2. Mothers First
As85.2% of 11.7 million families in the U.S
of 2011, which are headed by Women
were headed by single parents
2
3. Mothers First
Of the mothers who are custodial parents:
45% are currently divorced or separated
34.2% have never been married
19% are married (In most cases, these numbers represent
women who have remarried.)
1.7% were widowed
3
4. Mothers First
She is Employed:
79.5% of custodial single mothers are gainfully employed 49.8% work
full time, year round
29.7% work part-time or part-year
She and Her Children Do Not Live in Poverty:
27% of custodial single mothers and their children live in poverty
She Does Not Receive Public Assistance:
Among custodial single mothers:
22% receive Medicaid
23.5% receive food stamps
12% receive some form of public housing or rent subsidy
5% receive TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families)
4
5. Praying Single Mothers
What does she need? She Needs M.O.R.E
MENTORING
OPPORTUNITY
RESTORATION
EMPOWERMENT
Praying Single
5
6. Praying Single Mothers
Missions Statement:
“PSM mission is to empower, restore and equip single
mothers through conferences, workshops,
seminars, mentoring, prayer and providing various
resources to gain and to maintain a holistic
life, particularly as we raise our children.”
Problem Statement:
How can we provide Empowerment, Restoration,
Mentoring, and Networking to this community of women?
Solution: Social Media Expansion
6
7. Social Media Expansion Goals
Connecting Single Mothers into the Social Grid
o Providing Resource Materials & Job / Business Opportunities
o Providing Mentoring Relationships
o Providing a Social Outlet of Prayer and Well Wishes
Connections! Connections! Connections!
7
9. Social Media Expansion Goals
Social Media Expansion Implementation Steps:
Phase I: The MakeOver
o Transform Facebook accounts/pages to encourage
membership & donations. Discontinue Twitter account due
to time commitment and resource availability
Phase II: Communion & Community
o Develop a Google+ PSM Site designed for Conversing &
Sharing Documents, Meetings, etc(Community)
Phase III: Sharing & Caring
o Develop a Blog for Information Sharing, Feedback
Solicitation, and Outreach
9
10. Social Media Expansion Goals
Oct-12 Nov-12 Dec-12 Jan-13 Feb-13 Mar-13 Apr-13
Phase I: MakeOver
Phase II: Communion
Phase III: Sharing
Integrate Existing Social Media & Expand Comprehensive Strategy by April 2013
10
11. Phase I: MakeOver
Facebook Current State: Demographics
70% Age 25-44
94%
Women
Multiple Cities /
Languages
11
12. Phase I: MakeOver
Facebook: Content & Advertising Advertisements
o Prayer Request, Advertisements, Informational Postings to Business
owners are
buried in Status
Posting
12
13. Phase I: MakeOver
Transformation Plan:
“Inspiration of the Month”: Identify facebook follower of the month
based on posting metrics, personal story, and contributions to the
organization. Allow “Follower of Month” to tell their story on the PSM
facebook page. Allow others to comment and provide encouraging
feedback.
“Advertising Ad”: Develop an Ad’s on facebook to drive interest/likes
to the PSM page. Solicit donations through the use of ad’s, and stories
promoting the benefits PSM is providing to it’s members.
“Statistic Reporting”: Establish a quarterly membership drive by
providing statistics information on the page including member
demographics, “Donations to Date”, and promote how donations are
used.
“Interactive Pages”: Implement interactive contest driving user
interaction and soliciting feedback
Link Facebook page to website & vice-versa to provide visibility
13
14. Phase II: Communion & Community
Google+ Community Page: Build a community of PSM Support
Establish
Member
Hangouts
Share Event
Establish
Photo’s /
Member
Videos
LE
Chats
(Weekly)
P
AM
EX Establish
Community
(Circle)
14
15. Phase II: Communion & Community
Transformation Plan:
“Virtual Community”: Develop a Google+ site where PSM members
can congregate and disseminate information, obtain resource
information such as corporate sponsor promotions and job
opportunities, and share photo’s / video’s of their family experiences.
“Google Hangouts”: Establish weekly or monthly Hangout sessions
for up to 9 members to commune and conference. Additionally, utilize
chat sessions to discuss and share upcoming events and on goings of
the organization.
“Regional Circles”: Identify regional leaders who can establish circles
within their communities to promote local networking where possible.
“Webinars”: Use Google+ to conduct Webinars where guest speakers
and hosted webinars can be shared with members remotely.
