Post on 27-Mar-2015
Social Networking
How to Become an Online Extrovert
April 2010
Agenda
Why use Social Networking? Facebook Twitter YouTube Four Square Homework for everyone!
Why Use Social Networking?
Free medium for reaching out to our activists and other people who identify as “green”
Reach out to people who are not on our e-mail lists Update grassroots quickly when needed Cross post action alerts, event announcements,
blog posts, volunteer opportunities, and successes on different sites reaching out to potentially different audiences
Why Use Facebook?
If Facebook were a country, it would be the fourth largest behind the China, India and the US
Posting News-- Club related and relevant articles, video clips, e-newsletters, and blog posts
Promoting Events Posting Photos from local SC Activities Sharing Action Alerts- grows your e-mail list
Types of Facebook Pages
Profile Pages: Personal Facebook UseFriends, Family, Colleagues
Fan Pages: very viral, recommended by most “experts” for nonprofits for external brandingNational Sierra Club has a fan page with 53,000
number of fansGroups: more personal, direct messaging to
group members1 MILLION Strong AGAINST the Arizona Immigration
Law SB1070- 418,463 members
Who is on Facebook? Cumberland Chapter -- frequently posts links to
action alerts and events. Cascade Chapter -- 1-2 links posted almost daily Lone Star Chapter -- super active. Posts are aboutevents, news articles, Sierra Club jobs. Tons of fan"likes" and comments. Hawaii Chapter -- very active page. Posts about
events and articles. Lots of fan "likes" and comments.
Oregon Chapter -- nice blend of news, events, and photos
Oregon Chapter Wall
Oregon Chapter Photo Albums
Oregon Chapter Event
Use Video to Recruit for Events and Trainings
Using a web cam, The Loma Prieta Chapter created a video inviting activists to attend a training. Facebook “Friends” of the Chapter were tagged in the video to get their attention.
Convio/ Facebook Connection
In your P.S. or e-newsletter invite activists to join your Facebook fan page or group
Post your action or event on the national Sierra Club Fan page
Post your action alerts and event announcements on your Facebook Page
Facebook: Getting Started
Initial Startup: Setting up a personal page (1-2 hours) Setting up a Group (1-2 hours) Setting up a Fan Page (1-2 hours)
Follow up Commitment varies Can be shared among multiple staff, and a great use of a
strong intern or dedicated volunteer. 10 minutes per day, but consistent effort needed
Not as content intensive as a blog, so most Facebook updates take minutes to upload.
The challenge is to train yourself to remember to upload content when you come across it.
Facebook: Getting Started
How do I Get Started? www.facebook.com
What Resources Are Out There to Help? Sierra Club‟s Facebook Analysis
http://action.sierraclub.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Sierra_Club_Facebook_Analysis
Sierra Club‟s “Top Ten Facebook Tips (plus 5 extra)”
http://clubhouse.sierraclub.org/communications/online-communities/facebook/Default.aspx
What is Twitter?
Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service
12 million users, 52% over age of 35 Enables users to send and read messages
known as “tweets” Tweets are text-based posts up to 140
characters Displayed on an authors “profile” and Delivered to author’s “followers”
Who is on Twitter
KS_SierraClub SierraClubIL SierraClubMN ORSierraClub Sierra_Club Sierra_Magazine SierraClubCA CarlPope SierraClubLive
Why Use Twitter?
Share action alerts with people who might not otherwise receive them
Direct people to your blog, Facebook page, YouTube video, e-newsletter, photo stream, etc
Share news articles related to your issue Invite people to events Tweet “live” from events like public hearings
and press conferences to create a buzz
Twitter Rules
140 Characters to work with
Keep it relevant to your follower’s interests Create an schedule for your tweets- should
post at least once a day Include key words about your organization
and issues in your profile description Upload an image to your account
Recruiting Followers
Use popular key words in each tweet Visit www.hashtags.org to see which words are most
popular in real time Pro: Your post comes up when someone is looking for
#globalwarming Con: Depending upon the popularity of the key word, your
tweet can get lost in the shuffle Retweet other people’s posts. They will likely start
following you after you do this. Follow other people or organizations Include photos and links in your tweets
Twitter Best Practices
Retweets or RT: Proper “netiquette” dictates you site your
source. Here are three ways to share new information with your followers:
Twitter Best Practices
Hash (#) Tags Placing # before a
key word brings it up in people’s real time searches for a specific topic
The more interesting and timely your tweet is, the more likely they will check you out and start following you.
Twitter Best Practices
Hash (#) Tags… Continued Creating a Buzz in Illinois
When EPA held a major clean air hearing in Chicago, volunteers and staff organized to tweet during the hearing, intentionally using #bigpolluters in each post. This created a real time buzz among each person’s followers and drew attention to the hearing. Reporters are among their followers.
Twitter Best Practices
Good Tweet
Provides Context; Links to Article; Uses #key word; Exciting! What words will be exchanged?
