Making the Most of Social Media
Facebook • Twitter • Blogs • YouTube
What is Social Media?
Social Media is a term used for web-based media that encourage social
interactivity among its participants. They allow individuals and organizations to provide information to others in their social networks and let participants instantly respond to postings on these platforms. The most commonly used social media platforms are Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and YouTube.
Why participate?
Social media, especially Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and YouTube, are another
avenue of marketing and communication. They can help you connect with all of your target audiences, including Master Gardeners, home gardeners, partners, etc... You can publicize events, provide gardening tips, and have an ongoing dialog with your “followers.”
Social media also allows you to build “social authority.” In other words, it let’s you establish yourself as an expert and influencer in your field. Consistent, thoughtful usage will also increase awareness of your program and the University of California Master Gardener brand.
Though some are still unfamiliar with Facebook and Twitter, they are no longer
considered cutting-edge. In fact they are rapidly becoming an important part of the marketing mix. Many people, especially younger demographics, have been using social media for several years. They have come to expect that the
organizations they are a part of, or are interested in, will have multiple online
presences and that, through them, they will be able to interact with those entities and other like-minded people.
Considerations
While there are big upsides in having a presence on Facebook, Twitter, blogs,
and YouTube, there are some things that you should consider when deciding
whether or not to participate:
• What do you intend to accomplish? Use this to guide your content
decisions.
• Who is your audience? Once you define your audience, you’ll be able to
provide information that is relevant to them.
• This is a definitely a commitment of time and resources. For Facebook,
Twitter, and blogs to be successful methods of outreach for your program
you will need 3 - 4 volunteers whose job it will be to provide a consistent
stream of content and who will respond to comments and questions in a
timely manner. It might be possible to accomplish this with 1 - 2 very
dedicated volunteers. However many volunteers you have working, they
must be able to post content and respond to comments and questions at
least 3 - 4 times a week.
• The volunteers you select to do Facebook-ing, Tweeting and blogging
should be trusted MGs who have been trained in how to respond to
questions from the public. An experienced helpline volunteer would be a
good choice. The more personality conveyed in your postings the better,
but make sure it’s a good fit. These volunteers will represent your program
so choose thoughtfully.
• While Facebook, Twitter, blogs and YouTube can create synergies for
outreach, you don’t have to use all of them. If you only want to do one,
choose the communications platform that will best meet your goals.
Facebook is a free social networking site. It allows you to publicize events, post photos, provide tips, and engage followers in an ongoing conversation about home gardening, water conservation, sustainable landscaping, IPM, and other relevant subjects. It is also a great tool to direct fans to your website where they can find more detailed information.
When your fans interact with your Facebook Page, stories linking to your Page
may appear in their friends’ News Feeds. As their friends interact with your Page, the News Feed keeps driving word-of-mouth to a wider circle of friends.
How to create a Facebook Page
Create a Facebook Page, not a Profile. Facebook says: “Only the official
representative of an organization, business, celebrity, or band may create a
Facebook Page. The Page creator can then add other representatives (admins) to help them manage the Page. Each page admin will be able to update and edit their pages from their own accounts.”
You may not want to create a Page specifically for your county. Another option is to post to the Statewide Master Gardener Facebook Page. You, as a member of this group, are welcome to participate in and post to this site. Search UCCE Master Gardener of California-Statewide to join and post to this group.
To get started with Facebook click on this link (http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=904) and follow the directions. Note that the other volunteers who will be helping you (admins – see glossary) will need to have their own personal accounts in order to be able to help with your Facebook page. Admins have a lot of power. Make sure your admin list is always kept up to
date. If an admin is no longer part of the project, you may want to consider deleting their name from the list.
If you already have a personal profile on Facebook, or think you might want one in the future, it is a good idea to use “UCMG Your Name” when you create your admin account for the purposes of contributing to the program Page. That will keep your UC Master Gardener version separate from your personal Profile.
How to post information (update your status) on Facebook.
Posting information on the Facebook Page is really easy.
1. Go to your UC Master Gardeners Facebook Page
2. If you aren’t in the “Wall” section, click that tab.
3. Click into the box that says “Write something…”
4. Type in your tip or announcement.
5. Attach any pictures, videos or web links, if necessary.
6. Click the “share” button.
Please note that once you “share” the post it can’t be changed or edited. Check your spelling! To correct mistakes, you must delete and repost.
The important thing is to maintain a relationship with the people who “Like” your Page. Post events or news at least once a week. Remember that your posts go out to fans’ News Feeds so try to space out your postings, rather than doing several at once. By noting the time or days that you receive more comments, you’ll know when more of your audience is online to see what you are doing.
