An Introduction to Social Media

“Social Media. They get all excited about gleaming technology and clever gizmos. They talk in acronyms and begin sentences with: “Did you know you can..” The rest of us just want to get on with campaigning, fundraising or service delivery. We want to talk about the people we work with, the communities we’re in and the issues we’re passionate about. We want to find and talk to people who can help us get change, deliver services or make a difference”.

Well, Social Media is about all that, telling stories and having conversations, having a space to do that … it just happens that the space is on a computer.

(From ‘How to use New Media’ - Media Trust).

What we are going to do

• What social media is all about

• Why it’s important

• Have a plan

• How other organisations use and benefit

• How to get started

• Not a lesson, but some practical achievable ideas!

• Have fun !http://www.flickr.com/photos/virtuatron/

Finding Out – Networking and Communications

Lets play a game!

Old media - Web 1.0 . . .

. . static websites with no interaction, text heavy content.Information was just fed TO viewers

(Others – if you dare!)

New media - Web 2.0 ...

. . media rich, interactive websites, open for comments, conversations WITH viewers encouraged.

Web 2.0 =Social Media=New Media=Social Networking

• Of the top 5 of all websites visited in the UK, 2 are Social Networks Google (9.1%), Facebook (7.9%), YouTube (2.5%), ebay (2%), WinMail (1.9%)

• 96% of those aged 18 – 35 are on at least one social network

• 25 million people - almost 50% of the UK population have a Facebook account, 50% view their page daily (August 2010)

• 40% of Facebook users are aged 20 – 29, but 24% are aged over 40

• YouTube is 2nd most popular way people search

• 10 million people in UK have a Twitter account

• Growth in access by Smartphone – Facebook mobile increased globally by 100% in the last 6 months.

(Source - www.clickymedia.co.uk and www.hitwise.com)

Social Networking – the numbers

Social Networking - the leveller

• “The Conversational Web” - listen more than you talk

• We are all “content creators”

• Increased Reach -traditional barriers being broken down

• Comment and Feedback – agree or disagree, as this builds a community around a topic

• Immediacy - what took days, takes hours, what took minutes takes seconds!

• Be Helpful – Say Thank You - Share and you’ll be amazed what you get back!

• Marketing - Virally promote goals of your cause or brand – i-volunteer.org.uk, Bullying UK

• Fundrasing - Gain new volunteers and donors– Dogs Trust, Whizz Kidz, Milton Keynes Make a Difference, Haworth Cat Rescue

• Campaigning– Facebook used by NUS to persuade HSBC to drop high charges on student

overdrafts after 5,000 strong protest. Busts For Justice forced Marks & Spencer to change pricing policy on larger size Bras after campaign by 30,000 people

• Productivity - Cheap or free to use productivity tools– main cost is time – but not as much as the time it takes now!

• Communications– Listening, Responding, having Conversations with supporters and stakeholders

Social Networking – relevant to work

Use in the sector

2010 Volunteering England research found that less than 25% of orgs were using social networking services (SNS)

In the 2010 Idealware survey (U.S.) found 38% of volunteers would look for a Facebook page first for an organization that they were considering volunteering with.

28 (23.9%)35 (29.9%)47 (40.2%)7 (6.0%)0 (0.0%)

NAVCA Survey

117 Chief Officers - June 2010

Use in the sector

Inclusion – 3rd Sector audience• Social networking should never simply replace face to face

communication

• Although 30.1million people access the internet every day (ONS 2010), 9.1 million people have never used it

• Of this, 50% are in social grouping C2DE, 31% in low income households and 45% have no qualifications

• 75% in BME communities don’t use internet regularly

• 43% put off using social media due to confusing jargon• Away from urban areas there can be difficulties with

connectivity (33% < 2mbps in Penrith & Borders)

The voluntary sector problem

• Where to start

• Knowledge / Confidence

• Fear

• Capacity

• Access

• Time

• Cost

Any more?

Establish if Social media is right for you

• What are your organisation aims?

How do they fit with your communications plan

What goals might social media help you with?

• Do you already have a website that you can update yourself?

Your Internet presence is a main shop window

• Are any of your target audiences already using social media?

Compare - your aims & your communications vs web trends

• Have you got the time?

• Is the organisation ready for change & releasing control?

Volunteer Recruitment

• O Know your objectives and what you want to say• Come and Volunteer with us!

• A Research where your audience are – do you know?• Don’t just build, work in the places where your target audience are

• S Plan how to use the tools – have a strategy• Video of event?, Blog of experiences? Do ‘as well as’ what you do

• I Choose tool to matches audience and implement• Look at what other centres have done, what works elsewhere?

