Social Media Won't Save the World... But It Might Make the Job Easier

Lina Srivastava Consulting In collaboration with Riptide Communicationshttp://linasrivastava.com http://riptideonline.com/

http://linasrivastava.com/

http://riptideonline.com/

What Social Media is…

+ Rapid, potentially viral information and content created and sent via web- or mobile-based platforms.

+ A set of powerful tools that contribute to and enhance your strategic communications plan.

+ A means to strengthen community-building efforts and audience engagement.

http://linasrivastava.com http://riptideonline.com

Social Media Basic Training

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… and What is Isn’t

+ Social media is not “free.” Accessing the tools is largely without cash outlay, but contributing to social media takes person-hours, maintenance, crafted messaging and consistency.

http://linasrivastava.com http://riptideonline.com Social Media Basic Training

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+ Social media is not a separate strategy unto itself, but one part of your communications strategy.


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+ Social media is not the work and it is not the impact.

+ It is neither a magic bullet, nor is it imperative to do (even in today’s networked world) in order to create change in the world. But here’s how it might help…


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Why Engage in Social Media?

+ Broadcasting+ Participation + Engagement+ Branding+ Fundraising



+ Social Media tools can be used to distribute information widely to:+Alert audiences you seek to influence

about the impact of your work+Create awareness about your

organization’s development and perspective on different issues

+Give you ability to respond quickly to news cycles

http://linasrivastava.com http://riptideonline.com Social Media Basic Training 7





+ Expertise—what you do, what you think, how you succeed or overcome challenges.Example: World Bank Climate Change bloghttp://blogs.worldbank.org/climatechange/

+ Organizational Culture—how you are formed, what you believe, who you are.Example: Pepsi Refresh http://www.refresheverything.com/

+ Reacting to news cyclesExample: Tweeting about a news development. Posting a link to a news story with a comment on Facebook.


http://blogs.worldbank.org/climatechange/

http://www.refresheverything.com/





+ Contribute ideas, thought, case studies to others’ social media sites

+ Increase level of interactivity among your community by encouraging your members or supporters to:

+ Participate in creation of content+ Respond to content and + Spread content






+ User-generated contentExample: Equality and Human Rights Commission (UK) Film Workshophttp://www.youtube.com/user/EqualityHumanRights#p/u/3/SQ6wI4n_b9A

+ Extend broadcast reach (“go viral”)Example: The Promise http://thepromiseny.com/promises/ Asking supporters and members to re-tweet important news. Supporters can also re-post important news and call on their friends and supporters to re-post that news.


http://www.youtube.com/user/EqualityHumanRights#p/u/3/SQ6wI4n_b9A

http://www.youtube.com/user/EqualityHumanRights#p/u/3/SQ6wI4n_b9A

http://thepromiseny.com/promises/





+ Stakeholder and Community engagement: Engage individuals most affected by, or with potential to affect, the issues your organization works on+ Beneficiaries/Grantees+ Internal and External Stakeholders

+ Identify which social media tools are most effective in reaching them






+ Use Social Media to:+Create relationships+Break organizational silos+Vet an idea






+ Creating relationships+ Social media is about people and

relationships. + The tools change every day. It is important

to remember that just like any relationship there is a level of effort required to maintain social media relationships.

+ Consistency is important. Supporters and members will continue to participate in activities on the social Web if you maintain a level or interactivity with them.






+ Breaking Organizational Silos+ Silos create lack of internal sharing and external

message consistency. + When different parts of the organization don’t talk

to each other, but carry out stand-alone micro projects and messaging, end result is fragmented programs with no integration.

+ Facilitating cross-functional meetings and social media governance across organization will help alleviate this problem, and will ensure that all employees are trained properly before engaging on the social Web. This also ensures that there is some level of consistency or direction.






