Communicating in a networked world Social media for PTAs JD Lasica Founder, Socialbrite.org [email protected] California State PTA 5/3/13
May 07, 2015
Communicating in a networked world
Social media for PTAs
JD Lasica Founder, Socialbrite.org [email protected] California State PTA 5/3/13
What we’ll cover todayBig pictureMetrics & PlanningStorytellingFacebook Twitter PinterestUse your communityQ&AHugs, tearful goodbyes
Hashtag: #CAPTAConvention2013I’m @jdlasica
Creative Commons photo on Flickrby Prakhar
Today’s Twitter hashtag
http://socialbrite.org/pta
Relax!
Creative Commons BY photo on Flickr by Tom@HK
Color handouts—be happy!http://socialbrite.org/pta
Socialbrite Sharing Centerhttp://socialbrite.org/sharing-center
Glossary for new termshttp://socialbrite.org/glossary Social media:
Any online technology or practice that lets us share (content, opinions, insights, experiences, media)
and have a conversation about the ideas we care about.
”“
BlogsSocial networksMicroblogs (Twitter)Online video Curation (Pinterest)WidgetsPhoto sharing PodcastsVirtual worldsWikisSocial bookmarkingForumsPresentation sharing
Types of social media T H E E C O S Y S T E M
Tablets: 120 million globally (incl. 20% Americans)Smartphones: 1 billion (incl. 47% Americans)
Explosion in tablets, smartphones M O B I L E
Text 'jdlasica' to 50500
Create your own at http://contxts.com
Create a mobile calling cardE X E R C I S E
91% of online US adults use social networks on regular basis.
200 million blogs; 1 million blog posts created per day
Twitter: 200+ million active users, 500 million tweets per day
Google+: 343 million active users
LinkedIn: 200 million monthly users
Pinterest: 48.7 million users
Instagram: 100 million users, 4 billion photos
YouTube: 4 billion videos watched per day
8.6 trillion text messages sent in 2012
Social media by the numbers
Communications among members of the PTA family have undergone a major revolution. PTA leaders, members, and others interested in education and child welfare can connect and mobilize through online social media.
Put social media to workN A T I O N A L P T A
1. Enhance educational experience at your school2. Promote your PTA, school or school district3. Involve the community in decision-making4. Feedback loop with community5. Enlist volunteers 6. Build online community of supporters7. Raise funds for a cause or campaign8. Get people to attend your events9. Enhance existing communications programs 10.Connect with peers at other PTAs
Why use social media?
1. OK, let’s hear from you
What are your pain points?
Creative Commons BY ND photo on Flickr by optheatrefilms
And what can social media do for you?
Before you talk tools, technology or campaigns, consider:
What are you trying to accomplish?
What core values drive your org?
Are you listening to your community? (See handout)
Why should people care?
Do you understand that social media is a series of stages?
Have you done outreach to key teachers, community leaders?
Do you have a plan in place?
L A Y T H E G R O U N D W O R K
First, get grounded
Start with a Plan!Spell out goals: What do you want to achieve?
Who are you trying to reach?
What are the best tools for the job?
Who’s going to do it?
Metrics: How do you know if it’s working?
What are those other guys doing?
Possible channels for your planNewsletter (print, online), email updatesWebsiteBlogFacebookTwitterYouTube, live streamingCalendar of eventsCampaigns (legislative, fundraising)Curation: Storify, Scoop.it
L A Y T H E G R O U N D W O R K
Because ‘data is better than gut’
Photos on Flickr by Emran Kassim, left, and Vee Dub (CC-BY)
S O C I A L M E D I A M E T R I C S
Why measure?