• S Sustain the conversation and say thank you• Encourage people to return, keep it new, links from websites

OASIS was developed by @JohnSheridan John.Sheridan@SocialMedia404.com

How are these being used?• Tools to make workflow smoother

– Doodle, Eventbrite, Coveritlive, Dropbox

• Sharing of content– Scribd, Slideshre, issuu, Twiki

• Listening and Content– RSS feeds, Diggo

• Campaigning, Collaborating and Communicating

– Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Wordpress

• The future– Augmented Reality, Location based services

What is Volunteering

Gives face and personality to organisation

... or just audio

Social Networking - Facebook

Dog’sTrust

BustsForJustice

It’s the place where many people already network

Notes and Likes – other ways to use Facebook

Commoncraft Video explaining Twitter

Twitter

Events AS they happen not AFTER they have happened

Microblogging – Twitter - Commoncraft Video explaining Twitter

Short updates, signposts and conversation starters

Lord Nat Wei: @natweiBlogs & tweets.Advisor on Big Society

Nick Hurd: @minforcivsocTweets. reads and commentsMinister for Civil Society

Potential to access the influencers

Also used by and an acceptable, accessible channel to

local MPs & councillors to canvass opinion and inform of news

• What supporters, peers & others saying about your organisation

• See policy updates, reports & funding news as they published

• How?

Subscribe to RSS websites and read at leisure in feed reader

Create Google Alerts for important keywords and names

Set-up searches in Twitter for your organisation or ‘hashtags’

Follow lists of Twitter accounts talking about your interests

• Use Netvibes service to create a dashboard – www.netvibes.com

• Turnaround – Use these services to publish FOR your audience!

A Listening Dashboard

Listening

Online journals – Blogging - Commoncraft Video - explaining Blogs

Quick and easy to set up and continue to develop

Draws people to the website

Get feedback from people and start conversations

Show all the channels on your main home page

Communities building their own spaces for discussion and sharing

Get your organisation noticed on Google Places

DerwentsideCVS & VBpage here

Tools for Productivity/Support

• Communication

– Skype, Oovoo, Tokbox, DimDim, ipadio, Mailchimp

• Organising

– Doodle, Eventbrite, Del.icio.us, Bit.ly

• Collaboration

– Google Docs, Dropbox, Huddle, Tom’s Planner

• All-round useful

– Jing, PDFCreator, ShrinkPictures, Issuu Slideshare

BONUS – Tools to make things easier!

Concerns?• Don’t worry that it’s not finished – a half formed

blog post can be more inspiring and create a bigger conversation than a polished piece.

• Don’t pretend to be someone you aren’t – the social web is about individuals not corporate viewpoints. You’ll find your voice weakened if you ‘spin’ ... And others will see through it!

• Don’t worry you are in a vacuum – follow the tips, linking, connecting and conversing and soon people will do the same for you – it’s true!

• Don’t measure success by numbers – if you’re reaching the right people it’s quality not quantity that counts

• Don’t ignore people – they invest time reading what you say so do the same for them.

(http://podnosh.com/social-media-help/what-makes-the-web-social/)

Time Planning – frequency and time neededEvery Day(30 mins)

Once a Week(45 mins)

About Monthly(60 mins)

Tweet, re-tweet, check Google Alerts,check RSS reader & reply to comments

Write blog post, check analytics, monitorgroups & find new people to follow

Add video to YouTube, share a resourceon-line, create podcast & build profile

• Increase in volunteers contacting them who had only heard through social networking sites

• Increase in people contacting the centre who had no previous knowledge of the Volunteer Centre

• Potential to make wider contact with local and national volunteering networks in real time

• Individuals have contacted them on their own terms to ask questions, publicise local events and volunteering opportunities

• Now have a volunteer to the centre with social networking skills to sustain this successful initiative

Reflections from Brighton

Support networks

For Local Support Organisations

For Volunteering

Organisations

To share and learn about social media for communities

• It’s only beneficial to your organisation if it’s going to tangibly help you to achieve your goals.

• Establish a a plan thinking short, medium and long term – and have an internal policy for using it.

• Know your target audience and go to the spaces where they are.

• Know your message - make it clear and directed.

• Think of how it applies to Marketing, Fundraising, Productivity, Communications .... and whatever else you do.

• Implement, monitor and adjust – and remember it takes time!

Using these tools will help your organisation get it’s message to a wider audience and listen more carefully

Social Media – Fit for the Future?

Social media - reflections• What ideas do you have for your use from this workshop?

• How could your organisation use or make more of social media?

• How could groups you support, campaign more effectively using social media?

• What gaps are there in supporting them?

• Has your organisation a social media policy or Twitter guidelines?

• Are your UnAnswered Questions resolved?!

• How can we keep the conversation going?

Thank You

Paul Webster - paul.webster @ navca.org.uk

www.ictchampions.org.uk

@watfordgap on Twitter