Room for Improvement Tweet
No context; Link could be spam
Twitter Best Practices
Shorten web addresses: http://bit.ly/ allows you to create an account to
track who on Twitter is retweeting your post A long web link like
http://www.coolcities.us/fullStory.php?storyID=158&mode=view is shortened to http://bit.ly/aQjpYM and allows you to use more characters to write an interesting post
Convio/Twitter Connection
Invite people to follow you on Twitter Ask people to tweet your action alert or event
announements Post your event/action on the Sierra_Club
account Tweet your own alerts, events, and e-
newsletters
Twitter Pros and ConsThe Pros: Free and easy to use Great for rapid information sharing, can be “viral” Can help promote web content Great communication tool with local press Authorizing multiple staff/volunteers spreads the workload Can be integrated with Facebook Status Updates #tags are used to create a following and promote a certain topic within
the communityThe Cons: Takes time to learn the “lingo” and build network Success is dependent on frequent “tweeting” Does not replace blogs or Facebook pages Horrible fundraising tool Posts have short shelf life
Twitter: Getting Started
What’s the time commitment? Initial Startup: ½ hour (establishing account, find folks to
“follow”) Learning the system and the lingo (plan to spend a few hours
reading some tutorials and reviewing the “tweets” of others). Maintenance: “Tweeting” takes only minutes a day, but you’ll
have to train yourself to maintain your account frequently.How do I get Started? www.twitter.comSierra Club Resources http://action.sierraclub.org/site/PageServer?pagename=
Sierra_Club_Twitter_Tips
Why Use YouTube?
Second Largest Search Engine in the World Central place to store your videos Provides html code to embed video on your
website or in Convio e-mails Autoshare with Facebook and Twitter Can upload a video or record from a web
cam
YouTube: Getting Started
Create your own channel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NykI2cJ9o80&f
eature=PlayList&p=0A90FA6500803CE7&playnext_from=PL
Use popular key words so people find you Upload videos from events, volunteer and
staff interviews, etc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzSwnbxb9TY Videos can be no longer than 10 minutes
Sierra Club Channel
YouTube: Getting Started
What’s the time commitment? Initial Startup: 1 hour (establishing account, creating
your channel’s look) Time required to upload video varies Maintenance: Upload quality videos as frequently
as you make themHow do I get Started? www.youtube.comSierra Club Resources http://
action.sierraclub.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Sierra_Club_Twitter_Tips
Four Square
www.foursquare.com
Four Square 275,00 Members, available in major cities Allows you to find your friends and your friends to find you at
events and businesses People check-in by phone
Users can leave a comment for their friends Links to Twitter and Facebook account to let friends outside your
Four Square network know your location Offers rewards to people who visit the most places or frequent
places most often Earn points by checking into a “venue” Become “Mayor” by visiting a venue the most often Earn Badges for repeated checkins to a type of location
Brunch badge: 4 Saturday / Sunday checkins before 1pm
Four Square Uses
Post volunteer opportunities and allow people to check in via Four Square
Invite people to events Direct people to a local business that may be
running a fundraising special for you Direct people to a green local business
Four Square Tools
Four Squared www.foursquared.com Guide: Introduction to Four Square
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-hit-location-based-social-app-foursquare-works-2010-1#when-you-first-boot-up-the-app-you-see-a-list-of-your-friends-and-what-theyre-up-to-1
How to use Four Square for Event Planning http://www.tradeshowinsight.com/2010/03/a-practical-guide-to-creating-foursquare-events/
Homework- Beginners
Create accounts for the sites you think would be most useful for your work
Take some time to explore the site- I recommend Facebook as your launching point
Visit the Chapter facebook and twitter accounts to get a sense of how people use these resources
Revisit this presentation to find ideas that will advance your campaign
Homework- Advanced
Create accounts for the additional sites you think would be most useful for your work
Take some time to explore the new site Visit Chapter and National Sierra Club featured in
presentation for ideas Update your Facebook account and Twitter feeds
with alerts, articles, etc Test Four Squared for an event
Homework- You Own Social Networking!
Create a Social Media Outreach CalendarExample: Illinois Sierra Club Blog: 1 blog post a week, more as needed Facebook: 2 to 3 posts/ week with timely pictures
and video (pull from YouTube when available) Twitter: 1 to 3 tweets/day, with at least one
interactive link (article, video, action, etc) YouTube: 1 to 2 edited videos/month
Social Networking Questions?
Marie Bergen- Eastern Region marie.bergen@sierraclub.org
Stacey Kawakami- Central Region stacey.kawakami@sierraclub.org
Ashley Allison- Chapter ashley.allison@sierraclub.org
Colleen Sarna- Clean Energy Solutions colleen.sarna@sierraclub.org
Cara Longpre- Social Networking Guru Cara.longpre@sierraclub.org