STORYTELLING THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA The Objectives The Sponsors [ I - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

STORYTELLING THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

[ INTRODUCTION ]

The Sponsors The Program

• Interactive training session

complete with comprehensive manual

• Community league focused,

with REAL WORLD examples

The Objectives

• Connect neighbours on and offline
• Build connections between leagues
• Help leagues minimize challenges on

social media

• Help leagues share great stories

about their community

• Supply social content to

yegishome.ca, raise your neighbourhood’s profile to a wider audience

[ INTRODUCTION ]

Course Schedule

1) Social Media Basics (25 minutes) 2) Facebook (45 minutes) Break (15 minutes) 3) Twitter (30 minutes) 4) Storytelling (30 minutes) 5) Picture Sourcing + YEG is Home (25 minutes) Q & A

Social Media Basics

[ SOCIAL MEDIA BASICS ]

Why Social Media?

Success stories - many communities are using it successfully More communities online = more interconnected between everyone Potential to reach transient populations Non-invasive way to promote and showcase your community Leverage the fact that it’s free

[SOCIAL MEDIA BASICS ]

Facebook Fundamentals

• 1. Facebook is designed to connect

people around things they have in common.

• Mutual friends
• Connect with brands and companies
• Join groups around common interests
• 2. Provides tools to share information

in interesting ways

• Status updates
• Comments
• Pictures and photo albums
• Share links and posts to others

[SOCIAL MEDIA BASICS ]

Facebook Fundamentals

• 3. Shows you what your friends are

interested in:

• Pages & Groups that your friends have liked or

joined

• Events that they are going to
• Places that your friends are at
• A comment your friend left on a certain post

[SOCIAL MEDIA BASICS ]

Facebook Fundamentals

How can Facebook benefit your community?

Engaging tool to share interesting content (status updates, pictures, photo albums, videos) A good platform to host productive conversations with neighbours. (Pages, Sharing links, comments) Potential to reach more people- (New community members, transient populations, people that don’t attend in-person events )

[SOCIAL MEDIA BASICS ]

Twitter Fundamentals

About Twitter Twitter is all about time relevant information

• Breaking news, traffic updates, reacting to live sporting events

Twitter is based on your preferences

• You actively pick and choose who you follow

Twitter can have different usages for different people:

Journalist – promote articles Celebrity – manage public persona Brand – spread your advertising message

[SOCIAL MEDIA BASICS ]

Twitter Fundamentals

Twitter for Community Leagues

• 1. Information gathering tool – just watch and observe
• 2. Connect with community members
• 3. Foster relationship with partners through interaction
• 4. Networking – identify people you don’t yet know but could really benefit your

community – reach out to them using Twitter – why is why hash tags are so important

[SOCIAL MEDIA BASICS ]

Facebook Terminology

• Friend
• Status update
• Like
• Comment
• Share
• News feed
• Messages
• @tag
• #hashtag
• Event
• Page
• Group

Twitter Terminology

• Follower
• Tweet
• Favorite
• Reply
• Retweet
• Timeline
• DM or Direct Message
• @Mention
• #hashtag
• List
• Subscribe

Manual: Page 17

Facebook

[ FACEBOOK ]

Facebook

1) Setting up your Facebook community 2) Facebook Engagement 3) Community Building Tips 4) Elements of a Great Facebook Post 5) Page Moderation 6) Facebook Insights

[ FACEBOOK ]

Facebook Page or Group???

Pages versus Groups:

• 1. Where your social media posts come from
• Pages: your page represents the community
• Social media posts comes from one official source
• Presents a more unified representation of your community
• Group: individuals represent your community
• Everyone is posting from their personal account
• Hard to tell who’s the official “communicator”
• Everyone has equal credibility (good or bad thing)

[ FACEBOOK ]

Facebook Page or Group???

Pages versus Groups:

• 2. Audience size and ease of entry
• Pages: designed to accommodate thousands
• Easier for people to find due to customizable urls
• Easier for people to look through posts without having to

“like the page” (prospective community members)

• Group: works best for smaller groups
• The more people posting the harder it is for people to read

every message

• Need to join the group to look at post
• Harder to find – no customizable url

[ FACEBOOK ]

Facebook Page or Group???

Pages versus Groups:

• 3. Growth Potential
• Pages: easier to grow
• A post from a page can be “shared” which helps the page

reach non-members much more rapidly

• Group: harder to grow
• Posts within a group cannot be shared
• Growth of the group is limited by people searching

up the group and joining it

[ FACEBOOK ]

Facebook Page or Group???

