Smoke Signals 2016 Texas Master Naturalists State Conference

Kristi Kerr Leonard North Texas Master Naturalists Social Media Chair

Native Plants & Prairies Day Event Social Media Chair 214.676.5580

kkleonard@mac.com

Smoke Signals

Native Americans used smoke signals to communicate with their tribe and nearby friendly tribes

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Humans protect what we know & love

Young people are the future of our earth!

Young people use social media – it is the smoke signal of this era!

Let’s speak their language!

Smoke Signals can go viral

Young people did not have Nature Freedom

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Smoke Signals = Social Media

Social Media = Fast Education

Education = Save our Earth

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Introductions

Show of hands who currently runs their chapter’s Social media, who is on fa… Kristi’s qualifications to present • SMU Social Media and Interactive Communications Certification • Large advertising agency background • Currently consult for small businesses breaking into social media • Raised two children in a variety of nature settings • Grew up in a creek with brothers and Boy Scouts (had nature freedom)

Remember the TMN Mission

Also consider the Board’s goals

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Step 1: Determine your Chapter’s goals

Examples:

• Educate your community

• Celebrate current Master Naturalist successes

• Promote upcoming meetings or training sessions

• Build and engage the volunteer base

• Engage current Master Naturalists

• Connect with new groups (age, families, etc.)

• Create partnerships with other organizations

• Consider trends in community, what is hot.

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Step 2: Determine your audience

• Base on your chapter’s goals and TMN mission

• Base on your community

• Research similar groups’ social media (other TMN, local nature centers, Audubon pages, Texas Parks & Wildlife, etc.)

• Follow social media of other groups leading up to events (example: Native Plants Society of Texas’s Pollinator Pow Wow)

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Step 3: Website

Website is the “HUB” of all digital communication

Your chapter’s library

Most critical component of social media

Hub points to social media, social media points back to website

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Step 4: Select Platforms Advanced SM demands a unique combination of platforms that

change with feedback and new technology

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Pinterest

Email

Blogs(super powerful)

YouTube/Vimeo

Snapchat

Apps: iNaturalists, iBird Pro 10

Oh wait – before you get too excited…Remember SUSTAINABILITY!

Only start what your chapter’s volunteers can SUSTAIN!

Just like humans and nature!

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Facebook

Usage among seniors increasing

Personal

Good historical scrapbook/photo gallery/chapter timeline

Lasts longer on timelines than other SM

Public and “Member Only” for opinions

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Tips on posting Don’t post more than 3-4 times a week

In the Facebook insights feature, determine which days and times have the highest usage

Likes don’t count that much in analytics (increasing your rank on people’s newsfeed)

Goal: engagement. Engagement = dialogue

Photos get 53% more likes, 104% more comments

Posts with 80 characters or less get 66% more engagement

Questions get 100% more comments

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Post Interesting Stuff! Quotes

Facts

Sustainability

Photo Challenges Seven Day Nature Photo Challenge

Ethnobotany “Did you know that chile pequin can come in at 40,000 to 58,000 SHU (Scoville Heat Units)

Upcoming general calendar Raptor month Bat appreciation week National Farmer’s Day Full Moon/New Moon

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Twitter

Very short shelf-life, generally an hour

All things NOW! (live coverage)

Good way to get quick messages out

140 characters – quick, staccato, perfectly relevant

Hashtags organize tweets (Instagram, etc.) and it a search engine

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Instagram

Tweens and teens to mid 30s

Highest potential of young followers

Creative, innovative and fun photos

Like Twitter, very short lifespan

Second largest SM site in the world

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Pinterest

Users create theme based collections, called “boards”

Fastest growing social media site in history

Mission: “Connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting”

Great way to educate

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YouTube

Video is the future of Social Media!

Seeing is better than reading

Even amateur videos are great

Shorter the better

In general, first 5 seconds most important

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Bonus: A word about Hashtags

Index system for all social media

Connects your social media

Builds followers

Examples: #texasnativeplants #getoutdoors #nature #getoutside

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Bonus Tip: Hootsuite

Advanced tip

Hootsuite is a platform for managing Social Media

Can pre-schedule and review all in one place

Easy to copy same image and put on various SM

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Step 7: Social Media Policy

• Rules are similar as when you are representing TMN in person: no business promotion, politics, activism, or fundraising allowed

• Be considerate, respect other’s point of view • Stay tuned, because future bylaws may include

more guidelines

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Social Media User Policy

• Even a few sentences are fine

• Make it visible

• Same as TMN policy previously stated

• Profanity/abuse should be removed and do not respond

• Try not to censor unnecessarily, will die down

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Step 8: Social Team

• Remember sustainability: only start what you can maintain!

• Build a team: perhaps one person per platform, two for Facebook

• Who:

Polite, consistent, creative, conservative

Careful not to mix up personal account

• Bonus:

Good writer

Good design skills

Video ability

Sense of humor

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Social Team General Tips

Create a generic chapter email and tie passwords to it (not your personal email)

Keep passwords consistent

Write all passwords in a safe place and make available to current team and future team

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Step 9: Content

Most important component of all social media (and maybe life) is WORTHWHILE CONTENT!

Easy because we have AMAZING content

Science is abundant, interesting facts, fabulous photos, incredible beauty

Precious and valuable resources

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Content Continued

We do super cool things every weekend!

We have amazing speakers and members!

Avoid: �Wordy, Bland, Snarky, Apocalyptic or depressing

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Content Continued

• Share other chapter’s Master Naturalist social media Including: Texas Parks and Wildlife, AgriLife Extension Local/state and national parks, wildlife centers, Audubon centers, conservancy foundations, and other nature related spaces in your community • Things sacred/recognizable to your community:

Sports teams Universities Landmarks Local festivals (even unrelated)

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Step 10: Teach your chapter

Inform and educate chapter of all platform options

Get your Board on board (request participation)

List all on website, signs, written material, etc.

Grandchildren and children are a big motivation to learn new things

Consider mini-classes before or after meeting

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Step 11: Listen & Engage

Monitor the posts

Reply & engage

Have fun

Answer questions

Watch for direct messaging and answer

This is another reason for sustainability

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Step 12: Evaluate

Set-up Google analytics on website

Look at Facebook Insights

If you are in the social media world, there is only one thing for sure: change! It is OK, don’t be scared!

Hootsuite has neat reports

Show your Board your results

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Thank you!

Social Media for Large Events Next

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