Making the most of Facebook –for candidates and councillors

Chris HendersonAssociation of Green Councillors ConferenceKIND Centre, LiverpoolSunday 13th July 2014

Your present situation

Outline

• Why have a Facebook page?• Doubts and downsides• Getting started• Linking your page to your other media• Doing Facebook in a hurry• Types of post on Facebook• What works well on Facebook?• How to build a following• Keeping on top of the response you get

Why have a Facebook page?

• 24 million Facebook users in UK• Particularly reaches the younger generation

– least likely to be engaged with conventional media (TV news, newsletters through

doors, as well as newspapers)

• Users choose what they want to see – 'news feed' an eclectic mix that isn't sectionalised like a newspaper or broadcast bulletin

• Engaging people where they are – no intrusion

Why have a Facebook page? (2)

• Easier/quicker to post regularly compared to a blog/website

• Don't need activists or a budget to get your messages out

• Set your own personal agenda• No journalist filter• Appearing in touch with modern world,

helping dispel negative stereotypes of Greens• Engaging and energising existing supporters

Doubts and downsides

• What if I'm not that good/confident at it?

• Posting does take time... But doesn't have to take significant time

• How do you reach 'real people' and not just other Green activists?

• Facebook posts don't appear in Google search results... they're as good as 'gone' in 2-3 days

Getting started

• Make sure you create the right type of page!

• Don't attempt to use a 'personal' Facebook page as a candidate/councillor page

i.e. you need to set up your personal Facebook account first (do sort out personal privacy settings, padlock icon in top right-hand corner)

'Create page' from left-hand menu then...

e.g. 'John Smith, Green councillor - Pagford West' 'John Smith for Pagford West'

Getting started (2)

Will always need to switch from your personal account to your candidate/councillor page each time you log in

Getting started (3)

Linking your blog posts automatically into Facebook

From WordPress into Facebook• Go to Settings → Sharing in your blog’s

Dashboard. You’ll see six types of social networking sites under the Publicize heading at the top of the screen. To connect to any service, click the Connect button and follow the prompts.

Doing Facebook in a hurry

• Using the smartphone app – on the fly• Near-instant 'sharing' of photos from your

smartphone• Original content vs 'sharing':

Sharing from local community orgs Sharing from other GPEW pages

• Asking allies to 'mention' or PM you with content to share

• Looking for social media volunteers in your branch (including graphic designers)

Types of post on Facebook

Basic text post Photos Memes – see GPEW national website News item links / Other weblinks Events [try to get help with invitations] Questions [inviting comments] – rapid vox pops

Spin-off campaign pages

What works well on Facebook?

• Facebook algorithms: posts that draw a good active response will be shown to more users

• This is transparent – you are shown how many users have seen your post... You can learn from your own trial and error

• Inviting readers to “like and share”

What works well on Facebook? (2)

• Be topical... e.g. try to post about the morning's news story the same morning

• Visual content... can you make your post visual?

What works well on Facebook? (2)

• Pithy, deft, satirical... Remember what Facebook's primary purposes are

What works well on Facebook? (3)

• Use hashtags where possible at the end of the text of your post

• e.g. #VoteGreen2015, #Tottenham • If in doubt about what hashtag to use,

search for it first to see if others are using it• Effective use will increase reach

Building a following

Chicken and egg: once you have a following, you can get your posts 'shared' by your followers with their Facebook friends – slowly some of these friends will start to follow you ...But you have to get started somewhere! If you're stuck with a minimal following, sadly you are mostly wasting your time

How to build a following

Cross-promote your page in other media, e.g: Ward newsletter Email signature Candidate and branch websites Member/supporter emails Twitter Don't forget your own Facebook friends Get help from your branch and/or region's

Facebook page ...including 'sharing' your good posts

How to build a following (2)

Interact with and support other relevant Facebook pages.

'Like' pages of community organisations, then... 'Like', comment and/or share selected posts of theirs you want to support – this will get noticed!

How to build a following (3)

Post sparingly on pages of other community organisations

[Not always possible “as” your candidate/councillor page... you may need to do it using your personal account but you can copy-and-paste a link from your candidate/councillor FB page... not a problem provided you have your personal privacy settings sorted]

Keeping on top of the response you get to your

Facebook posts

Clicking 'like' on positive comments on your posts Replying to comments on your posts Replying to direct messages on Facebook

Use the notifications tab

Following up with particularly keen followers?

That's about it...

Not rocket science!!

If still in doubt, have a look at pages of other Green activists

Up for discussion: How can GPEW activists support each other to get better at social media?

Questions? Problems? E-mail: chris.henderson@haringeygreens.org.uk

Questions and discussion