someone within the organization bears
the responsibility of “fact checking” before anything gets posted.
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10. Grammy-Award winning Gospel Artist
Kirk Franklin is featured on our Power To
End Stroke blog; links directly to his website
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This is a blogsite that was developed for the South Central Affiliate. View it at
fightofourlife.blogspot.com. This site targets the African American community and allows
for volunteers, Power to End Stroke ambassadors, etc. to connect. The site includes video
uploads from events as well as music videos of Kirk Franklin. We also built a component
into this site, where people could download information packets in order to participate in
our Gospel Choir auditions. This site ended up being viewed by persons from around the
country – not just our targeted audience of Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.
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11. How American Heart Association is using Social
Media:
Social Media: Mission Possible 11
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12. •Reinforces the
Mission of AHA
(build healthier
lives free of
cardiovascular
diseases)
•Provides life-
saving
information
Social Media: Mission Possible 12
Utilizing Facebook to help “save lives” ties us back to the mission of the organization. By
having CPR training video on the site, we are able to reach people right where they are and
share life-saving information. “Minnie Anne” is the face of the page and we link this to
other documents and websites. Remember to include your sponsors and donors and give
them an opportunity to receive exposure on your social media sites. Of course, make sure
that you get their permission before uploading any information that might be considered
“internal use” only. Encourage them to allow you to upload video and pictures from their
events, to your Facebook page.
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13. •Reinforces the
Mission of AHA
(build healthier
lives free of
cardiovascular
diseases)
•Fundraising
Tool
Social Media: Mission Possible 13
Facebook is a great fundraising tool. You already have a database of friends at your
fingertips. If you add the “goal” widget to your site, you are making a “soft donation ask”
to people who know and trust you. Because Facebook is viral and your friends’ friends can
view your page, you have just widened your community to even more people that you can
engage. These are people who might not want to donate to an unknown site, but would be
more willing to make a donation because they trust the Facebook page and they can
donate without pressure – just by you having the widget on your page.
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14. *1, 607 people
are fans of this
page
Social Media: Mission Possible 14
Think of how many “users” or “neighbors” in your community this is; think of the potential
to fundraise; it is a viral tool where people keep adding friends or you can add yourself
through a search (like looking through the classifieds for an estate sale, you have a
particular something that you want to find, and it leads you to this page
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15. How American Heart Association is using Social
Media:
YAMMER (Internal Social Media)
•What Are You Working On?
•Connects Colleagues within the
Organization
•Allows You to Be a Resource to
Your Co-Workers
Social Media: Mission Possible 15
This is a great place to start for “internal” social media networking; it is “work approved”
web use. It’s akin to “work Twitter” because of the concept of asking “What are you
working on?” It is a great way to learn more about the people in your organization
especially if you have multiple offices state-wide or nation-wide.
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16. Social Media: Mission Possible 16
If your organization has offices throughout the state or beyond, Yammer is a great way to
connect to other colleagues that you might not ever have the chance to meet otherwise;
saves on training (in some areas) because someone within the organization can walk you
through ‘step-by-step’ on how to do something; and it creates a real sense of purpose and
allows your skills to be elevated especially when you can share a “how-to” with your
colleagues; a big plus is that it gets the attention of management and they see additional
skills that you have that may not necessarily be related to your job function
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17. •Anyone in the
organization
can use it (from
top-level
management
to admin
associates
Social Media: Mission Possible 17
This is a great way to engage your employees if you are the CEO or other top-level
management. You can learn more about what they are doing and even offer suggestions. It
is private. It can only be viewed by employees who have the same email extension as you.
(i.e. username@heart.org)
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18. •Sparks
conversation
•Helps you find
answers to
work-related
questions
•Creates
connections
Social Media: Mission Possible 18
Can virtually meet another employee in a matter of minutes; can learn more about the
organization; can share ideas that lead to executed steps
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20. To Tweet or Not to Tweet…that is the question
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Be careful what you “tweet for” because once it’s out there, it’s out there – the good, the
bad and the ugly (i.e. World Stroke Day – we all changed our avatars with a compelling
picture that said “dial 9-1-1”; it made people stop and read the warning signs of a stroke;
the bad is if you incorrectly post a statistic and it gets picked up by media; the ugly is when
a prominent person is heard saying something newsworthy and it is quickly tweeted for all
to read
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21. *2, 536
followers
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Tweet on “icon days” or when you have press conferences or other major events; tweets
often get picked up by media who are following you
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22. www.chrisyates11.com;
courtesy of Huddle Productions
Social Media: Mission Possible 22
Go to: http://chrisyates11.com/page/2/ to play the 45-second video; courtesy of Huddle
Productions
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23. Ask the Tough Questions about Social Media:
1. What’s my starting place? (talk to IT dept; decide
which is best for your organization; internal vs.
external; have guidelines/user policies)
2. Who will manage and make updates?
3. What will be shared on the site? (remember it
should reinforce your mission)
4. Is the information relevant? (is it useful; what is it
doing for the community)
5. How do I measure the outcomes?
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When talking to IT, find out if you have firewall protection or “page restrictions” that might
not allow you to access some pages. Also find out if you have the latest Adobe software
like Flash or the ability to upload and view videos. Make sure that you and your team sit
down and talk through what is acceptable “social media” usage and how much time should
be spent on this at work. Consider also who is allowed to do social media at work and how
it will be used. Once you launch a social media site, updates should be made at least every
other day. If people come to your site and don’t see fresh information after a couple of
days, you might lose them as a visitor to your neighborhood. When it comes to measuring
outcomes, may sites have the following information on their administrator page: number
of users, how many times viewed, geographical reach (i.e. 20 people from Denton, 1
person from San Francisco, 2 people from Australia viewed your page); also you can see
how many “fans” are connected to your community and you can create groups within the
community based on who you are targeting for specific events.
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24. For More Information about Social Media:
www.johnhaydon.com
www.beth.typepad.com (Beth Kanter)
www.newvoicesforresearch.com
www.chrisyates11.com
www.mashable.com
www.socialbrite.com 24
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25. Yvette.Blair@heart.org * 214. 712. 1321 * 2009 copyright
Permission for use by Abilene Public Relations Organization granted 25
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