Summary :

Pages

• Better for representing your community professionally
• More welcoming to prospective community members
• Easier to find online

Great tool for internal committees

• Groups can be made public, closed or secret
• Groups show you who has viewed a post
• Groups allow you to create an event and invite everybody

[ FACEBOOK ]

Facebook Page or Group???

Takeaway:

• If you already have a group, consider using a page as well
• If you have a page, focus on growing it using good content
• If you do a lot of online coordinating between multiple people

consider setting up a group as it has many benefits over email threads

[ FACEBOOK ]

Setting Up Your Facebook Page

• 1. Ensure you setup your page as a “Community Organization”
• 2. Select a page name that indicates that you are a community league

Spruce Avenue – www.facebook.com/SpruceAveCommLeauge Royal Gardens – www.facebook.com/RoyalGardensCommunityLeauge Delwood – www.facebook.com/DelwoodAGreatPlaceToGrow

[ FACEBOOK ]

Setting Up Your Facebook Page

• 3. Pay attention to your visual identity – profile picture and cover photo

[ FACEBOOK ]

Setting Up Your Facebook Page

• 4. When you have more than one person running your social

media account what should you do?

• A. Create a “dummy account”

Not a good idea because…

• Facebook reserves the right to delete dummy accounts
• Tougher to “take the keys away” when someone leaves

[ FACEBOOK ]

Setting Up Your Facebook Page

• B. Use page roles (page 25)

[ FACEBOOK ]

Facebook Engagement

Your post will not appear on 100% of your fans’ newsfeed. The more your fans engage (like, comment, share) with your post the higher the score and the more likely they will see your post

[ FACEBOOK ]

Facebook Engagement

Key takeaway:

• 1. Put out interesting content to ensure more fans see your future posts
• 2. Avoid posting uninteresting or irrelevant content as it could hurt the “score”

[ FACEBOOK ]

Facebook Community Building Tips

Use the “build it and they will come” mentality

• Your content is as much for “future” social community connections as it is for

current ones

• Your activity will help determine whether new visitors “stay connected”

Ensure maximum visibility

• “Find us on Facebook” is not enough!
• Give out your full URL
• Spruce Avenue - www.facebook.com/SpruceAveCommLeague

[ FACEBOOK ]

Facebook Community Building Tips

Engage your fan base

• Answer questions when possible
• Like and reply to comments
• Tag people and organizations you mentioned using @mention

[ FACEBOOK ]

Elements of a Great Facebook Post

• 1. Post interesting content
• Use the storytelling mindset + techniques
• Interesting and relevant content about your community
• Make an effort to learn about your community’s demographic

and what they care about

• Experiment with sharing different types of content: videos,

articles, pictures, photo albums

[ FACEBOOK ]

Elements of a Great Facebook Post

• 2. Include a visual
• Interesting and relevant content about your community
• 3. Post length
• More than a tweet (140 characters) less than a blog post

[ FACEBOOK ]

When to Post?

Frequency

• Half of all likes, comments, & shares will come in the first 90 minutes
• 75% of people will see your post within 2.5 hours

[ FACEBOOK ]

When to Post?

Timing

• Every Facebook community will be different
• Check your ‘Page’ insights to see when your fans are online

Humpday Coffee Break

Wednesday at 3 pm

Parents:

8 - 9 pm

Seniors:

7 am or before 9 pm

[ FACEBOOK ]

Look Out for the Trolls

Trolls

Someone who makes a deliberately offensive or provocative online posting with the aim of upsetting someone or eliciting an angry response

[ FACEBOOK ]

Tips For Moderating Your Community

• 1. Maintain a respectful and firm tone
• Avoid sarcasm, elitism and jargon
• 2. Consider your audience
• Avoid polarizing topics
• Use empathy
• 3. Avoid the temptation to respond to every post
• Trolls may be unrelenting however, if you’ve addressed the issue

back away

[ FACEBOOK ]

Tools to Moderate Your Community

Profanity Filter

• Admin access only
• Settings  General  Profanity Filter

[ FACEBOOK ]

Tools to Moderate Your Community

Hide/Delete/Report/Ban

[ FACEBOOK ]

Tools to Moderate Your Community

Removing someone who “likes” your page

• Settings  Banned Users  People Who Like This

[ FACEBOOK ]

Tools to Moderate Your Community

Unbanning someone

• Settings  Banned Users  Banned

[ FACEBOOK ]

How to Develop Your Social Media Policy

Step 1: Have a meeting to develop standards…

• What will we accept on our community page?
• When will be hide or delete the comment? Immediately?
• Who can make that decision?
• What should happen to the person doing the “trolling”?
• Recieve a warning?
• Banned if they do it again?
• Can the individual appeal the ban?

