Knowing Your Facebook From Your Flickr Dan O’ Neill – -

What I’m Going to Talk About A basic introduction to social media Definition of social media Types of social media

What exactly is social media?

A tool or service that uses internet to facilitate conversations Words, pictures, video, audio, experiences, observations, opinions, news and insights The redistribution of influence A set of powerful tools that contribute to and enhance your campaigns/communications/organising strategy

How many people here use social media?

Who is using social media? (MRBI 2015) 60% - Use Facebook (72% of those use it daily) 26% - Use Twitter (35% Daily) 18% - Use Instagram (46% use it Daily)

Types of Social Media -Twitter -Facebook -Flickr -Youtube -Snapchat -Instagram -Vine -Linked In -Nation Builder -Civicrm

You’ve engaged with social media if you’ve: posted a comment on a blog or under an online article; posted a review or rated a product; tweeted anything; participated in an online poll; posted a status update on Facebook; created a LinkedIn profile; uploaded a video to YouTube; shared an image on Flickr or Instagram.

Why are we interested in social media? Social media can be used to target information at workers in particular sectors provide information on union campaigns and initiatives to the general public or allow for unmediated communication with workers in a conversational tone which can make the union seem more accessible.

FACEBOOK:

Facebook is the world's most popular social networking website. It makes it easy for people to connect and share with their family and friends online. Users establish Facebook pages on which they can post updates including links, pictures and videos. People can also sign up to “like” causes and pages set up by organisations they support to share news articles, press releases, videos and photos that they find interesting.

By setting up a page, you can engage potential members and supporters and use their networks to share your message. Facebook is constantly changing, which makes it difficult for campaigns to stay on top of different features and options. Facebook in its current form with Timeline is a good way to promote your campaign or divisions story – by adding on special moments and milestones. Most organisations today are present on Facebook. In this arena, power and influence is measured in the amount of friends, likes and shares a page or a post gets.

When posting on Facebook, it's a good idea to keep these guidelines in mind: You should generally post a maximum of twice a day, and content should be relevent and consistent with your unions message & “brand” Posting too much content on your Facebook wall will annoy your followers and make them unfollow you.

All posts should have an ask – take this action, share this post, sign this petition, what do you think of this etc. – to encourage users to engage.

Always use some sort of visual content, even if it is only the image in the link you are sharing.

Try to keep your posts relevant to your audience. Try to discourage unproductive criticism and comments rather than taking up too much time engaging with them. Try to engage with positive comments and queries.

TWITTER Twitter is an online service which allows people to send short messages called Tweets (140 characters long) online which other Twitter users can interact with. If users have an interest in what another user is saying they can follow that person. Hashtags are used on Twitter so that people can follow conversations around a certain topic. For example, if you are posting a Tweet about the Vincent Browne Show, you use the hashtag #vinb. Anyone who then searches for #vinb will be able to see your Tweet amongst all the other Tweets about the show.

The instantaneous nature of Twitter, as well as its search function is very useful for worker and political campaigns. Most journalists use Twitter, especially local journalists in regional papers, which lets you interact with them. The instantaneous nature of Twitter allows you to update about campaign events, press conferences, public meetings etc.

Guidelines Let people know you are on Twitter – add details to your Facebook, website and leaflets Check out our SIPTU Twitter list for details of official SIPTU Twitter accounts – and follow them: on-twitter

Tweet news, information, keep it restricted to relevant information or quirky, shareable posts. Events – tweet advance notice of your events, link back to your website or Facebook for details Retweet others, and you’re more likely to be retweeted yourself

Use hashtags eg. #livingwageirl to join in a conversation

Keep an eye on your responses connect tab) and Direct Messages. DON’T respond to trolling but DO respond to genuine enquiries Point people to relevant news and information on your website, blog or Facebook Don’t try and deal with complex enquiries – refer people to the relevant place

Use rather than Direct Messages where you can, it’s more secure Don’t say anything on twitter you wouldn’t be happy to see published in a newspaper – it’s a public forum Try and tweet every day, but no more than 2 per hour – unless you’re live-tweeting an event