At Thursday's meeting Graeme gave a captivating talk on the dos and don'ts of social media. A keen user of many of these platforms, Graeme has written up a bit of a guide for members to follow should they wish to explore a bit deeper. Thanks Graeme!
What is Social Media
Social media is the collective of online communications channels dedicated to community-based input, interaction, content-sharing and collaboration. Websites and applications dedicated to
forums, microblogging,
social networking,
social bookmarking,
social curation, and
wikis are among the different types of social media. (A
wiki is a server program that enables anyone to edit content on the platform or website)
Here’s the graph of top social networking sites in the world. As you can see Facebook is leading the pack with a huge margin in front of Youtube. Then there’s another gap of similar size to Instagram on the 6th place.
Top Social Media Sites (Monthly Active Users MAUs)
1. Facebook 2.23 billion MAUs.
2. YouTube 1.9 billion MAUs.
3. WhatsApp 1.5 billion MAUs.
4. Messenger 1.3 billion MAUs.
5. WeChat 1.06 billion MAUs.
6. Instagram 1 billion MAUs.
7. Qzone 861 million MAUs.
8. Tumblr 642 million MAUs.
9. Twitter 321 million MAUs.
10. Pinterest 200 million MAUs.
11. Snapchat 186 million MAU’s
12. Ask.fm 160 million MAUs.
13. Tumblr 115 million MAUs.
14. LinkedIn 106 million MAUs.
Social media is key to drawing in clients and connecting with your audience, and can even aid in putting on a successful event. Each platform is different—some are humorous, some are serious and some are a mix of the two. The
key to creating social media campaigns lies in how you post to each platform, which requires understanding of your initiative and the different voices required to best reach your followers.
Facebook
These days, most people with access to the internet have a Facebook profile, and they use the platform to link with friends and family or follow their favourite restaurants, musicians, event-planning services and more. Facebook is meant to be fun: You can share casual posts about what you’re working on as well as professional posts from successful or ongoing events. Connect with your audience by posting regularly, as the algorithms can occasionally hide your posts from news feeds.
Tip: One of the best ways to engage with attendees is by creating events on Facebook. Attendees can start networking with each other, see which of their friends are going, and check in to the event once they’re on site. This can further amplify the social footprint of your event.
Twitter
Twitter is your chance to demonstrate your charm. Show your personality and sense of humour by constantly tweeting about your projects, your day—anything relevant. You can also retweet others’ posts, and this can, in turn, help you to connect with other professionals and companies. Make sure to include hashtags in your posts, and follow and utilize trending hashtags for more views on your own tweets. It’s a great, casual way of networking, no matter where you, future clients or other event professionals are located around the world.
Tip: A hashtag is essential for your event. But more than one hashtag can really elevate your Twitter strategy to the next level. For example, #Leetonrotary
Instagram
A picture is worth 1,000 words,
so utilize your Instagram! Show behind-the-scenes photos of meeting preparations, live feeds of the event you’re hosting and the occasional picture from your personal life. By giving a glimpse into your life, you’re piquing others’ curiosity while showing your humanity. Make sure to choose a flattering filter and a witty caption, and use those hashtags so others can find and follow you.
Tip: Instagram stories are a powerful tool to share content in the moment that doesn’t need to live on your feed forever. These posts only last 24 hours, which helps ramp up the FOMO (fear of missing out) engagement. Use this tool for giveaways and contests on site to ensure that your attendees are always checking in on your story.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the most official and professional platform out there. Used mainly to connect with colleagues, clients and professionals in the same career as you, this is a great place to share what makes you the professional that you are. Fill out all relevant career information, list your skills, and reach out to past employees and clients for endorsements. LinkedIn is a way to show that you work hard, have experience and can handle any event thrown your way. It’s also one of the best places to post professional achievements and milestones—the humble-brag has few limitations here.
Tip: LinkedIn is one of the least mobile-friendly social media platforms. The majority of users still use it on their desktops. Keep that in mind when creating your social media strategy. It’s a fantastic platform before and after your event, but don’t dedicate many resources to LinkedIn when you’re on site.
