COBBLING TOGETHER A SOCIAL MEDIA GAMEPLAN FOR FOOD DAY MA

Presented to Tech Day Camp

By Tim Stansky

November 2012

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this presentation is to share the plan we used to build

cohesion and participation across multiple platforms. This amplified the efforts of Food Day groups across a state based on Massachusetts’ Food

Day Media Group experience in 2012.

We did it with no budget, lots of enthusiasm and an old New England

truism that “many hands make for light work”.

INTEGRATION

STARTING POINTS

Pull together a core team who volunteer to manage a social media tool that they are good at and let them be the lead to post, Tweet, Pin, etc. We were Twitter-centric, used facebook and dabbled in Pinterest. I wish we had “Pinned” more considering that platform’s growth at the time. New social media channels will crop up in the future, embrace the ones with momentum and critical mass.

Create a gmail account with your group’s affinity name as a master email account that you will use to build a WordPress site, enroll in social media platforms, and use to communicate as the voice of your group. Avoid the use of an individual’s name or personal account. If a facebook or Twitter account already exists don’t worry about it – as long as the owner of that account is on your core team.

Shared folder options

SAVING, SHARING & SIGNING UP

· Create a Dropbox account using your new gmail account where you will save documents, keep a Master Blogging Schedule, store logos, photos/images, a contact list and other necessary assets. Create a folder and you can invite members with a simple “sharing” option.

BUILD

· Using the basic Microsoft Paint accessory modify the free national Food Day logos to create simple state identities.

· Build your social media tools using the gmail account you created – Twitter, facebook, Pinterest.

FREE TOOLS AND RESOURCES

· Build a WordPress site using the gmail account you created. Add your logos and the widgets for the social media accounts you created. When I built the Food Day MA website there was no easy widget to plug in a Pinterest button. Many thanks to betweenheandshe.com, I found a VERY good post that taught me how to add a Pinterest button to individual posts.

INVITE WITH AUTHOR STATUS

· Invite guest bloggers with different levels of access to your WordPress site. I suggest you offer Author status to the group at large and just a few with Administrator or Editor access.

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SAVING, SHARING & SIGNING UP

· I saved the text of a an email on the Dropbox that I sent to every new guest blogger with instructions on claiming a date to post along with a heads-up that they’d also receive two separate emails inviting them to the Dropbox and the WordPress site. This made the recruitment of guest bloggers pretty easy once I set up the system.

Email to guest bloggers:

First THANK YOU. You should have received an invitation to www.fooddayma.WordPress.com with Author status and an invitation to the FoodDayMA Dropbox folder. If you’re not a current Dropbox user and install it on your desktop we earn more storage space. You can always uninstall it.There’s a word document in the Dropbox named “FDMA blogging schedule”. Add the information on the date you plan to post the blog and the other information and SAVE your changes.Write and post your blog or schedule it to publish on the date you chose. Promote your blog on the social media platforms you frequent. If you Tweet about it please include @FoodDayMA in the Tweet to notify us to call out the birds! Post it on facebook, pin it on your Pinterest account, etc.We’re here to help you with anything you need. If you’re not comfortable with WordPress and can at least provide text and images we can tee it up for you.

Tim Stansky

GET A PAINT BRUSH

· Use your Dropbox account to build and store your Press/Media Contact list, Media Advisories and Press Releases. Sending your releases from the gmail account you created allows you to manage your efforts.

· Now you have become your organization’s “Tom Sawyer” and it’s time to recruit guest bloggers, showing them how easy it is to be part of your bigger effort and that many hands make for light work.

IN SUMMARY

· We’re still tallying the collective tide of exposure that we created through the blogging site and social media. It’s clear that the WordPress site was a powerful anchor point.

· The highest traffic day for the site was the week before Food Day, coinciding with a story in The Boston Globe.

STEP BY STEP

1. Assemble a core team

2. Create a gmail account

3. Build social media platforms

4. Create a Dropbox account and save a Master Blogging Schedule on it

5. Build a WordPress site using the gmail account you created

6. Write your first post and publish it

7. Invite your core team members to the Wordpress site and the Dropbox folder

8. Send an email to your core group that explains the guest blogging process.

9. Use your Dropbox account to build and store your Press/Media Contact list, Media Advisories and Press Releases

10. Recruit guest bloggers, send them invitations and an email

11. Promote each blog post on your social media channels

SITES AND RESOURCES

· www.foodday.org/resources· www.fooddayma.wordpress.com· www.gmail.com· www.dropbox.com· www.facebook.com· www.pinterest.com· www.twitter.com· How to: add the Pin It! button in wordpress.com

http://www.betweenheandshe.com/how-to-add-the-pin-it-button-for-wordpress-com-blogs/

Tim Stansky @timstanskywww.wickedbostonaccent.wordpress.com