Using social mediafor fun and non-profit

Porter MasonDeputy Director, Social Media

U.S. Fund for UNICEF

@portermason, facebook.com/portermason

Using social mediafor fun and non-profit

• Treat it like a party (not a podium)• Consider your audience• Consider how it works• Do the hard work

Treat it like a party (not a podium)

@portermason, facebook.com/portermason

Treat it like a party (not a podium)

• One-to-one conversation is key• Many one-to-one’s happening in public• Talk like a friend, not a commercial• You get what you give

Treat it like a party (not a podium)

• Don’t feed the trolls (be polite, disengage)

Consider your audience

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Consider your audience

Put yourself in their shoes.• What do you click on in Facebook?• What annoys you in Facebook?• What’s important to them?

(Hint: it’s rarely your cause)• Let empathy guide you

Consider your audience

Where are your people online?• Where are your closest friends?• Where is your family?• Where are you acquaintances?– From work?– From school?

Consider your audience

Why are people on Facebook?• Keeping up with family and friends• Updating others on their lives• Sharing photos• Dating• Killing time

Consider your audience

Why are people on Twitter?• Something big in the news just happened• To feel closer to celebrities/famous people• To see what friends are doing right now• To stay connected at events• Killing time

Consider how it works

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Consider how it works

Facebook• EdgeRank – What Facebook shows you• Notifications• Likes, shares, comments• Lists and targeting

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Consider how it works

Facebook• EdgeRank – What Facebook shows you– Facebook doesn’t show you everything– Prioritizes people you tend to interact with– Prioritizes topics those people like– Prioritizes volume of conversation– Keeps interesting posts in front of you for a while

Consider how it works

Facebook• Notifications– Default settings– Commenting– Tagging people– Location

Consider how it works

Facebook• Likes, shares, comments– Likes are low-effort, but also low-impact– Shares require more effort, but are potentially low

engagement– Comments are high engagement, but don’t

require support

Consider how it works

Facebook• Lists and targeting– You can create lists of friends based on anything– Some are auto-created for you– You can target posts by list– Treat everything as ultimately public

Consider how it works

Facebook

The sole goal of Facebook:To keep people on Facebook.

Consider how it works

Twitter• The feed• Notifications• Hashtags

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Consider how it works

Twitter• The feed– People see what’s just been posted– If they don’t happen to check when you post,

they don’t see it– Caveat: retweets resurrect old posts

Consider how it works

Twitter• Notifications– Default settings– Direct messages– @-replies– Retweets– Favorites

Consider how it works

Twitter• Hashtags– Do a quick search– Join relevant ones– Don’t attempt to start your own lightly– Don’t become spam

Consider how it works

Twitter

The sole goal of Twitter:To make you feel like you’re missingsomething when you’re not on Twitter.

Do the hard work

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Do the hard work

• Build to asks• One ask at a time• Be specific about what you ask for• Make things easy• Plan, coordinate, be persistent

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Do the hard work

• Plan, coordinate, be persistent– Be ready to give people more to do when they ask– Plan to have conversations in public– Make your cause look inviting– Encourage event participants to post

(and don’t overly worry about what they post)

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Thanks!

And one last time:@portermason

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P.S. Further reading

• The Thank You Economy, Gary Vaynerchuk

• The Networked Nonprofit, Beth Kanter

• The Cluetrain Manifesto, several authors

@portermason, facebook.com/portermason