15
16. Phase III: Sharing & Caring
Implement PSM Blog: Disseminate information, Obtain Feedback, Share Opportunities
Discuss issues
affecting single
mother. Converse
Promote
Involvement
(Donations/Spons
orships) Establish
Member
EstablishChats
Member (Weekly)
LE
Hangouts
Provide
P
Information/Statistics
on Single
M
Parents/Share
additional Social
A
Opportunities
Advertise
X
Media
E
16
Example Blog: One of top blogs according to businessgrow.com
17. Phase IV: Future Enhancements
o Twitter: As the organization grows, consider using twitter to
promote upcoming events, donor drives, and promotions
o Pintrest: Add pintrest site to promote PSM interest, readings,
seminars, workshops, and resource organizations
o YouTube: Provide video content of workshops, events, and other
PSM hosted resources for current / potential members.
Opportunities will be implemented as the Management Team
evaluates resource constraints and staffing needs
17
18. Social Strategy Recap
o Visibility: Improve visibility to PSM using social media sites and
platforms. Drive members and donors through content and
resources
o Networking: Leverage social media to connect members in a way
not feasible before. Through Google+ Hangouts, chats, blogging,
users can feel connected to the organization and each other.
o Evidence: Provide evidence of how PSM is affecting the lives of
women across the country. Show donors how their contributions
have attributed to someone’s life.
18
19. Conclusion
The Objective of PSM was identified as the following:
Mentoring
Providing Opportunities
Providing Restoration
Empowering Women
Social Media serves to assist members in finding everything mentioned above and more. This is
the future of networking, and PSM will be positioned to walk into the future upright and with
significant strides.
19
20. Lessons Learned
Weigh the Options / Implement to Sustain
o Social Media has so many channels, avenues, paths. Many strategies
lead to the end result. What we discussed throughout the course was
more than what the organization could handle. Ensure that the
channels you implement can be maintained with the resources on
hand or future growth expectations.
Identify Clear Objectives
o Make sure objectives are identified early. Scope creep can drive up
resource estimates and provide variability to the project.
Start from Ground 20:
o Forget ground 0. Start by researching what the competition or like
institutions are doing. Those who invested early have gone through
the learning pains. Leverage best practice.
20
Editor's Notes
Today’s presentation is about a very special organization. It’s an organization dedicated to improving the lives, opportunities, and relevance of a large part of society who goes unnoticed or appreciated. It’s an organization aimed at improving the spiritual, mental, and physical resilience of women around this world. It’s devoted to single mothers; helping her find her voice and live her life raising the future of the world. And today is about helping that organization touch as many lives as feasible through leveraging the power of social media.
As of 2011, almost 12 million families in the United States are headed by single parents. And of that, 85% are headed by single mothers. Even more astonishing is the lack of support readily available for these women to succeed in raising their children in sound/secure households. But thanks to PSM, support is on the way.
These mothers are women who were married but divorced, Never married, Remarried or widowed. Praying single mothers aims to meet mothers where they are in life, and inspire them where needed or just listen when asked. It is a sounding board, a quiet place, a resource for those women/mothers aiming to commune with others who understand what they are going through.
Only 27% of single mothers and their children live in poverty. While the number is still high for as great a country as the United States, considering 73% of single mothers are able to provide for their families, it’s reassuring that we are on the right path. Most single mothers do not require public assistance, and for those that require it, PSM assist in finding opportunities for assistance where these mothers cannot find them.
What does she need? She needs mentoring, opportunity for advancement, spiritual and physical restoration, and empowerment to control her destiny and ensure her children are taken care of. Praying Single Mothers aims to provide those things by providing a community, a network of research, donations, members, and prayer.
The mission statement for PSM emphasizes Empowerment, Restoration, Mentoring and holistic life. The organization sponsors numerous workshops and seminars throughout the year aimed at providing resources and support for single mothers. But, the membership has stagnated over the last year, donations are down, and internal resources including staff are waning. Social Media Expansion is one of many ways we can leverage communities to continue the growth and expansion the organization has experienced over the last 3 years. Particularly identifying members, donations and providing opportunities for businesses opportunities.
Today's’ presentation is about connecting single mothers with the Social Grid. Plugging them into resources and providing opportunities for networking through Praying Single Mothers. These changes will improve the service provided while enhancing the lives of followers and members.
The current mix of PSM Social Media includes Facebook, a Website, and Twitter. The website has had approximately 53,000 hits since 2009; however, there are no statistics available to determine unique hits. The website has a registration page but visitors are not prompted to register. The link is on the right hand side of the frame. And although the organization has a twitter and facebook page, there are no references to those pages on the website; redirecting interest to the social media options. The facebook page for praying single mothers has approximately 1,500 likes. The page is updated frequently with latest events, prayer request, and opportunities. However, the page does not advertise or easily allow donors to provide resources/donations. Lastly, PSM maintains a twitter account which they use to post recent events, news, and information regarding meetings or documentation request. The twitter account serves as solely an informational and is maintained periodically based on resource availability. All social media channels are maintained centrally by the President of the organization as there are not enough funds to hire communications advisors or social media administrators.
