Getting Your Message Across
Presented by
Duncan Craig
Communications & Marketing Co-Ordinator
Workshop Outcomes
This workshop has been created to help you better understand
social media, provide you with ideas to ensure you’re using
the right platform, and
Outcomes:
• Understand what is Social Media
• Recognise common social media platforms
• Be able to identify which platform is fit for your purpose
• Aid your knowledge of managing social media outputs
• Provide you with tips on planning
• Helping you avoid mistakes
• Revealing how we do it
What is Social Media
Social media is the term used to describe social interaction
through the internet including audio, video, images and text.
This includes social networking and content-sharing. The
services are mostly free to use and you don’t really need to
have any technical skills to use them.
Social media is…
• an addition to traditional communications activities
• a tool to converse directly with customers / service users
• a cost communications tool
• cross functional-platform
• sometimes difficult to use!
Why is Social Media Important?
• A great resource to reach a
new/bigger audience
• It’s often FREE to use or
low cost
• Can quickly be updated.
• Easiest and quickest way
of getting good news out
• It’s viral. People will pass
stuff on to a new audience
• Sharing information
• Publicising information and
events
Common Social Media Platforms
Yammer: Social network used for private communications with
groups and networks. Often used within organisations to share
documents and ideas.
Twitter: Social networking and ‘microblogging’ service that
allows you to answer the question ‘What are you doing?’ by
sending a short message of 140 characters.
Foursquare: Location based social network. It lets people
‘check-in’ to places they visit using their mobile phone. Can
earn points, badges and rewards.
Facebook: Social networking site that allows you to create a
page/group which ‘friends’ can join or ‘like’. You can post
messages, add photos and create events.
YouTube: Video sharing site for uploading short videos of an
event or activity. People can comment on videos and they can
be embedded in a website.
Common Social Media Platforms
Tweetdeck/Hootsuite: ‘Social media dashboards’ that allow
you to manage multiple social media accounts in one place.
Schedule updates and post them to multiple places
Flickr: Photo hosting website that you can upload images to so
that people can view them. Can display your photos in different
ways, such as a slide show
Linkedin: Business related social networking site for
professional networking. Create a professional profile similar to
a CV to build connections
Podcasts: A series of audio files which could be news or
events. Users subscribe to the series and are updated
automatically when a new one is posted
RSS: Really Simple Syndication is frequently delivered updated
information you subscribe to. They are fed from websites to a
place you can read them
What is Right for You?
What do you use?
The Big Two!
• The best known and one of the
easiest to use
• Approx 3.5 billion are registered
• Millions of businesses, charities
and community groups use it to
raise profile and increase sales
• Can create groups (open, closed,
secret)
• Create a Page (mainly used to
promote a
brand/product/service).
• Not limited to characters and can
upload images etc…
• Arguably has over took Facebook
in terms of active use (rather than
Zombie accounts)
• Followers not ‘friends’
• 140 characters
• All major corporations, celebrities
and groups have an account
• Retweet interesting news
• Link to website updates
• Post images
Managing Social Networks
www.hootsuite.com – Social Media Platform Manager
Social Network Planning
Time is of the Essence
Time is of the Essence
www.facebook.com
Best Times: Weekdays 6.00am – 8.00am & 2.00pm – 5.00pm
Time is of the Essence
www.twitter.com
Best Times: Weekends 1.00pm – 3.00pm
Social Media Mistakes to Avoid in 2014
1. Obscure Profile Images
2. Self-centered content sharing
3. Inconsistent posts
4. Avoiding dialogue
5. Sticking to worn out methods
The key to a successful social media strategy is to constantly
share interesting content.
Replicate ideas that work and go back to the drawing board to
refine and retest ones that don’t.
Article taken from www.mediacase.org (05.01.2014)
#WhatWeDo
@cvatameside
@vctameside
• Social media managed through Hootsuite
• Admin for each key section of the business
• Monthly admin meetings (30 mins)
• Overall monitor (ad-hoc checks via mobile)
• Use of hashtags (#stateofthesector / #cvatexpo2014)
Getting Your Message Across
For further sources of information:
Charity Digital News is the foremost news intelligence and
analysis tool for a network of professionals involved in
technology and its use within the UK’s third sector.
www.charitydigitalnews.co.uk
Technology Trust have bridged the gap between the charity
sector and their technology partners, offering friendly advice, a
helping hand, advising on how the right technology can further
your cause by supporting your mission.
www.technology-trust.org
Getting Your Message Across
For further sources of information:
Duncan Craig
Communications and Marketing Co-Ordinator
t: 0161 339 4985
e: duncan.craig@cvat.org.uk
@cvatameside
@vctameside