Key points about getting most out of Social Media
- Permission - User controls who can and cannot reach them. Don’t abuse people or overwhelming them with updates.
- Relevance - Don’t add relationships willy-nilly. Limit your “friends” or “connections”. Only send updates to people for whom they are meaningful
- Relationships – Building relationships starts with a friend request or invite, it doesn’t end there. Get to know the people you are connected with. Answer their questions, send them a link or piece of information now and again, and read their profiles.
- Integrity - Be yourself — it’s why they added you. You will very quickly be un followed or unfriended you because you appear to be something you’re not.
- Focus - Signing up for social networking sites and social news sites is easy, but unless you’re willing to put in some work, you won’t get much out of it. You need to keep your profile reasonably up-to-date, maintain at least a marginally active presence, and talk to other people now and again to make it work. If you have a hundred different profiles on a hundred different sites, you’ll soon get overwhelmed and none of them will get the attention they need to thrive. Pick a handful of services and sites to put some energy into it — and stay off the rest.
- Diversify - That said, don’t participate in too few sites, either. Different sites have different strengths. LinkedIn is best for professional advancement.
- Personality - Social networking is about connections between people, not profiles. Worry less about finding the perfect background or your 5 favourite songs and more about creating something people want to pay attention to.
- Giving - You have to put into social networks in order to get out from them – it’s called reciprocity. If you want recommendations on LinkedIn, start writing some — people will usually return the favour. If you want followers on Twitter, start following - you have to take the lead.
- Add Value - Do whatever it takes to make your posts, your profile, your story submissions, or whatever the “currency” of the site, as valuable as possible. You add value when you submit a link; you add more value when you include a really good description of the article; you add more value still when you explain why I would want to read it; and you add yet more value when you tell me what the author left out or how the information might be used.
Social media sites can be great ways to promote a brand, promote your business, find clients, get jobs, find new employees, and build personal relationships, but they don’t “just work”. They’re tools, not machines — you have to use them, not put in some inputs and wait for them to do their magic. Keep the principles above in mind, and you’ll find that people start responding pretty quick — after all, they’re there for the same reason you are, to find people whose interests mesh with their own.
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RYDA Final Report
Thanks to Bob Parsons for passing along a final report on this year's RYDA conference. There were a lots of great of comments and recommendations by participants; a few of which are posted below:
When asked the following question "Overall, was today's program worthwhile
in terms of the effect on students in relation to their road safety
attitudes and intentions?" 100% of respondents answered Worthwhile or Very
Worthwhile
When asked, "Should RYDA be a compulsory course for senior high school
students?" 100% of respondents answered "YES"
For a number of years, I have been privileged enough to be educated and
advised about road safety as a passenger, driver, cyclist and pedestrian. I
have been informed about the potential hazards and consequences of a lack of
vigilance on the road. However, these have all been theoretical and the
reality of road accidents has never really hit me until I attended this
session. I was immensely grateful to both RYDA and God for giving us this
opportunity as it really exposed everyone of us to the reality of road
accident victims and the importance of road safety. There is a big
difference between merely hearing stories about the dangers of the road from
parents, teachers, etc., and actually hearing from the survivors. I am glad
that my peers and I were privileged enough to have witnessed the latter -
SFDS
It had opened up my eyes to the fact that you can be a confident driver but
still end up in a unpleasant situation. Not only did she die but also one of
her best friends, after hearing this it's making me think more about the
safety of my friends in the car with me. This whole day has just made me
think a bit wiser before I get behind the wheel and that there is a lot more
to driving then I once thought - NHS
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Member Up-Date
Laurie spoke of the personal fulfillment of being a Rotarian.
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Fine Session
Thanks Peter - Great Job!
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Guests at last week's meeting - Carole Weston
This week's meeting will be at the MIA club where we will hear from Terry O'Keefe and learn about all the things the Leeton Town Library has on offer.
Thursday, 18th May meeting - will be in the middle of school holidays and just before the Easter holiday so many members might be away. President David suggests that we have a social get-together at the Wade. We'll see who's interested at next week's meeting.
Thursday, 25th May ANZAC Day - no meeting.
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Inner Wheel Speakeasy
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