Getting started with Instagram

It seems as though every day there is a new social media outlet to jump onto and not everything will generate good leads. I have been doing a lot of research lately as I begin to create a social media strategy for my current job. Instagram is the youngest of our channels and we are discovering what works best for our constituents.

Why Instagram?
Instagram is a mobile social media channel that is filled with both pictures and videos. There are two types of accounts: private and public. Since it's primary way of interacting with this social media channel is through the mobile app, the way its users engage is different than some of the other channels. On Instagram, it's about being in the moment.

How to engage?
Today, most people are using a smart phone and already taking pictures. It is a great way to engage both staff and constituents to share and tag you. Even if they do not have Instagram accounts it's great to have them help you out by sending you pictures and you post. The most important thing to remember is make sure the content is interesting and positive. Create a regular collage of curated content to highlight and make sure you tag everyone who contributed.

What are musts for your post?
1. Add a location whenever possible
2. Make sure you tag photos and tag other users in the descriptions
3. Use at least one hashtag, but use other relevant hashtags

How do you engage?
1. Comment on their posts
2. Use the Repost app and share their posts
3. Follow people who engage with you

What should you post
Here are a few kinds of posts to get you started:
1. Inspirational quotes
2. Pictures of your buildings
3. Pictures of your events
4. Pictures of your people
5. Videos of speaks
6. Advertisements for events

Event Promotion Tips Using Facebook Events

Over the last couple months I have noticed that our Facebook events tend to get the lowest amounts of impressions from any other type of post that we do. On the handful of Facebook pages that I manage both professionally and as a volunteer, I have noticed that there is actually not much of a difference in the amount of reach whether your Fan Page has 5000+ people liking it or just 500.

Event Pages on Facebook have become an essential part of event promotion strategy. But most of the time they just seem to be another item on the list of things that you should have when promoting an event. The problem is with most of these event pages, we create them and then do nothing with them. There is no strategy and no effort to actually use them for promotion.

Marketing is all about tools and how you use them. There needs to be thought behind it, measurable goals if possible, and a strategy to have the Facebook Event lead people back to your homepage. Here are a few ways to get more people aware of your event on social media.

Ways to Increase your Reach with Facebook Event Pages

1. Use staff Members as Social Media Ambassadors

Have your staff like posts and also have them invite people. Anyone who is going to an event can invite other people. They say they are going, they then click on Invite and choose their friends to invite.

You should also engage other organizations/pages who are co-sponsoring to help share the event on your page. If you have other sub-brands that have their own pages they should also share the event. 

2. Share your event everywhere

Have your social media ambassadors and hosts of the event share the event. You should also share the event in groups on Facebook that might be have people interested in attending. Keep your audience in mind and the kinds of Facebook groups they are involved in. That is where you should concentrate promoting your event.

3. Add share buttons on your event registration confirmation page

Once participants have registered for an event, have them share the event on social media and visit the Facebook event page. 

4. Create a strategy for your Facebook Event page

There are so many ways you can engage your audience prior to the event. You can post pictures of preparations or even ask participants to post their own pictures. You can ask people to post questions for the speaker ahead of time and choose questions from the Facebook page. You could create a Top 10 Reasons to come. 

Other Tips for Promoting your Event

1. Make sure that you choose a #Hashtag for your event

The #hashtag should be something meaningful to your event and easy to remember. If there are trending/popular tags that you can use, I would also use a single one in posts. Hashtags can help engagement, but too many will actually hurt your engagement rates.

2. Get people excited for the event

Prior to the event, get people excite for the event by showing a glimpse of the activities or profiling speakers. If you are serving something interesting, then food is always a great way to get people excited. 

3. Spend money on advertising

If you are interested in reaching more people, spend some money on advertising. Just make sure you continuously monitor your ad to make sure you are meeting your goals.

4. Make sure your Facebook cover image is sized correctly

The size of the Facebook Event Cover is 784 x 295. Just remember the name of the Event and the date cover the bottom of the event cover. You can download a Photoshop Template to help you size your event cover.

