FACEBOOK IMPLEMENTATION & EVALUATION

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Miami Valley

BECKM Partners Morgan Koter, Bailey Romans, Katherine Braunscheidel,

Liz Mayo and Chelsea Randall Dec. 5, 2014

Problem Statement: Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Miami Valley is experiencing an ongoing internal problem with effectively engaging Bigs due to the lack of a developed program to unite Bigs and provide a space for interaction and communication. This problem needs to be addressed to provide a better support system for Bigs to relate and solve issues together, and, in effect, to improve upon their relationships with Littles. Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Miami Valley could potentially experience negative long-term effects if this problem isn’t addressed, including lower membership, lower retention of Bigs, and a lower rate of relational success in Big and Little pairs. IMPLEMENTATION

Bigs-Only Facebook Group Objectives: Double membership on the Bigs-only Facebook group by early December 2014 to facilitate greater interaction between Bigs. Increase responses on the Big Engagement survey to “satisfied” or “very satisfied” from 58 percent to 68 percent by early December 2014

One of the main goals BECKM Partners aimed to achieve was an increase in Big satisfaction. BECKM Partners aimed to increase Big satisfaction on the Big Engagement survey to 68 percent of respondents answering that they are “satisfied” or “very satisfied” by early December 2014, raising this 10 percent from the 58 percent result of the original Big Engagement survey sent out at the beginning of the campaign. Strategy: Position the Bigs-only Facebook group as the central communication platform for Bigs to be notified of events, activities, and gain resources from BBBS staff and from one another.

The Big Engagement Survey revealed that Bigs would like to increase the communication between other members of the organization, and they would like a more structured and communication method between BBBSGMV and Bigs. Forty-two percent of survey respondents expressed that they would prefer to communicate with Bigs through Facebook and 78.57 percent said that they would be interested in joining a Bigs-only Facebook group. By positioning the Facebook group as the central communication platform for Bigs, it will ensure that all Bigs know where to go to access important news and information about events occurring in the organization, enable Bigs to interact with one another, and serve as a platform of support. Tactic 1: Develop a new group “description” to explain the purpose of the group and how it should be used.

BECKM Partners created a new Bigs-only Facebook group “About” description to better communicate the purpose of the Facebook group. The description was an effort to build the credibility of the page. By clearly communicating the purpose we hoped the Bigs would be more motivated to utilize the page to interact with one another.

Tactic 2: Invite all BBBSGMV Bigs to join the Big-only Facebook group via email.

BECKM partners drafted an invitation to join the group, which Joe Strychalski emailed out to Bigs. The invitation also included reasons to join the group, and what type of content would be posted. Matt McDowell then screened Facebook members requesting access to the group to ensure they were Bigs, and accepted them to join as a member. Tactic 3: Construct a content calendar for the Bigs-only group complete with all BBBS events and workshops to share, regular listings of activities to do in the Dayton area and linked resources.

BECKM Partners developed a content calendar for the Bigs-only group and main BBBSGMV page on Facebook that was implemented from Tuesday November 18, 2014 to Monday December 8, 2014. The calendar included events, local activities, news, internal resources, links to other BBBSGMV social media accounts, and news from BBBSGMV. Two members of BECKM Partners were assigned to social media content manage the two pages to ensure consistent posting. The Facebook posts were an effort to initiate conversation between Bigs and provide useful information and resources. The hope is that Bigs will eventually communicate with one another in the group on their own, without direction from BBBSGMV. Tactic 4: Get feedback from Bigs by providing surveys and polls on match event preferences.

On Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014 a post was created asking Bigs to fill out a quick survey on the recent efforts towards Big engagement, complete with the link to the SurveyMonkey Big Engagement Evaluation survey. This was only distributed through the Bigs-only group page, rather than by email, to see what Bigs who have actually joined the page and seen the changes taking place think of the efforts made toward improved Big engagement.

Bigs of the Greater Miami Valley Group Posts

Big-Generated Posts during Implementation Period

The above post shows a Big utilizing the platform to communicate with other Bigs and seven other Bigs sharing various activity ideas. This post exemplifies the goals that BECKM Partner was trying to accomplish because Bigs were interacting and communicating with one another through the Bigs-Only Facebook page without direction from the organization.