The goal of the Social Media Expansion for PSM is to drive donations and membership by providing user accessibility, information dissemination, and community networking opportunities. The first phase is designed to enhance the social media outlets already in place. How can we transform them from informational to transformational for the organization. The second phase is designed to promote the community aspect of PSM through the establishment of regional and local circles. These mini-communities are plugged into the base community and can attend events, webinars, conference calls, etc remotely. The third phase is designed to nurture and provide information for members including resource availability and outreach. It is also designed to solicit feedback from members; thereby encouraging them to share information as much as they receive.
The timeline for the phases are covered in this slide. The anticipation is phase I and II can be completed by February of the following year. Phase 1 entailing the redesign of facebook and the removal of twitter (temporarily) to ensure the facebook page is achieving the objectives set forth in the mission. Those changes, which are rather small will not require significant time to update; however, the plan is based on resource capacity to maintain the site once the changes are in place. The second phase is dedicated to starting a blog and establishing a base following within the blog. The final planned phase establishes a community of sharing (photos, videos, networking opportunities and webinars) to provide for networking and dialogue between members and the community.
Interesting statistics of the demographics of the PSM facebook page. Based on the description of the non-profit, it is not shocking that 94% of likes relate to females. The page has followers throughout the country related to multiple languages, and within a broach age demographic.
In addition to normal dialogue, the site also host and provides advertisements regarding business opportunities. However, the post are only seen by those who have liked the page historically. There is the potential for a large segment of potential business resources to not have line of sight to PSM via Facebook.
So what are we recommending and why? The first is to promote user participation and engagement on facebook through the “Inspiration of the month” program. A selected member, based on set criteria. The member can have a chance to share their story with others like them. It’s a chance to tell their story and receive positive reinforcements from others who have experienced what they have experienced. Encouragement is t The second recommendation is to create a facebook advertisement which can be distributed to facebook users who have liked similar sites. Advertisements can drive investors or people who might not know of the donation request from PSM. The third initiative is to establish membership drives based on quarterly statistic reporting from the facebook site. Monitoring shifts in demographics and identify how users are being driven to the site Interactive pages can be implemented to solicit feedback and lastly, integration should be established so that users who are not familiar with PSM on facebook are provided enough resources and tools to have visibility to all of the integration channels.
The second phase is dedicated to building communion and promoting community amongst the users. A prime example is the way Salvation Army leverages Google+ to communicate upcoming events, share research, and when required host webinars and conferences to disseminate information to members. The Google+ site allows for mini-communities to be established via circles. As PSM has members throughout the country, as membership continues to grow, the organization can empower regional and local communities in order to have local support and networking opportunities.
By using Google+ PSM can establish a virtual community of resources, videos, opportunities, and other to promote networking and mentoring. Google Hangouts can be used to form weekly or monthly meetings where leadership can dialogue with members and members can provide feedback on resource availability, etc. As discussed, regional circles will enable local groups to participate remotely in webinars but more importantly network with others in their area on a frequent basis.
The third vision relates to blogging and the importance of blogging in relation to customer retention and growth. The example above was listed in 2011 as one of the best blogs, profit or non-profit. The blog provides for ease of donations, networking opportunities. With blogging, PSM can collect demographic information which will better align them to the resource needs of their members. As one of the biggest requirements are donation capacity, blogging provides the opportunity to showcase how PSM puts donations to work in the lives of it’s members, provide a specific area for donations, and connects members with opportunities to donate where they can.
While there were other social media considerations including Twitter, Pintrest, and YouTube, Leadership believes the resource capacity required to maintain additional social media channels is not feasible at this time. Based on the spacing of phase implementations along with the capacity of the current administrators to maintain the viability of what’s implemented, the additional channels are wanted but not feasible at this time. We are taking babysteps rather than giant leaps.
In the original objectives, we wanted to improve the user experience, promote and provide channels of encouragement for members, and provide opportunities for networking. In analyzing the options, the current mix provides visibility to PSM, networking opportunities and evidence of just how PSM is affecting the lives of women in this country. With future expansion in mind, with building bridges in the lives of others through networking and resource opportunity, PSM is leveraging social media to build and expand it’s brand, and grow through exposure and vested interest.
Social Media is one of many channels PSM is using to build on their brand as a leading non-profit organization for women. What was seen as a form of outreach previously, has now grown into a strategy for growth. The leadership team has worked with me to identify solutions which are realistic and viable in the organization, while also promoting and investing time / resources into alternative media channels. With the four goals as stated above, social media provides those opportunities cost effectively and expediently to current and future members alike. I will continue following the implementation path of the identified strategies as PSM invest their resources in the development and ongoing maintenance of this strategy. As the mission states, empowerment, mentoring, and restoration are all key to increasing the viability of the organization and positioning them for their future potential.