+ Vetting an idea + Social media is a powerful tool to

thoroughly and rapidly vet a development idea or campaign. Social media tools allows for rapid feedback but limited dialogue. Example: #1millionshirts http://twitter.com/#search?q=%231millionshirts

(See http://mobileactive.org/1-million-tweetshirts-how-fail-fast-and-scrutiny )


http://twitter.com/#search?q=%231millionshirts

http://twitter.com/#search?q=%231millionshirts

http://mobileactive.org/1-million-tweetshirts-how-fail-fast-and-scrutiny

http://mobileactive.org/1-million-tweetshirts-how-fail-fast-and-scrutiny





+ Creating and reinforcing identity of the organizationExample: Charity:Waterhttp://www.charitywater.org/blog/

+ Group affiliation. Connect to a network of organizations with shared goals or philosophies. See http://www.bethkanter.org/category/networks/


http://www.charitywater.org/blog/

http://www.bethkanter.org/category/networks/

http://www.bethkanter.org/category/networks/





+ Draw attention to fundraising effort.+ Social media tools can be used to advertise

a fundraising event or activity. Example: Twestival. http://twestival.com/

+ Social Media tools can also be used to solicit donations.Example: http://Kickstarter.com


http://twestival.com/

http://Kickstarter.com/



You should know…

+ Social media can lend itself to a lack of accountability or accuracy

+ There can be a failure to attribute or to modify when content is passed along

+ Sites like Facebook and Twitter don’t lend to cultivation of deep observation or patient movement building (See http://linasrivastava.blogspot.com/2010/04/shirts-and-boobs.html )


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http://linasrivastava.blogspot.com/2010/04/shirts-and-boobs.html



You should know…

+ Social media is best for short bursts of awareness-raising, directed actions, soliciting donations arising from particular events, and for creating contacts and building networks.

+ Sustained movements require conscious awareness, engagement (which includes proactively managed social media tools), cultivation and active personalized stewardship, and investment in impact.


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What You Need to Start:

+ To maximize effectiveness of social media tools:

+ Be committed to consistent and frequent updates to social networking sites

+ Consider the cost-benefit ration of the medium’s limitations/possibilities regarding impact

+ Set communications goals specifically regarding social media

+ Assess internal capacity. Make sure you have the personnel and a work plan associated with your goals

+ Monitor changes and developments in social media tools


Notes on Developing a Social Media Platform

+ Do the research--Organizations need to identify if their work is the topic of relevant conversations happening out on the social web

+ Listen to your stakeholders and act on collective knowledge

+ Engage in storytelling and embed into communities that are important to your stakeholders


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Appendix: Current List of Social Media Tools

Social Media Tools For: Communications+ Podcasts+ Webinars+ Videos + Slideshows: Slideshare+ Documents: Scribd+ Blogs: Blogger, LiveJournal, Open Diary, TypePad, WordPress, Vox,

ExpressionEngine, Xanga+ Micro-blogging: FMyLife, Jaiku, Plurk, Twitter, Tumblr, Posterous, Yammer,

Qaiku+ Social networking: Facebook, Geni.com, Hi5, LinkedIn, MySpace, Ning, Orkut,

Skyrock, Qzone, Vkontakte, RenRen, Kaixin, ASmallWorld, studivz, Xing, RunAlong.se, Bebo, BigTent, Elgg, Hyves, Flirtomatic

+ Social network aggregation: NutshellMail, FriendFeed, dillidost.com+ Events: Upcoming, Eventful, Meetup.com


Social Media Tools For: Multimedia

+ Photography and art sharing: deviantArt, Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa, SmugMug, Zooomr

+ Video sharing: YouTube, Viddler, Vimeo, sevenload, Zideo+ Livecasting: Ustream.tv, Justin.tv, Stickam, Skype, OpenCU+ Music and audio sharing: MySpace Music, The Hype Machine, Last.fm,

ccMixter, ShareTheMusic+ Presentation sharing: slideshare, scribd


Social Media Tools For: Collaboration+ Wikis: Wikimedia, PBworks, Wetpaint+ Social bookmarking: Delicious, StumbleUpon, Google Reader, CiteULike+ Social news: Digg, Mixx, Reddit, NowPublic+ Workspace: Basecamp, Kluster, Google Wave, etherpad, dropbox,

Googledocs+ Conference facilities: Gotomeeting, readytalk.com, freeconferencecall.com,

webex


For more information+ Lina Srivastava Lina Srivastava Consulting

LLC

Strategy: Organizational, Project + Campaign Design: Content and Culture for Social Impact http://linasrivastava.com [email protected]

+ David Lerner Riptide Communications, Inc.

Public Relations, Press Relations and Communication for Change http://[email protected]

Business

Social Media Won't Save the World... But It Might Make the Job Easier