1. SOCIAL MEDIA BEST PRACTICES

2. SHARE YOUR CORPORATE PARTNER STORY
Sharing your story as a United Way partner on social media will enhance your campaign by:
helping recruit your employees as new volunteers and generate donations by showing the type of projects in which your company participates
helping your local United Way gain support by sharing projects that positively affect lives in your community
giving you the opportunity to thank employee volunteers and donors for their efforts
sharing your company volunteering/donation success with community members
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So, show of hands, how many people here are on social media, personally? How many of you know if the company you work for is on social media?
So many of you probably know the ins and outs of posting.
Well, today we’ll be talking about the ins and outs of posting to promote your corporate partnership with United Way on social media, both through your company as an Employee Campaign Coordinator and as an individual.
We want the public to know all the amazing things your company is doing through United Way and social media is the perfect vehicle to share this message!
If you’re not the person who manages your company’s social media, feel free to pass it along to the right person. It’ll be available on the Campaign HQ.

3. CONTENT CREATION 101 What we’ll talk about: when to strategically post
what to post to accurately tell your story
how to tell your story through timely content
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So today we’re going to talk about:
when to post,
what to post, and
how to tell the story

4. YOUR AUDIENCE Your company’s target audience is made up of:
Prospective volunteers
Prospective volunteer donors
Current volunteers
Current company donors
Company stakeholders
Community organizations that can benefit from your company’s involvement
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Determining your audience when you’re planning a post is beneficial to ensure your content is relevant and interesting to your followers.
So, when you post on social about your corporate partnership with United Way, ask who’s your audience? Who are we trying to target and appeal to?
prospective volunteers,
prospective volunteer donors,
current volunteers,
current company donors,
company stakeholders, and
community organizations that can benefit from your company’s involvement

5. 3 WAYS TO TELL YOUR COMPANY’S STORY
Pre-Event / Project
Volunteering opportunities
United Way mission/local content
Event / Project
Affiliated charity spotlights
Live event posts
Post-Event
Event recaps
Company fundraising achievements
Volunteer or local media testimonials
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Your company has an inspiring story to tell, but how can you share it while consistently connecting to United Way?
We see three prime opportunities to do this:
- Before an event or project: This could be volunteering opportunities, content about United Way’s mission, or local content that’s related to your company
- During an event or project: This could be affiliated charity spotlights or live event posts
- After an event or project: This could be event recaps, company fundraising achievements, volunteer or local media testimonials like shared content

6. POSTING ABOUT PRE-EVENT / PROJECT
Post about how your company connects with United Way and what opportunities are coming up:
New volunteering opportunity: Share volunteer opportunity details to recruit employee participation.
United Way Facts: Fast facts that relate to your company’s interests and where fans can learn more.
How employees can get involved: Highlight simple ways outside of volunteering opportunities for employees to give back through United Way.
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Before an event or project, focus on telling your audience about how your company connects with United Way and what opportunities are coming up.
Examples:
- New volunteering opportunity: Share volunteer opportunity details to recruit employee participation. This can include where, what, when, who to contact, etc.
- United Way Fast Facts: Fast facts that relate to your company’s interests and where fans can learn more. This can be tied to United Way’s impact areas of health, education, financial stability, basic needs, and strong communities.
- How employees can be involved: Highlight simple ways outside of volunteering opportunities for employees to give back through United Way.

7. POSTING ABOUT EVENT / PROJECT
Post about current projects and volunteering opportunities as well as the organizations you work with:
Volunteer event: If it fits the opportunity, share photos and volunteer updates throughout the event.
Ongoing company accomplishments: Share company successes like reaching a fundraising benchmark or positive results from an ongoing company project.
Local organization spotlights: Create an organization spotlight sharing details of their mission, how they’re affiliated with United Way, what you’ll be doing at your volunteering event, etc.
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During an event or project, post about current projects and volunteering opportunities as well as the organizations you work with.
Examples:
- Volunteering event: If it fits the opportunity, share photos and volunteer updates throughout the event.
- Ongoing company accomplishments: Share company successes like reaching a fundraising benchmark or positive results from an ongoing company project.
- Local organization spotlights: Near the event (within the week/on the day) create an organization spotlight sharing details of their mission, how they are affiliated with United Way, what you’ll be doing at your volunteering event, etc.

8. POSTING ABOUT POST-EVENT / PROJECT
Post to recap a volunteering event, project, fundraiser, etc.:
Create a recap post: Post photos to share how a volunteer event went
Share a news story: Post a news stories featuring your company’s volunteering event
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After an event or project, post to recap a volunteering event, project, fundraiser, etc.
Examples:
Create a recap post with quality photos and share how the volunteer event went: These can include employee quotes about the opportunity, shared employee posts from their personal page, shared post from the affiliated charity, etc.
News stories featuring your company’s volunteering event: Sharing local media stories that feature your company and it’s connection to United Way
It is important to remember to connect these posts to your United Way by using purposeful language when sharing posts: “Encouraging women to take charge of their health is important. We’re proud to partner with United Way of Greater St. Louis and YWCA who are taking action in our community. Visit HelpingPeople.org to learn how you can get involved with United Way of Greater St. Louis. #WeHelpSTL”

9. HOW EMPLOYEES CAN BE INVOLVED
Encourage your employees to become active on social media by:
Tagging themselves in company photos via company social channels
Posting to their personal page(s) about their employer’s partnership with United Way
Sharing content from your website that is related to United Way
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Employees can play an important role in spreading the word about your partnership with United Way and associated company successes.
Employees have the power to fuel participation and give valuable feedback.
Encouraging employees to share their experiences through their personal social platforms is a great way to expand your company’s network.
How do to this:
Encourage your employees to become active on social media by:
Tagging themselves in company photos via company social channels: It is best practice for companies to let individuals tag themselves in photos vs. tagging without permission.
Posting to their personal page(s) about their employer’s partnership with United Way (fundraiser, event, volunteering experience, etc.) Include tips on how to tag United Way & your company within their posts (see page 22 for tagging tips.)
Sharing content from your website that is related to United Way and affiliated charity. Make sure your website content includes social share buttons to make this extremely easy for users.

10. CONTENT TIPS Your checklist:
Tag United Way of Greater St. Louis to help us find/repost it
Use United Way of Greater St. Louis’ hashtag #WeHelpSTL
Use United Way key links when appropriate
When posting a photo, make sure the photo:
Is good quality
Includes people
Fits the recommended size for the platform you’re using
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Tagging
- Tag United Way of Greater St. Louis (handles on next slide)
Hashtagging
- Use the hashtag #WeHelpSTL
Linking
- Use United Way key links where applicable (examples on next slide)
When posting a photo, make sure:
The photo is good quality (not blurry)
The photo includes people (employees, action shots, group shots, etc.) Fans like to see people in action vs. a photo of a room.
If possible, use the recommended size for the platform you are posting on. (Search on Google for the most recent sizing recommendations since it’s always changing.)

11. KEY LINKS & RESOURCES
United Way social media accounts to follow & tag:
Key Links and Resources:
United Way Website
United Way Success Stories
Facebook: /UnitedWaySTL
 Campaign HQ
STLVolunteer
Pinterest: UnitedWaySTL
YouTube: /UWGSL
Hashtag to use on all social platforms:
LinkedIn: United Way of Greater St. Louis
#WeHelpSTL
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Here’s a list of key links and resources to help get you started!
We have a lot of helpful tools available in the Campaign HQ, including a copy of this presentation. Feel free to pass along this presentation to the staff member who manages your company’s social media.

12. QUESTIONS?
Any questions?