Big Danny Sullivan also used the group page to communicate with other Bigs and his Match Support Specialist. He shared his excitement for receiving tickets to attend the University of Dayton basketball game with his little and thaks his Match Support Specialist, Sasha for providing them. This post reveals interaction between Bigs and the BBBSGMV staff. BBBSGMV Main Facebook Page While creating the content calendar for the Bigs-Only page, BECKM Partners saw some posts not only being relevant to Bigs, but also relevant to several other key publics of BBBSGMV such as donors, sponsors and supporters in the community. BECKM Partners then decided to create separate content specifically for the BBBSGMV main Facebook page that would engage not only Bigs but other key publics as well.

BBBSGMV Main Facebook Page Posts

EVALUATION After implementing all tactics, BECKM Partners evaluated results to leverage our efforts and make the organization stronger in the future. The overall success of the campaign is measured by the level at which BECKM Partners met the goals set in the strategic plan. Bigs-Only & Main Facebook Page Evaluation

BECKM Partner’s Facebook content calendar and posts greatly increased the interaction among Bigs of BBBSGMV for improved information sharing and support. The objective of doubling membership in the Bigs-only group succeeded, increasing from 70 members on November 13, 2014 to 165 members by December 8, 2014. Ninety members joined the Facebook group during implementation of the campaign, not including the members of BECKM Partners who joined the group in order to post and view results.

The Big Engagement Survey that was posted on Thursday, December 4, 2014 was utilized to reveal insight about the satisfaction of Bigs and thoughts about the Facebook page. The survey received only ten responses, which is significantly less than the original survey distributed by email that received 104 responses. The minimal survey respondents reveal that Facebook may not be the best platform to use to increase the response rate from surveys. While some people did answer the survey, it is evident that not all Bigs can be reached through the Facebook platform.

The survey results revealed that the goal to attain 68 percent of respondents to respond as satisfied or very satisfied with the support provided to them was achieved. Despite the low number of survey respondents, 71.43 percent of those who responded expressed that they were satisfied with the resources BBBS provides to support their role as Bigs. 28.57 percent of Big respondents even said that they were very satisfied. Therefore, 100 percent of survey respondents were satisfied with BBBS. However, the small number of respondents limits conclusions made in the study, and it would be beneficial to send out the same question in future surveys to receive a better a response.

After being asked what changes could be made to the Facebook group, one respondent suggested to not use Facebook as much. In contrast, another survey respondent shared their thoughts on the page, saying, “I think the improvements have been great to spark thought and eventually more conversations would flow. Through the post I was made aware of UD tickets and got some for my little and I.” Another reviewed the use of the platform stating, “Facebook is a great communication tool.”

Survey results show mixed feelings about the resourcefulness of the Facebook page as the primary platform of communication between Bigs.

Over half of respondents to the survey said that the content on the page was useful. 57.14 percent said it was useful and 14.29 percent said it was very useful. The remaining respondents (28 percent) had neutral feelings about the content on the Facebook page.

The post that received the most engagement on the BBBSGMV main Facebook page during the two-week implementation period was a not created by BECKM Partners, but by BBBSGMV staff, on Joe Radelet’s retirement. It reached 626 people, received 21 likes and two comments. The Thanksgiving post reached 225 people and received 17 likes, which is the most engagement on a post that was created by BECKM Partners. The news article posted about the University of Dayton was another well-received post from the public. It received eight likes and reached 224 people.

According to the Big Engagement survey, on the Bigs-only page, Bigs would like to see more variety of different types of activities and the activity posts at an earlier time. BECKM

Partners posted suggestions of activities to do with their Littles a few days before the upcoming events, but Bigs feel they need about a month in advance to plan these types of activities. The posts about different activities in the local area should be put on the Facebook page more than a week in advance. A different Big felt that BBBSGMV provided enough programs and activities for them to participate in, but they would like to see more structure within the organization.

Throughout the implementation process, Bigs began utilizing the page to ask questions and communicate with MSS. When one Big posed a question to the group, seven other Bigs engaged in a conversation with her through comments. Bigs shared various ideas about activities to do with their Little and even started talking about planning an activity to do with one another. This shows that Bigs are willing to share interact and share ideas with one another to better themselves as Bigs.

After the question described was shared, another Big posted on their own about basketball tickets BBBSGMV gave him and his Little to attend the upcoming University of Dayton game. A Match Support Specialist, Sasha Youncy, then responded to the post showing greater interaction between Bigs and BBBSGMV staff. This unprompted communication is what the Facebook group is meant for, so it is important that these Bigs are taking it upon themselves to post and support one another.