Internal purposes:Inform decision-making about your organization or cause
Testing messages or products before launch
Market research into constituents, supporters, volunteers
Data about supporters’ giving habits, donation patterns
External purposes:
charitywater.org
Internal & external reasons
Business goals/objectives
Raise funds for a cause
Things to measure (metrics)
# of new donors & $ raised
# of volunteers & volunteer hours
Deeper dive—metrics: socialbrite.org/pta
Get more volunteers
Get people to attend event
Increase comments on blog
Grow newsletter list
Make our content more viral
Get people to take action
# of registrants, year over year
# of subscribers over time
# of shares, # of comments/post
# of people who signed petitions
avg. # comments/post
Map metrics to goals
Start with an Events or Messaging Calendar
Planning, planning, planning!P R O C E S S E S
Create a Content CalendarM O R E P L A N N I N G !
The power of story
Cave drawing, Lascaux, France, 17,000 years ago
Awareness > Influence > Action > Impact
Your nonprofit is a media outlet Awareness > Influence > Action > Impact
C O N V E R S A T I O N F O L L O W S I N T E R E S T I N G C O N T E N T
Find emotional core, use videos or photos to make us feel
invisiblepeople.tv
Use personal storytelling
www.neafoundation.org/blog
Take a page from NEA Foundation S T O R Y T E L L I N G
Don’t look now but you’re a content creator! Using Animoto
D E M O C R A T I C S T O R Y T E L L I N G
Create lightweight media
Find your internal storytellersList volunteers’ skills
Who’s good at photos?
Video?
Writing?
Facebook or Twitter?
Create a Blog Squad
Who’s good at community outreach?Open your blog to guest posts
1.11 billion members worldwide — 76% of US Internet users are on Facebook
0
500
1000
2004 20052006
20072008
20092010
20112012
Today
Facebook’s global growth rate, 2004-2012, in millions
Facebook: The social networkL E T ’ S G E T F R E A K Y
Why do Facebook?Remind parents of upcoming events.
Answer questions from parents & public.
Solicit feedback on events & programs.
Build community among parents.
Enlist volunteers.
Mobilize parents on legislative issues.
Educate parents on how the PTA benefits the school.
Discuss news & important issues. Tons of public education officials are on Facebook & Twitter.
Setting up a Facebook pageAssign responsibilities, share tasks, appoint administratorsFind some good photos of your school or students for the cover imageUse school logo as your profile picFill in profile info, including links to school websiteCreate a friendly url: facebook.com/LincolnElementaryPTAGet traction before you publicizeCross-promote in other channels Monitor updates, comments on your pageUse Facebook Insights to assess and recalibrate
Get into those news feeds!edgerankchecker.com
Article: http://bit.ly/edgerank-checker
F A C E B O O K
Use a friendly urlDon’t do this:
K E Y S T O S U C C E S S O N F A C E B O O K
Use a cover imageDon’t do this:
K E Y S T O S U C C E S S O N F A C E B O O K
Rotate your cover photo
Try to foster engagementWhat really works well: Photos!
What doesn’t workAnnouncements. Without photos
How to succeed on FacebookUpdate 1 to 2 times a day.Keep your posts short.Be topical and visual.Share posts you spot elsewhere.Answer or Like all comments. Ask questions, stoke conversations.Create Events pages, invite people.Post polls.Be civil. Almost never delete negative posts.Cross-promote your Facebook Page in other channels/sites. Link to your blog, videos, Flickr pages.
Secret groups on Facebookfacebook.com/groups
Aligned, integrated, strategicInclude social media logos on your PTA website
Conversation, not marketing
Give your content a social life
Highlight student news H I K I N O
Stretch break!
Creative Commons photo on Flickr by tom@hk
Let’s talk Twitter!T W I T T E R
Identify your Twitter team
Name the account the school name + PTA but keep it short
Make your Twitter profile keyword rich, include a link to your Facebook page
Use the school logo as the profile image
For gosh sake, use a unique background image
For gosh sake, don’t make it private
Find parents or staffers who use Twitter & follow them.
Brand your newsletters, emails, flyers with your Twitter url
Getting set up on TwitterT W I T T E R
No, no, no!!
