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Social Media Overview Union Plus Liaison Conference December 9, 2009. What is social media and why use it?. SOCIAL MEDIA - A category of sites based on user participation and user-generated content Social media usage is growing at a faster rate than email usage
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Social Media OverviewUnion Plus Liaison ConferenceDecember 9, 2009
What is social media and why use it? • SOCIAL MEDIA - A category of sites based on user participation and user-generated content • Social media usage is growing at a faster rate than email usage • 84.3% of US Internet users rely on Web more than TV to get current news and information (Via Razorfish FEED study) Wall Street Journal, Oct. 12, 2009
Results of Union Plus online survey • According to 850 participants, union members use: • Facebook – 43% • YouTube – 27% • MySpace – 23% • Twitter – 12%Other research: • 50% of Union Plus email opt-ins are on a social network • MySpace • Facebook • Twitter
Examples of social media sites • Networking & gaming - e.g. Come2Play, Facebook , LinkedIn. MySpace • Blogs & mini-blog sites - e.g. Twitter with 27 million, where the influentials are; Act.ly (Twitter petitions) • Media-sharing sites - e.g. YouTube, TubeMogul (Video), Flickr (photos) • Bookmarking & news - e.g. Digg, Delicious • Rating & reviews - e.g. Yelp • Social knowledge - e.g. Wikipedia
What are you trying to accomplish? • Leads – new members • Awareness – union initiatives and campaigns • Conversions – take action • Engagement & community – surveys, contests, polling, etc.
Why social media? • Existing audience • Build relationships with members/prospects • Tap into word-of-mouth • Reach a new audience • Create, collect and share union member stories
Other important questions • Are you prepared to let go of brand control, at least a little? • How will you encourage participation? • And do you have the resources to do it? • Who will maintain your social media presence?
Other important questions • How does social media integrate into your overall communications strategy? • Where are your members? What are they most interested in? • What are other local and national unions doing?
Other important questions • How will you measure success? What constitutes failure? • Views, followers, comments, subscribers, click-throughs, referrers, actions taken • What happens if you don’t achieve success? • How will you manage resource allocation?
Twitter What is Twitter? • A mini-blog – mini-messages called “tweets” of 140 charactersor less. • accessible on any cell-phone • In October 2009, users sent 26 million tweets daily, up from 2.4 million tweets in January 2009
Successful Union Plus tweets • Timely & relevant topics • Practical information • How to support the labor movement in everyday life • “Side-by-side comparison of major health care reform proposals http://ow.ly/tn08” • “Give union-made candy this Halloween. For a list of union-made treats go to http://ow.ly/vVEK”
Facebook • Number one social networking site with more than 300 million active users • The fastest growing demographic: 35 and older • Many women users • Average user has 130 friends on the site • More than 45 million status updates daily
Before Fan Page creation: • Integrate a predetermined campaign with the launch of your Facebook Fan Page. • Union Plus Hardship Fund Campaign
Union Plus hardship fundraising effort • $100 donated to the Union Plus Hardship Fund for every new fan • Goal: 1,000 new fans and raise $100,000 in three months • Reached goal in only three WEEKS!
Why was this campaign successful? • Solidarity – helping fellow members • Regular progress updates • Union members reposted updates on Facebook and Twitter – went viral • After the goal was reached, members and fans continued to spread the word • Additional 1,000 new fans over the next three weeks.
Union Plus Pet Photo Contest • Union members submitted pet photos • Union members voted for the cutest pet photo • Winner received one year Pet Savings subscription & professional photo of their pet • Contest stats: • 624 entries • 327 comments • 9,419 votes
Why was this contest successful? • Promoted contest using both traditional and social media platforms • Participants promoted their photos on their Facebook and Twitter pages • Universal appeal - people love pets!
Join Union Plus on these social media sites www.facebook.com/unionplus www.twitter.com/unionplus www.myspace.com/unionplus striana@unionprivilege.org