*During the two-week-long implementation period, BBBSGMV staff posted on the main

Facebook page and the Bigs-only page. This altered some of BECKM Partner’s pre-planned content calendar, which originally planned about two post times on each page every week. The post schedules were adjusted so that BECKM Partners could still add more content to the pages without providing too much content for the Bigs viewing the pages. FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS After evaluating the success of the campaign, it is important to carry out the knowledge gained into building a better future for Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Miami Valley. Please read below for some final points and advice to guide the course of action for Big engagement in BBBSGMV. Bigs-Only & Main Facebook Page Recommendations BBBSGMV should continue to utilize the Bigs-only Facebook group and BBBSGMV Main Facebook Page to engage Bigs, facilitate conversation and encourage interaction. To ensure consistent posting and continuously encourage Bigs to utilize the platform, one staff member from BBBSGMV should be assigned to create a content calendar and implement about two posts on both the Bigs-only page and BBBSGMV main page.

Posts about free activities to do with Littles in the showed the most engagement and should therefore be posted more often. There should be more variety of activities and they should be posted more than a week in advance before the day of the actual event. Holiday posts, such as our successful Thanksgiving post, should continue to be designed and scheduled to give seasonal thanks to key publics that do so much for the organization, from volunteers to donors. Organizational news and updates from BBBSGMV should also continue to be posted on the main page, such as the story about the retirement of Joe Radelet, CEO of BBBSGMV.

During the time we managed the Facebook page, multiple posts were added to the page from ourselves and the BBBSGMV staff. These posts added more content to the page in addition to the posts we implemented and could have overwhelmed the Bigs with information. We adjusted our posts so that we could spread out the content throughout the weeks. By hiring a

volunteer or intern as a “Social Media Coordinator,” or single person in charge for creating and sharing content can solve this problem. This will minimize repetitiveness of what is on the page and ensure that there are not too many posts and updates. A position description for this job is included in the Communication Manual.

As more Bigs start to engage and interact with one another on the Bigs-only page, BBBSGMV can minimize post to allow Bigs to communicate and build stronger relationships with one another.

APPENDIX:

BBBSGMV SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR Summary of Position: Create Facebook content and manage the Facebook posts for both the Bigs-only group and BBBSGMV Facebook page. Main Duties & Responsibilities: ● Create and approve Facebook content calendars a month in advance of when posts will

begin. The content calendar can be approved and reviewed by Matt McDowell by the last Monday of each month.

● There should be no more than five posts per week and one post per day in order not to overload Bigs. The best post reach times during the week are between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m.

● Create special posts for holidays, special organizational events. Content Categories by Week Day Mondays - BBBSGMV Main Page ● #MatchStoryMondays

Tuesdays - Bigs-only group ● Resources for Bigs/News updates from BBBS

Wednesdays - BBBSGMV Main Page ● Link to other BBBS social media handles

Thursdays - Bigs-only group ● Events/activities to do with Littles

Fridays - BBBSGMV Main Page ● Reflect on past events

Content Descriptions This weekly outline is a guideline for the content subject or category of what to post. Providing consistent communication will increase the Bigs awareness of BBBS events and satisfaction with the support from the BBBS organization. However, the page should be a platform to facilitate stronger relationships between Bigs so any content promoting events, educating Bigs or starting conversations would also be a valuable asset to the organization. Additional post ideas include: ● Surveys - (Bigs-only Page) about attitudes towards future actions/ events of BBBS,

surveys to gain more information on Bigs satisfaction with workshops or events, surveys to gauge the satisfaction of Bigs with their relationship with their littles and how the BBBS organization and better leverage the success and satisfaction of the matches

● Education Resources - (Bigs-only Page) outside articles from education or development websites that would enhance the Bigs relationship with their Littles

● Internal Resources - (Bigs-only Page) links to internal resources on the website that could be beneficial to the Bigs

● Holiday Posts - (Both main and Bigs-only) holiday wishes and thank you posts towards the Bigs

Shortening URLs

In order to create condensed Facebook posts that are easier for the group to read, shorten any added link posted through bitly.com. After signing onto this website you can copy and paste the web address or link onto the website and then press “shorten.” The website will create a shortened URL link for you that you can copy and paste for use in Facebook and Twitter posts.