What should we post?
Once you get going, you’ll realize that there many things you can do to engage
your readers. Here are some ideas to get you started.
• Events: Facebook is a great way to get the word out about events. Just
remember that whatever you have most recently posted goes at the top of
the Wall. That means that if you or other admins have posted some news
or tips after you have shared information about your event, you’ll have to
do it once again, or maybe several times, to keep the information where
your fans can see it. Depending on the length of the post, only about 20 –
30 posts are visible.
• Event Pages: You can also create an event page and send invitations to
your fans. Click on the "Events" link. From here, you can customize the
event, edit its privacy settings, and invite guests.
• Photos: Write an entry about a recent UC Master Gardener event and
include photos to show the activity.
• Allow fans to post: Under “Manage permissions,” you can click boxes to
allow photos, videos, comments & links to be posted to your Page.
• Ask questions: This is a great way to engage your fans. Ask them what
they are planning on planting in their vegetable gardens or how they are
decorating their gardens for the holidays. Try to start a conversation with
your fans.
• Pest alerts: Tell them about an invasive pest and provide a link to the IPM
site.
• Plant and cultivation tips: Provide gardening tips and include links to
approved websites where they can find more information.
• Helpline questions and answers: This is a great place for you to see
what kinds of problems your local gardeners need help with. Use the
helpline as a resource for tips to post on your Wall.
• Links to UC Master Gardener blogs or columns: This will direct more
traffic to your other websites for more information.
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Here’s partial list of recommended sites from which you can safely draw
information:
• UC IPM Website for Home &
Garden: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/menu.homegarden.html
• UCCE California Gardening Blog: http://cagardenweb.ucdavis.edu/
• UC California Backyard Orchard: http://homeorchard.ucdavis.edu/
How often should we post?
Every day would be ideal, three or four times a week would be fine. If you don’t think you can post something new at least once a week, it might be best to wait until you have enough volunteers (3 – 4) to make it work.
Even if you don’t post every day you should be checking your page to review the comments and questions that your fans are posting. It’s best to provide timely responses.
Some MGs have expressed concerns about the possibility of negative
comments. The vast majority of comments on UCMG Facebook Pages have
been positive. Remember that everyone who participates on your Facebook
Page is there because they are a fan. If there are ever any negative comments, it’s best to respond quickly and politely. If any rudeness continues, there is always the option of blocking the person so he/she is not able to see or respond to postings on your Page.
Under General Information, you can post: “UC Cooperative Extension Master
Gardeners reserve the right to delete off-topic, disrespectful or abusive
comments. Solicitations will be deleted immediately. Links to articles or contests that may be of interest to gardeners are allowed.”
If you delete a comment, the fan who posted it will see the following message at the top of your Page upon his or her next visit: "The owner of this page removed a wall post that you wrote. If you continue to post similar content, the owner may ban you from posting to this page."
Deleting or deactivating a Facebook account.
You may permanently delete your Facebook account at any time. If you choose
this option, all information will be deleted and cannot be recovered.
If you want to take your account offline for a period of time, you can deactivate it.
Facebook says:
• To deactivate your account: from your Account dropdown menu, select
"Account Settings.”
• At the bottom on your Settings page, click "deactivate."
• On the next page, take a minute to enter a reason and review settings for
legacy content and settings.
• Click "Confirm."
When you deactivate your account, your profile and all information associated
with it disappears from the Facebook service immediately. People on Facebook
will not be able to search for you or view any of your information.
If you’d like to come back to Facebook any time after you’ve deactivated your
account, you can reactivate your account by logging in with your email and
password. Your profile will be restored in its entirety (fans, photos, interests,
etc.). Remember that you will need to have access to the login email address foryour account in order to reactivate it.”
YouTube
Another communications tool that can be considered social media is YouTube.
The UCCE Master Gardener YouTube Channel at
http://www.youtube.com/user/UCCEMG?feature=mhee (link?)is a great place to showcase short (3 minutes or so) how-to videos. Don’t worry too much about the quality of your video. The immediacy and relevancy of the topic is more important than a highly-produced piece, just be sure to use UC reseach-based information and advice. If you have a long how-to video, break it up into several 3-5 minute segments. You can upload your videos to the channel through the VMS.
Twitter is a real time social network and micro-blogging service. Users send and receive messages called “Tweets” which are limited to 140 characters. Twitter is another great way to create a network of users who have interests similar to yours.
How to create a Twitter account.
Go to www.twitter.com and follow directions for setting up your account. Be
prepared to provide a 160-character bio, which should say what your program
does and be interesting enough to encourage people to “follow” you.