Creating Tabs on Facebook

If you haven't done an audit of your Facebook page, it's important to do this every couple of months. Facebook is constantly changing it's algorithms and with the new graph search being launched, it will be important to focus on checking the SEO of the page. For this post, I'm going to focus on the tabs on Facebook.

Last year when the Timeline was released there were a lot of changes to the Facebook page. The main parts were the two column layout, the cover photo, and the Profile Photo. Most posts concentrated on these parts of the page and customizing them.

One thing that is missing is the Tabs and how to customize them. The dimensions for the tab 111 x 74. The first one is always Photos. But the next three you can customize, so you don't have to show just likes, map, and event.

Here are some examples:

The tabs can also be just plain and simple and have a call to action. If you do not have access to photo editing software, you can easily create the below tabs in Paint. 

How to Adjust Your Tabs on Facebook

Facebook keeps changing their layouts and there will probably be more changes in the next couple months with the designs of Facebook timelines for organizations. Although things keep changing, it's really important that you continue to look at the design and feel of the page. I often forget how to adjust the tabs on my page, but it is actually quite easy.

1. Put your mouse over the tab and click on the pencil.

2. Click on swap position with on the item you want to move the above icon.

You're done.

A quick note about designing tabs. 
Now that more people are viewing Facebook on their phones, make sure that if you use text for your tab, that it is clear and easy to read. I would probably recommend about 18pt font.

The size of the tab is 111px x 74px.

What kinds of Books do you read when fundraising?

I'm trying to put together a list of books to read if you want to learn more about working with boards and fundraising. Here are a few that I have heard are the essentials, but what would you add?

Governance as Leadership: Reframing the Work of Nonprofit Boards

The Networked Nonprofit: Connecting with Social Media to Drive Change

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Asking: A 59-minute Guide to Everything Board Members, Volunteers, and Staff Must Know to Secure the Gift

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Tools for Scheduling Posts: Hoot Suite

There are so many different tools out there for scheduling posts. I have been using Hoot Suite for a few years and it's a great basic tool. I am able to schedule posts ahead of time, this way I don't forget to post information as we get closer to an event or so I can figure out best timing for end-of-year fundraising.

The professional version is an expense that might be worth looking into if you have numerous people working on your social media campaign. You are also not limited by the amount of social media accounts that you can maintain and manage. Here's a link to a  Free 30 Day Trial of HootSuite Pro to check it out for yourself. An advantage of the Professional version is you can then get analytics for your Facebook account, which is not available in the free version.

Another feature I like about HootSuite that my husband pointed out is you can actually have your RSS feed automatically generate posts into hoot suite and then collect analytic about those and generate more posts. This is especially good so you don't forget to go back if you schedule your blog posts for later in the date. It stream lines what you are doing.

The other advantage of using a product like Hootsuite is you get the opportunity to adjust the same post for multiple networks. Your posts on Facebook and Twitter should not be the same, so this is advantageous to be able to add other wording on a Facebook post that you had to shorten for your Twitter post.

Question for Discussion: What are your Facebook Policies? Do you enforce them?

Creating a Facebook Policy or Guidelines for an organization can prove to sometimes be difficult. Mashable has a great article from 2009 about creating a Facebook Policy and has all the typical general ideas about strategy and how your staff should or should not use social media. They have recently updated it with some ways to update your policy. These are good practical suggestions for the policy. The clif notes version of their articles are keep it short and sweet, engage your audience, and protect your brand.

In an ideal world, you have two main objectives in your policy. I am going to focus on the Protect your Brand. In order to do this it is essential that your employees do not share on their social media outlets anything about your organization's business plans that are not available to public consumption. It is also essential that your staff does not speak poorly about your organization as that can speak poorly about your brand.

I often see my friends trash talk about their jobs and their places of business as being dirty, gross, or awful to work at. I am also not surprised when I see these same people get let go later on and not really understand why.

What kinds of policies/guidelines do you feel are essential to your company? How do you enforce these policies/guidelines?