Staff should be trained.Not a broadcasting medium. Start by listening & observing.Be conversational, not officious. Tweet several times a day.Use it to solicit ideas, show support for students, announce events, mobilize action, educate public & students about current events, point to articles, identify experts.#1 traffic driver: retweets. Use ‘Please RT’ strategically.Tweets with a URL are 3x more likely to be retweeted.Twitter drives 4%+ of traffic to NY Times, 12% to AOL, Yahoo.
Make Twitter work for youT W I T T E R
See how other PTAs use Twitter
JD’s 60-30-10 Twitter rule60% retweets, pointing to value, sharing other voices
30% responding, connecting
10% promoting, announcing
Search by location: twitter.com/search
Use Twitter strategically
Tweeting about PTA in San Jose
Tweeting about PTA in LA
At left, widget found at: http://journchat.info
Find relevant hashtags through Twitter Search or tagdef.com
Join (but don’t spam) conversation threads
Start your own hashtag
Some hashtags to latch on to: #women #pta #latino #education #nclb #politics #Obama #news #media
Use hashtags to join conversationsT W I T T E R
Don’t be like this guy!
Creative Commons photo on Flickr byJason Means
Don’t do all the heavy lifting!U S E Y O U R C O M M U N I T Y
here’s an amazing difference between building an audience and building a community. An audience will watch you fall on a
sword. A community will fall on a sword for you.
— Chris BroganAuthor, “Trust Agents”
Build community, not eyeballs
Use Pinterest
Spread word through visualsDonorsChoose.org
P I N T E R E S T
Find your champions!
Find the big kahunas in your sector by using your listening post. Then, influence the influencers.Establish a rapport and only then reach out to try to convert them into evangelists & ambassadors for your cause.Scope out Twitter Lists that intersect with your organization or social cause.Connect with other social media influencers through their blogs and other networks.
Little Bird: getlittlebird.comI N F L U E N C E R T O O L
Generate an Attention Wave to socialize your campaign
Use social love handles!
WordPress & its plug-insDropbox, Google docsDrupal, Joomla
Free content! Free resources!
Free services!
Free photos Free videos (eg, TED talks)Free music & audio
Socialbrite.org/sharing-centerCreativecommons.orgTechsoup
Free expertise!BarCampPodCampWordCampSocial Media ClubFree software & platforms!
Google GrantsYouTube for NonprofitsGoogle Earth for Nonprofits
The awesome power of free
Creativecommons.org
Rich source of free commercial & noncommercial images
Flickr: 260 million licensed photos
Use them for your blog, website, email or print newsletter, presentations, reports, etc.
Don’t just take. Share!
flickr.com/creativecommons
HootSuite Pro Dashboard to manage Twitter, Facebook
Best Twitter tools Twtrland, Twitalyzer, Listorious
Social Mention Monitoring, real-time search & alerts
Google Drive Collaborate in the cloud
Klout, Kred Find influencers
Eventbrite Grow your event audiences
Google Analytics Free, rich measurement insights
Evernote Largely free storage in cloud
P R O D U C T I V I T Y T O O L S
Use what works!
Libre Office Free open-source office suite
Free tutorials on the best way to use Facebook, Twitter & blogs
24 online fundraising sites
Free reports
Free photo, music, video directories
Collaboration tools
How to use mobile strategically
What you’ll find at socialbrite.org/ptaResources & tools
Lay the groundwork before plunging in.
Create a plan, begin with a strategy, not with the tools.
Measure, measure, measure!
Tell your stories.
Use your community — your biggest resource: your supporters!
Key takeaways
If you do not change direction, you may end up where you
are heading.
— Lao Tse
Don’t settle for the status quo
JD Lasica, founderSocialbrite consultancyemail: [email protected]: @jdlasica @socialbrite
Thank you! Grab my card!
Tons of resources athttp://socialbrite.org/pta