Next you should decide whom to follow. Some of your UC Master Gardeners
may have accounts and that would be a great way to start your network. Once you follow them, look to see whom they follow. Do some searching to find others who have the same interests. The more people you follow, the more who will follow you.
What to Tweet?
Tweets can be used to get out quick bits of information to your network about events, invasive pest warnings, or just quick gardening tips. It’s a good way to direct users in your network to your website for more information. It can also be a great way to stay on top of news about topics that impact gardeners.
Keep in mind that Tweets scroll down the page as they are posted by you and
the people you follow. Depending on how many users your followers are
following, your Tweet could scroll off the page in a couple of minutes. This means that anything you post on Twitter has an extremely short shelf life.
Linking to websites or blogs is a little more complicated with Twitter. Since the length of a Tweet is only 140 characters, you’ll need help from a link shortening service. Most people use www.bit.ly, or www.ow.ly. You can also use ANR’s URL Squisher, you can access the Squisher through the Portal.
Photos always help tell a story, but you can’t post a photo directly to Twitter.
Instead you’ll have to provide a link in your Tweet to a third-party site like
www.twitpic.com or www.plixi.com where you have uploaded the photo.
Twitter is similar to Facebook; you just have a much shorter space to get your information out. Refer back to the Facebook section for more ideas on what to Tweet.
Remember when using Twitter and Facebook that if you have a short message
such as the date and time of an event, Tweets and Facebook status updates can stand on their own. But if you have a longer story to tell, these platforms will help you get the word out to more people and direct them to your website for more information. Just don’t forget to add a link back to the website.
Blogs
Blogs are internet-based journals or diaries of events maintained by individuals
or organizations. They contain commentary, event descriptions, photos, videos, graphics, and more. The entries are usually displayed in reverse chronological order. They differ from Facebook and Twitter in that the updates or posts can be as long as desired.
Blogs are a great opportunity for UC Master Gardener programs to connect with local gardeners. They can also be highly interactive allowing visitors to leave questions or comments for the author, or to have a dialog with other participants.
For UC Master Gardener programs an active blog (those that are monitored at
least once a day) can strengthen their ties to the community and reinforce the idea that UCMGs are readily available to provide gardening information and to answer questions.
While there are many blogging platforms such as Wordpress and Blogger, UC
Master Gardener programs have the opportunity to create blogs as a
complement to their websites in Site Builder 3. Click this link
(http://ucanr.org/sites/sb3help/Assets/Blogs_525/) for more information on how to create a blog for your program. The advantage of the ANR blog system is that it is integrated into Site Builder 3 and can be shared and aggregated with other blogs in the system.
Glossary of Terms
Facebook
• Admins: when you create a Facebook Page, you will be an admin as will
others whom you recruit to help keep your Page up to date. Admins can
add content and appoint other admins.
• Applications: mostly 3rd party add-ons. Generally more appropriate for
individual users.
• De-friending/unfriending/blocking: this takes the person out of your
group and blocks their access to your Wall.
• Fan: someone who “Likes” your Facebook Page. Only fans can see all of
your Facebook Pages and make comments on your Wall.
• Info: a tab on a Facebook Page (for organizations, artists, musical groups,
celebrities, businesses, brands and groups) that contains About, Company
Overview, Mission, Products, and Website information.
• Like: by clicking this link on your Page a person indicates that they want
to receive your status updates; a fan. Fans can also “Like” individual
status updates. This indicates their appreciation of your comment, photo,
or link.
• News Feed: anything that is posted to your Wall by you, your fans, or that
is posted by someone you follow.
• Page: a Facebook site for organizations, artists, musical groups,
celebrities, businesses, brands, and similar entities — not individuals.
• Profile: displays a user's personal information or an organization's
purpose and contact information and their interactions with friends.
• Status: a micro-blogging feature on Facebook (the “Write something” box)
that allows users to inform their fans of their current whereabouts, actions,
or thoughts.
• Share: the link you click to post whatever you wrote in the “Write
something…” box.
• Wall: the area of your Facebook Page that allows you and your fans to
post messages.
• DMs: are direct messages sent to another user and can only be seen by
you and the other person.
• @Reply: is used to reply directly (and only) to another Twitter user, but
others who follow you can see it.
• Followers: other Twitter users who click the Follow button on your Twitter
page.
• Hash Tag: using the # sign allows users to group Tweets by topic or to
track trending subjects.
• Tweet: a message sent on Twitter.
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• ReTweet: to repost something that's already in the Twitter stream. A
ReTweet is preceded by "RT" and "@[username]," to give credit to the
original poster.