[ FACEBOOK ]

How to Develop Your Social Media Policy

Step 2: Define the chain of authority

• Figuring out the roles and responsibility for your team

Director  Manager  Assistant  Volunteer

• Figure out who has the authority to hide and delete comments
• Figure out when someone should be banned from the page
• Figure out who has the authority to make these decisions

[ FACEBOOK ]

How to Develop Your Social Media Policy

Step 3: Communicate Your Escalation Path Offensive post  Hidden or Deleted Continuous violation  User gets warned After 3 warnings  User gets banned Harmful and threating content  Real life consequences

• Police involvement
• Community league membership

terminated

[ FACEBOOK ]

How to Develop Your Social Media Policy

Step 4: Publish a social media policy

• Summary of: standards, chain of authority, escalation path
• Provide contact info

[ FACEBOOK ]

How to Develop Your Social Media Policy

McCauley’s Social Media policy: (page 35) The McCauley community Facebook page is a place to learn what’s new and happening in the neighbourhood; to share your thoughts, ideas, photos, events, and to network with others who share

• ur wonderful community! We kindly ask for all to refrain from posting harmful or unsubstantiated

accusatory comments on this page, whether towards a group or any individual person. We understand that sometimes tough topics arise, and we want to assure every member that we seek to hold safe and accountable space to have those difficult conversations in an appropriate manner. To assist with the intent of keeping this a safe and welcoming space, we will have two page moderators who will review all comments and posts. If there is a need to remove or edit a post, a moderator will use their discretion and will connect with you if need be. We thank you for your participation and respect towards all our community members. Contact: c/o McCauley Community League 10826 95 street NW Edmonton T5H 2E3

[ FACEBOOK ]

Apologizing

What you might need to apologize for:

• Misspellings and typos
• Forgetting to mention somebody
• Forgetting to give photo credit
• Posting an identifiable photo by mistake
• Accidentally posting something meant for your personal account
• Letting an argument rage out of control

[ FACEBOOK ]

Apologizing

How to apologize:

• Acknowledge the mistake – “Thank you for bringing this to our attention…”
• Clear specify the mistake and show openness to correct it
• Remain genuine, personable and open
• Avoid saying “I’m sorry” as this opens you up to liability
• Avoid insincere apologies – “We’re sorry you feel this way”

[ FACEBOOK ]

Facebook Insights

Twitter

[ TWITTER ]

Twitter

1) Improving your Twitter Visual Identity 2) Twitter Audience Building Guidelines 3) Elements of a Great Tweet

[ TWITTER ]

Improving Your Twitter Visual Identity

[ TWITTER ]

Twitter Audience Building Guidelines

• 1. Tell Your Story
• Incorporate elements of your story into your Tweets - make it

relevant to your audience

• Use live coverage technique or time sensitive reminders
• Interact with those within your community

[ TWITTER ]

Twitter Audience Building Guidelines

• 2. Ensure Maximum Visibility

Be sure to include your Twitter url on all online and offline materials.

• Oliver - https://twitter.com/OCLYEG or @OCLYEG
• Strathearn - https://twitter.com/StrathearnCL or @StrathearnCL
• Rio Terace - https://twitter.com/RioTerraceCL or @RioTerraceCL

[ TWITTER ]

Twitter Audience Building Guidelines

• 3. Build Your Following

Generously following accounts that are:

• Relevant to your community
• Accounts who have followed you
• Accounts of your community members and associates

Go to accounts like @EFCL and @CityOfEdmonton and check out who they are following.

[ TWITTER ]

Twitter Audience Building Guidelines

• 4. Connect into the #YEG Social Media Scene (page 38)
• #yeg
• Edmonton
• #yegdt
• Edmonton Downtown
• #yegcc
• Edmonton City Council
• #yegparks
• Edmonton Parks
• #yegtraffic
• Traffic reports
• #yegwx
• Weather
• #yegmedia
• Media
• #yegarts
• Arts Community
• #yegfood
• Food Community
• #ableg
• Alberta Legislature
• #ets
• Edmonton Transit
• #epl
• Edmonton Public Library
• #yegarena
• Arena Debate
• #esks
• Eskimos
• #oilers
• Oilers
• #eia
• Edmonton

International Airport

• #CoE
• City of Edmonton
• #Kdays
• K Days
• #yegheritagefest
• Heritage Festival
• #yegcls
• Edmonton community

leagues

• #CLDay2014
• Community League

Day

• #efcl100 - EFCL 100 Anniversary

[ TWITTER ]

