A window to the world. How Facebook and Twitter can help you build a community.

Social Media offers us many unique and new opportunities to build relationships, engage with customers and supporters and increase sales for our communities. It offers us a shop window to the entire world and a way to continually grab people’s attention with new pieces of information about what we’re up to. More and more people are spending time on the internet every day and using it as a way of sharing interesting things with their friends and family. It means that our potential audience is huge. Online marketing is essential for any business or enterprise today and gives customers an insight into who we are and what we offer. It can create loyalty once people feel they have access to unique content. We can create whatever we want – ask ourselves how we want our fans and followers to view us. Success won’t happen overnight, but over time it will give us a way of building and expanding our online communities. Some networks will work best for us, focus on just a couple - Preferably where our target audience already hangs out online. Introduction

1.Increase awareness of your community and what you do. 2.Get people talking about you. 3.Regularly grab fans’ attention with new information about your community. 4.Connect & develop valuable long-term relationships with fans, customers and collaborators. 5.Help you to sell your products. 6.Build social proof. 7.Provide a platform and an audience for telling your stories. 8.Raise awareness of your other platforms – ebay, etc 9.Build backlinks to your website & improve search rankings. 10.Help spread the word about new products and events. 11.Save money vs traditional advertising. 12.Give you full control of the stories and information you share. 13.Give community members a sense of pride as you tell people about their talents. 14.Offer feedback both on what you’re doing well and what you could improve upon. 15.Be a record of community goings-on. What’s the point? Effective use of Social Media can:

Facebook and Twitter are a great way of amplifying your message and telling people about what you do. Due to the sheer size and influence of these 2 platforms, your community needs to have a presence on them. Your website and the Emmaus UK website are also a good way of sharing news or perhaps start an online diary (known as a blog). At the very least, you should send a tweet and a facebook update about any new stuff that’s happening, with a link to your website. Twitter and facebook offer a fantastic way of sharing each other’s stories. Doing this will get you used to starting conversations online, and if people see you chatting, they might join in. Don’t just use them to promote your enterprises, use them to build relationships and provide value to the people that follow you by sharing interesting things. Constantly ask yourself what would prompt you to click on something that someone else shares and apply this to your posts. Which forms of social media should we use to share our messages?

Facebook user guide Facebook Post often and consistently (once a day is fantastic, 3 times a week is great) Ask – what would make me click on a story? Build relationships – ask questions and reply to comments Use hashtags # (a way of grouping similar content together) Share stories with a quote Use images Don’t be afraid to ask for likes and shares “Like” other pages & share posts Direct fans to your other social media profiles/websites Reply to any comments Start conversations by asking questions Ask people to write reviews, then share them. Write a regular welcome & thank you post to new followers and direct them to something interesting. Create regular features – e.g. fan of the month, Focus on…, My Emmaus, Offer ways to help e.g. carrier bag requests.

Facebook user guide

Twitter user guide Twitter Be sociable – it’s a person to person platform. Follow people that you find genuinely interesting. Chat to people, starting with the other Emmaus communities: Be conversational – share current affairs, interesting articles & things that make you laugh Share links to interesting stories, with a quote to tempt people to click through. Ask questions to start conversations. Reply and thank people for retweets when you can. Share your own stories several times / week. Hashtag your city to help people find you. Other useful hashtags #socent #Emmaus #Vintage Quality of tweets is more important than quantity – try to create a few each day Make sure your website details are easy to find on your profile. Put your actual name in the profile e.g. “Tweets by Joel”. Tell people which times you are online e.g. “tweets mostly on a Wednesday” Don’t start tweets unless you only want that person to see it. Make a mixture of planned vs unplanned activity.

Twitter user guide

Twitter user guide

Sourcing ideas and finding inspiration… Companions, staff, volunteers, trustees, customers. Community noticeboard – make it easy to input an idea. Past newsletters. Ideas from other businesses and organisations. Things that visitors have asked about. Google alerts. Relevant blogs & magazines. Other business managers & communities. What sort of stuff should we share? Ask yourselves: Why should someone follow us? What makes us unique? What will make people share our message? What do our followers want to hear about? And if you can’t answer the above questions, ASK PEOPLE!

More on what to share… Community Stories CreativityRetailReviewsAsking for… Companions’ stories PhotosShop updates BooksDonations EventsUpcyclingRandom donations CaféVolunteers SolidarityPoemsSneak peeks Leisure trips Reviews Day in the life ArtworkNew inFeedback HistoryHandmadeShop A-ZCarrier bags Behind the scenes VideosAdvice Favourite things Everyone ask one friend to “like” Uprising of Kindness Other Emmaus’ Show your personality. Practice makes perfect. Write naturally. Be authentic Be silly. Create regular features. Keep a list of ideas. Have a pool of resources. Emergency back up ideas. Share exclusives/sneak peeks

Calculate how long it takes you to compose a post, a tweet or an update. – Factor time for ideas, writing, editing, taking photos, sharing Work out what’s achievable – once per week/ once per day. Make your manager aware of the workload & time required. Stay visible in people’s news feeds. Gather a team - take it in turns, play to your strengths. Be consistent. Regularity is important so people know what to expect. Plan ahead – use tools (tweetdeck/hootsuite/buffer) to schedule posts. Experiment with which times of day work best for a) fitting it in around your other work and b) for the best engagement with people online. Time management for twitter & facebook.

1. What gives you a buzz about twitter / facebook? Group discussion What bugs you about twitter / facebook?