Using Social Media to Educate

International Boating and Water Safety SummitMarch 5, 2012

Susan Shingledecker, BoatU.S. Foundation

What we aim to accomplish• Current Trends in Social Media

• Tips for Keeping Your Personal Life Personal and Your Professional Life Professional!

• Successes, Flops and Lessons Learned from the BoatU.S. Foundation

• Successes, Flops and Lessons Learned from the Panel

• Time for Questions

What we will not do• Attempt to impress by

confusing you with jargon

• Sell you a bunch of snake oil about how this will change the way the world works forever

• Pass ourselves off as “gurus” – we’re still learning this stuff too!

Keeping your personal life personal

**Always remember that anything you post has the potential to be seen by others. If you wouldn’t say it

to your Mom and your Boss – better not say it. **

• Common Sense• Using Lists• Privacy Settings

Control who sees each post

Control who sees your personal information

Check “Edit Settings” for further control

Keeping your professional life professional

• Promote what you do not only to your friends but also your industry contacts

• Be transparent in who you are – are you being compensated?

• Consider using the “Subscribe” feature

Your organization on Facebook

Your organization on FacebookKnow when to use Facebook as an individual and

when as an org./agency

Your organization on Facebook“Like” related groups and partners, ask them to

“Like” you back

RULE #1:

LISTEN.

RULE #2:

ENGAGE.

RULE #3:

BE REAL.

RULE #4:

BE RESPECTFUL.

RULE #5:

HAVE FUN.

LoginREASONS WHY PEOPLE

TO FACEBOOK

FRIENDS & FAMILY

32%INFORMATION

16%

OTHER 3%

FUN49%

Source: Pew Internet and American Life Study

BoatU.S. Foundation and Social Media

• Social media is just one part of our communications strategy

• All staff are expected to use social media – not just one person’s job

• Focused on Facebook to start– Approach:

• Promote our programs• Give our audience a chance to influence our programs

through social media• Highlight partners’ efforts• Engage in an interesting dialogue with boaters on relevant

topics

• All with the aim of building a following, reaching boaters and serving as a resource for boaters

What has worked?Life Jacket Design Competition

• 35 entries • 15 best posted for Voting• 1,500 votes and 1,800

comments on the videos• We saw 800 new “Likes” and

post views increased 500%.

Panel of expert judges at IBWSS 2011 selected winner based on combination of public voting and judges scores.

What has worked?

“I cannot begin to tell you how excited we were to follow the voting process. Each day we watched our voting numbers climb and climb and climb. You could have heard the cheers all across the country from California to Main and from Florida to Michigan.”

- USCGA 8CR-119

2012 Grant Voting is currently in progress

What has worked?

What has worked?

What has worked?

What has flopped?

• Initially created our page and waited for fans to come to us.

• Trying to be too formal• Just posting links without explanation or additional

information• Multiple successive posts (3 or more within 10 min)• Questions with right and wrong answers often don’t

generate much discussion.• Fundraising generally not successful – must have an

active following first.

Lesson Learned

• Social media is not a silver bullet.• Just having content isn’t enough – it has to be INTERESTING &

RELEVANT• Need to post regularly• It takes time to build and maintain a following• Ask other pages to repost your good content, AND post theirs! • Understand rules and guidelines for campaigns and contests• Ask for interaction• “Like” partners so you can “tag” them in your posts and re-post

their content

“There is no such thing as a terrible idea, so don’t be afraid to try. Certain things in social media will be a slam dunk and others will flop, but you can’t succeed without the occasional mistake.”

-Scott Kleinberg, Chicago Tribune

ResourcesUsing Listshttps://www.facebook.com/help/friends/lists

Privacy Settingshttp://www.facebook.com/help/privacy

Subscribe Featurehttps://www.facebook.com/about/subscribe

Facebook Promotion Guidelineshttps://www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php

Government Agency resourceshttps://www.facebook.com/government?sk=app_4949752878

Social Media Cheat Sheethttp://www.searchenginejournal.com/need-a-cheat-sheet-for-socal-media/39546/

Social Media News, Tips and Trickshttp://www.mashable.com