This document summarizes a workshop on using social media for public health professionals. It discusses the benefits of platforms like Facebook and Twitter, and provides tips on planning and engagement. Key advice includes posting photos and videos on Facebook, using hashtags on Twitter, engaging others through retweets and mentions, and scheduling posts throughout the day. The workshop also provides resources on using social media for public health campaigns and general social media articles and links.

1. Let's Get Social:
Social Media 201 for
Public Health Professionals
May 11, 2012
Plymouth, MA
Presented by David Crowley
www.davidbcrowley.com

2. Your hopes for this workshop?

3. Agenda
Benefits of social media
platforms
Planning for social
success
Facebook hands on
Twitter hands on

4. What brings me here…
Connecting people to community info key to
Social Capital Inc. (SCI) mission.
Using technology to engage people has been key
to our work.
Early evidence that social media can strengthen
relationships.
We’ve had some success…

5. SCI & David on Social Media
@socialcap 3869 followers (400 new past 4 months);
@cookingchat 1053 @davidbcrowley 508
713 LinkedIn Connections
327“likes” on Facebook (socialcapital)
715 have circled davidbcrowley on Google+ since July launch,
1072 following SCI on G+ since pages launched in Nov.
Over 12,000 unique visitors to our websites every month
Klout score=56
Have recruited volunteers & applicants for positions, gotten a
job for an alum, reached new donors, increased web traffic…

6. Facebook benefits
900+ billion users!
Leverages existing social ties (and relationships
your org has)
Visual appeal
Ease of use (especially for the basics needs of a
typical user)

7. Top demographics on Facebook:
1) 21- 24 yr olds
2) 18- 20 yr olds
3) 35- 44 yr olds
source http://adage.com/article/adagestat/demographics-facebook-linkedin-myspace-twitter/227569/
http://adage.com/article/adagestat/demographics- facebook- linkedin- myspace-

8. Cautions re: Facebook
Based on friend relationships; not as open to
reaching general public as other platforms
Page engagement drop since timelines.
The typical Facebook page post only gets into
16% of newsfeeds.
Strategy & work required to do better than 16%!
Basic use fairly easy, but various settings,
frequent changes, etc. can get complicated.

10. Twitter Benefits
Short format, quick to share & scan for info
More open than FB or LinkedIn
Chance to engage w people who share interests,
many who you wouldn’t otherwise reach
Monitor subjects of interest
Way to find content to share elsewhere
Dynamic—lost bird story
Why I tweet bit.ly/tJTDSL

11. LinkedIn
Especially good for accessing particular contacts
Groups can be useful.
The “message” function is also very useful &
underutilized. E.g
“I sent a batch of 50 messages while writing this. Within 2 minutes of sending the message, the
message had shared with 3,553 more people on Twitter, thanks to Tweets
by @mimio00,@good2gether and SCI alum @kmcconkie (3 more Tweets came in within the
hour, but I think you get the point).”
http://www.davidbcrowley.com/2012/01/19/7-tips-for-leveraging-linkedin-messages/
http://www.davidbcrowley.com/2012/01/19/7- tips- for- leveraging- linkedin-

12. Blogging/Your website
More control over format
Better place for more detailed information
Long-term storage (tags & categories)

13. New Kids on the Block

17. Planning
Who is your audience for outreach you are doing?
What results do you hope to achieve communicating
with your audience?
What kinds of branding messages & info do you want
to share?
Your social media channels & messaging should flow
from your answers—how can social media help you
reach this audience?
Show content planning templates
Spend a few minutes thinking about your answers to these.

18. Leveraging Facebook
#1 Post photos and videos! Most shared content.
Create photo albums for your big events
Post to albums in a few batches over time
Tag those photos
You can’t tag friends if you don’t have any
Have several page admins that can leverage their own friend
relationshps
Your page should like other pages
Ask contacts to like your page via email, LinkedIn, etc.
Put your Facebook address on print materials.
Move on to the hands on demo & practice here

19. Getting seen on Facebook
How people see your content
people who like your page
people interact w your page
“Edgerank” is algorithm that determines who sees
your page in the new newsfeed. Priotizes (in order)
1) Shares
2) Comments
3) Likes

20. Strategies for Interaction & Growth
Review your insights (or a neighbors)
Discuss: what post got the most interaction for
you. Why? What items didn’t get much
interaction?
What could you do to get more interaction? Try
something...