Twitter Audience Building Guidelines

• 5. Using hashtags purposefully

Hashtags are essential to Twitter - allows users to connect around a common topic

• Use hashtags respectfully - limit hashtags to ones that are relevant
• Hashtags are commonly added at the end of your tweets
• Can also be used in the middle of the sentence

[ TWITTER ]

Twitter Audience Building Guidelines

• 5. Using hashtags purposefully
• Be aware of someone who is using a hashtag “seriously” or humorously

○ Serious: #yeg, #yegtraffic ○ Humor: #StoryOfMyLife, #SorryNotSorry

[ TWITTER ]

Twitter Audience Building Guidelines

• 5. Using hashtags purposefully
• Consider developing your own community hashtag

○ Try to keep it short ○ Use it on your own tweets consistently ○ Actively encourage others to use it when talking about your community

#OliverCommunity #OliverYEG #YEGOliver #GlastonburyCommunity #GlastonburyYEG #YEGGlastonbury

[ TWITTER ]

Twitter Audience Building Guidelines

• 6. Using lists
• A list is a curated group of Twitter users. You can create your own lists or

subscribe to lists created by others.

[ TWITTER ]

Twitter Audience Building Guidelines

• 7. Engaging on Twitter
• Reply to tweets mentioning you
• @Mention the people you are talking to or about
• Ask community members, partners and etc if they have Twitter
• Be careful of too much retweeting - only retweet when the information is

valuable

• Generously favourite tweets to show your support

[ TWITTER ]

Elements of a Great Tweet

Tweet Length

• Aim for 100 characters (max 140)

Frequency

• Aim for 3 - 6 original tweets per day
• Be careful of only retweeting
• Favourite as many tweets as you like

Attach pictures in your Tweet Use a URL shortlener - bitly.com

[ TWITTER ]

Elements of a Great Tweet

Timing

Half-life of a tweet is 18 minutes (time your Tweet accordingly)

Humpday Coffee Break

Wednesday at 3 pm

Parents:

8 - 9 pm

Seniors:

7 am or before 9 pm

[ TWITTER ]

Twitter Analytics

[ INTRODUCTION ]

Why Storytelling?

Helps others relate and learn about your community on a more personal level Stories are good educational tools to reinforce community values, encourages more people to contribute and participate. With greater contribution and participation helps build a stronger, more connected and safer community.

[ STORYTELLING ]

Storytelling Key Concepts:

• 1. How do we tell stories about our community?
• 2. Techniques for storytelling
• 3. How to create a story plot

[ STORYTELLING ]

Storytelling

How do we tell stories about our community?  Think of your community as a character  Consider its overall personality based

• n it’s unique characteristics and

features…

[ STORYTELLING ]

Storytelling

• 1. Distinct physical characteristics
• Stadiums & rec centres
• Unique amenities
• Monuments

[ STORYTELLING ]

Storytelling

• 2. Unique demographics
• Cultural populations
• Lifecycle (students, young

families, seniors and etc…)

[ STORYTELLING ]

Storytelling

• 3. History
• Do we have an especially rich or

meaningful history?

[ STORYTELLING ]

Storytelling

• 4. Goals/mission
• What is our goal or mission?

[ STORYTELLING ]

Storytelling

• 5. Community relationships
• Unique community programs
• Partnerships
• Allies

[ STORYTELLING ]

Storytelling

• 6. Vulnerabilities/prevalent issues
• Hot button issues that you would

like to address

[ STORYTELLING ]

What Should We Talk About?

Suggestions for story topics:

The development of an important project – ex. building a spray park Current events & latest news in your community Promoting special community events Documenting something a member of your community is doing

[ STORYTELLING ]

Storytelling Storytelling Techniques:

• 1. Visual narrative
• 2. Personal perspective
• 3. Community values
• 4. Historical perspective
• 5. Community spotlight
• 6. Live coverage

[ STORYTELLING ]

Storytelling Techniques

• 1. Visual Narrative
• Using pictures to capture

the “intangibles” of a community event

• Using photo albums to

tell a story – ex. Glastonbury’s Fall Family Fun Day 2014

[ STORYTELLING ]

Storytelling Techniques

• 2. Personal Experience
• Describe what it’s like to

live in your community

• Allows potential

neighbours to visualize themselves in your community

• Show off your

community from an “insider’s” perspective

[ STORYTELLING ]

Storytelling Techniques

• 3. Highlighting Community Values
• Talk about programs your

community is involved in

• Highlight the culture of your

community – “We look after

• ne another here.”
• Ex. – Neighbourhood

watch, snow angels program, etc.

