leveraging social media tools to build sustainable...
TRANSCRIPT
Leveraging Social Media Tools to Build Sustainable
Afterschool
Alexis Steines, Director of Field OutreachRachel Clark, Communications Associate
21st CCLC Summer InstituteDallas, TX – July 27-29, 2015
Disclaimer
The 21st Century Community Learning Centers’ 2015 Summer Institute has been funded in part with Federal funds from the U.S. Department of Education. Any products mentioned are only examples and do not constitute endorsement by the U.S. government.
Today’s Agenda
• Icebreaker
• Objectives
• Utilizing Social Media for Afterschool Advocacy
• Program Example
• Group Activity
• Share back / Q & A
Icebreaker Activity
Objectives
• Discover how to incorporate social media into outreach and advocacy for afterschool & summer learning.
• Understand successful storytelling practices.
• Learn to incorporate the latest data from America After 3PM into outreach efforts.
Utilizing Social Media for Afterschool Advocacy
Why incorporate social media?
• Most Americans who use the internet use social networking sites.
• It’s becoming more and more important as a source for news and information.
• It’s free!
Interacting on Facebook
• Keep engagement high• Tag other users or specific places• Use eye-catching images• Make your messages conversational and brief• Ask questions to encourage your audience to
comment• Get familiar with Facebook Insights
• Post a few times per week• Post around current events, but also keep evergreen
content on the back burner
Interacting on Twitter
• Be mindful of the 140-character limit• Use hashtags—but don’t overdo it• Create and subscribe to lists• Follow on a 1:1 or slightly lower ratio• Tweet frequently!• Reciprocity is Twitter’s currency—engage users who
mention you• Dig into Twitter Analytics
Other platforms and tools to consider
• Instagram• Share your story visually
• LinkedIn• Cultivate a reputation as a thought leader in your field
• Pinterest• Find, collect, and share creative ideas
• Thunderclap• Reach a wide range of people with a unified message
• ClickToTweet• Share messages far and wide by enlisting your audience to
tweet them out themselves• HootSuite
• Pre-schedule posts to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and more
Storytelling
• Make it personal: Incorporate testimonials from…• Parents• Teachers• Kids themselves!
• Even short, Twitter-friendly snippets help to give followers an inside look into your program and your story
• Be conversational• Include visuals• When appropriate, incorporate conflict – especially for advocacy
messages
Finding your direction
Ask yourself:• Who is our audience, and how do they interact with us?• What sets us apart from other programs? How can we highlight
what makes us unique?• How quickly should we respond to comments, replies, and other
interactions? What’s our policy for handling negative comments?
• What events should we be prepared to respond to?• Holidays, policy developments, community events, pop
culture?
Creating social media plans
• Develop your messages• What are you trying to achieve? Do you have a call
to action? Are you looking to raise awareness?• Distill your key messages into Facebook- and Twitter-
friendly sound bites• Plug these messages into a calendar—and stick to it
Creating social media plans
• Create visuals to share• If you have the capacity, audiences love infographics• Adding simple text overlays to photos can help catch
people’s eyes• If possible, take photos at your event, and encourage
supporters to share their own photos using a hashtag
Creating social media plans
• Create a social media toolkit to mobilize supporters to spread the word• Include sample text for Facebook, Twitter, and any other
platform where your audience is active• Provide links to resources
• Information specific to their local area, like America After 3PM data
• Handles for Members of Congress or other influencers you’d like to reach
• Supply images for supporters to share• Favorite, like, retweet, and share when supporters spread the
word!
Incorporate America After 3PM
What’s available?• National and state-by-state statistics in an easy-to-use
data dashboard• Demand for afterschool• Benefits of afterschool• Support for afterschool• Data on healthy eating and physical activity• Data on summer learning
• Full report and special reports on key topics• National fact sheets
Incorporate America After 3PM
Trying to craft messages that will resonate with policy makers? • America After 3PM data illustrates the impact
afterschool and summer learning programs have in their own state
Looking for visuals?• Eye-catching America After 3PM infographics are
available to illustrate hot topics like summer learning, healthy eating and physical activity, and the opportunity gap
Program Example
Advocating with Twitter
• Keep tweets timely.
• Tweet directly at people.
• If tweeting at a Member of Congress or other key official, follow up with a personal call.
• Respond to tweets about different topics with an afterschool focus.
Advocating with Facebook
• You don’t need to create 1 page• Multiple pages allow you to reach different audiences with
different messages.
• Tailor your content to the people you are trying to reach.
• Consider using Facebook ads. Allows you to market your program as a brand and build additional awareness
Advocating with Video
• YouTube & Vimeo are great places to post promotional videos of your program.
• Send any videos you post to key individuals, like your legislators.
• Engages people with your program site, without actually bringing them for a site visit.
• Videos should be under 60-90 seconds and under 3 mins.
Group Activity
Creating your own social media plan
• Think about a big event you have coming up in the next six months that you’ll want to promote• Example: Lights On Afterschool
• Develop your messages• What are you trying to achieve? Boosting attendance? Raising awareness
about your program? Getting noticed by policy makers or other desired special guests from your area?
• Distill your key messages into Facebook- and Twitter-friendly sound bites• Plug these messages into a calendar, likely spanning four to six weeks• Consider: What images can we use? Should we develop and share a social
media kit for supporters?
Share Back
Q & A
Thank you for participating!
Alexis [email protected]
202-347-2030, ext. 111
Rachel [email protected]
202-347-2030, ext. 112