21. Facebook page admins:
not to do list!
Contact info or promotions in your cover photo
Run promotions using the regular Facebook
page features (like this, share this, etc.). Need to
use a separate app.
More not to dos: http://www.marketinggum.com/what-you-cannot-do-
on-facebook-page-admins-read-these-rules/

22. Other Facebook questions?

23. Let’s take a closer look at some
Twitter basics…

24. What is Twitter?
a social networking and microblogging service,
enabling its users to send and read messages
called tweets.
Tweets are text-based posts of up to
140 characters displayed on the user's profile page.
Tweets are publicly visible by default.
Users may subscribe to other users' tweets – this is
known as following and subscribers are known
as followers or tweeps
Source: Wikipedia 4/25/11

25. Getting started w Twitter
Associate the account with an email address.
Choose a short username or “handle” [you will have an
existing account for your SCI Tweets]
A handle that is easy to remember makes it more likely
people will “retweet” you.
Your handle uses up some of the 140 characters when
retweeted
The profile helps people can quickly see where you are,
what you are Tweeting about. (help them decide to
follow or not). We will be providing templates soon. (see
next slide)

26. Twitter Basics
Your Tweets:
Type into the “What’s New” box upper left
140 characters or less—125 is better to leave room for
“retweeting”
Can be viewed by anyone on the Internet (unless you protect
your Tweets-not recommended for biz)
Most likely to be seen by your followers
Also may be found by people searching for relevant terms “HACC”
5-10 Tweets a day is common for active users
Timing Tweets with Tweetdeck or Hootsuite is a good idea

28. Twitter Basics
Timeline
Stream of Tweets from Tweeps you follow
Fast moving stream if you follow a lot of people
Expectations to respond or have read a Tweet only
comes in if they @ mention you

32. Twitter basics
Mentions
When someone references you in their tweet, with your handle,
this is called a mention. It will show in your “mention” stream
on Twitter.com.
You generally should chime in promptly when someone mentions you.
A mention starting w your handle, e.g. “@socialcap you have
great AmeriCorps members”, is considered an “@ reply” or
message.
This is a way of directing a tweet toward someone in particular, but
anyone on the web could see it (though it will only show in the
Twitter.com stream of people who are following both you & the person
you are interacting with.
So if you want reference someone in a way that maximizes people who
see it, you should start with something other than their handle. E.g.
“Looking for the latest Dorchester news? Follow @mydorchester”

33. Twitter basics
Retweets “RTs”
Shows you are sharing someone else’s content
Sharing good content from others (and providing
content people want to share) lies at the heart of
Twitter.
RTing with comments even better-you’re adding
more value.

34. Retweeting with comments
Sharing in your own words, with “via”

35. #hashtags
Part of workshop in which David extols the
virtues of hashtags, explains and shows how
they work, and discusses examples of why they
are important.
Today’s hashtag is #seCHNA (not cap sensitive)

36. My top Twitter Tips
Determine the topics you are going to focus on.
TWEET! Engage, tweet. Tweet some more.
Tweet throughout your day—find a good article, tweet it. At a meeting, tweet
it.
Follow generously, use lists & search feeds to keep closer eye on key
people/topics.
Clean up your following accounts. I recommend manageflitter.com
Use hashtags (but don’t overdue it, 1 or 2 per tweet is good).
Include a link in most tweets.
Reciprocate.
Schedule your tweets, spread timing out (but know when you get most
action)…post your most important ones 5-10 times throughout the week.
16 tips on building your following base
http://www.davidbcrowley.com/2012/04/17/sweet-16-tips-to-build-your-
twitter-following/

37. More Twitter Tips
Engage, don’t just push out marketing info
Be responsive to those who RT & mention you
To “talk” directly to someone
Publicly: start your Tweet w their handle
e.g. @HACC Great meeting tonight!
Privately: use the Direct Message “DM” function
Strive for at least 80% non-selling messages.
Lists become helpful when you’re following
hundreds or more.
Use a tool like TweetDeck or HootSuite

40. Resources (public health/social
media)
Article on Boston Public Health campaign on
sexual health
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Parenting/stor
y?id=8251025&page=1#.T5arJ7PWZog
CDC social media
http://www.cdc.gov/socialmedia/

41. Resources (gen social media)
Bookmarks for Facebook articles/resources: http://bit.ly/Jyyl2S
Bookmarks for Twitter articles/resources: http://bit.ly/nnlA5w
Longer list of bookmarks for all social media:
http://bit.ly/ogEGRa
The Nonprofit Facebook Guy http://www.johnhaydon.com/
Beth Kanter, co-author of The Networked Nonprofit
http://www.bethkanter.org/
http://www.davidbcrowley.com/tag/social-media/