[ STORYTELLING ]

Storytelling Techniques

• 4. Historical Perspective
• Historical pictures, facts &

trivia resonates well with Facebook users

• Share your community’s

history

• Try doing it on Thursdays –

“Throwback Thursdays”

[ STORYTELLING ]

Storytelling Techniques

• 5. Community Spotlight
• Draw attention to the

achievements of your community members

• Good way to let people

know who’s in their community

[ STORYTELLING ]

Storytelling Techniques

• 6. Live Coverage
• Provide time relevant

information to your community members

• Ex.
• What time an event

starts?

• Which day the

pool/skating rink is

• pening
• Great for Twitter

[ STORYTELLING ]

How Do We Tell A Story?

So how do we actually tell a story? Something happening in your community  Social media posts Follow this plot structure…

[ STORYTELLING ]

How Do We Tell A Story?

• 1. Exposition
• The context of your story
• Introduce the setting and background of your story
• In this case your character is your community

[ STORYTELLING ]

How Do We Tell A Story?

• 2. Inciting Incident
• Introduce the subject/plot of your story
• Something that happens to your community or something that your community is

doing

• Ex. Building a spray park

[ STORYTELLING ]

How Do We Tell A Story?

• 3. Rising Action
• The things that need to happen to accomplish or resolve the plot introduced in the

inciting incident

[ STORYTELLING ]

How Do We Tell A Story?

• 4. Climax
• The moment the inciting incident is accomplished or resolved

[ STORYTELLING ]

How Do We Tell A Story?

• 5. Falling Action
• The immediate or short term implications of accomplishing or resolving the inciting

incident

[ STORYTELLING ]

How Do We Tell A Story?

• 6. Resolution
• The long term implications of accomplishing or resolving the inciting incident

[ STORYTELLING ]

Example

Exposition (background): Big Castle is a popular community for young families and is currently home to a large number of families with young children. Big Castle’s goal is to become more supportive for young families through improving existing amenities.

[ STORYTELLING ]

Example

Inciting Incident (subject): Big Castle has decided to work with the City of Edmonton to build a spray park attachment to its existing park.

[ STORYTELLING ]

Example

Rising Action: In order to build this spray park, a public discussion will be held to assess the project. Than a vote needs to occur in order to approve the spray park.

[ STORYTELLING ]

Example

Rising Action Social Media Post:

Facebook: “The community of Big Castle is focused on becoming more child-friendly, and we want to know what you think about adding a spray park to our

• community. Please attend our public discussion

Thursday night at the Big Castle community league at 7pm to let us know what you think!”

[ STORYTELLING ]

Example

Rising Action Social Media Post:

[ STORYTELLING ]

Example

Climax: The outcome of the discussion and vote - spray park approved

[ STORYTELLING ]

Example

Climax Social Media Post:

[ STORYTELLING ]

Example

Falling Action: ○ Coverage of the construction of the park ○ Promote the opening day

[ STORYTELLING ]

Example

Falling Action Social Media Post:

[ STORYTELLING ]

Example

Resolution:

• The long term implications for your

community ○ Facebook photo album of the grand opening party ○ Stats on spray park usage during over the summer

[ STORYTELLING ]

Example

Resolution Social Media Post:

[ STORYTELLING ]

Storytelling Recap

• Use the plot diagram to track where your story is
• Write your social media message to fit the stage of your plot (use

appropriate calls to action)

• Most important takeaway is to follow up with your story and to be

consistent with your character’s personality and purpose

Picture Sourcing

[ PICTURE SOURCING]

Taking Good Photos

• Lighting
• Avoid strong back lighting
• Framing and Composition
• Move closer!
• Observe the rule of thirds, crop if

necessary!

• Be fast!
• Snap multiple photos in succession,

digital film is cheap!

[ PICTURE SOURCING ]

Taking Good Photos

Don’t be afraid to pose the shot Aim to capture faces whenever possible When photographing an activity ensure the picture clearly depicts what is happening Refer to page 45 for examples

[ STORYTELLING TECHNIQUES – BE VISUAL ]

Sourcing Good Photos

• 1. Search image sites under Creative Commons
• 2. Search Google’s Publicly Reusable Images

[ PICTURE SOURCING]

Sourcing Good Photos

• 3. Source from stock image sites (paid and free)

53+ Free Image Sources https://blog.bufferapp.com/free-image-sources-list (page 52)

[ YEG IS HOME ]

YegIsHome.ca

THANK YOU.