Is Pinterest for me?

I've never been a Pinterest user because I'm a bit of an anti-consumer. My only glimpses of the site have been through my friends, who collect and share pins that translate to particularly delicious Thanksgiving dishes or unique wedding reception centrepieces.

Pinterest seems to me to be one of the more passive social networks, with fewer opportunities to really discuss one's pins—and thus one's interests—with followers. You simply upload something of interest with a comment and then it's left alone to be watched, perhaps commented on. Not my kind of network, and not one I would have thought would be worthwhile for a non-profit organization.

But the Edmonton Public Library, purveyors of all things exciting and creative in Edmonton, have a Pinterest worth looking at. Their 18 boards are all thematically linked to libraries, while branching off to explore the various components that prove that libraries are more than just a collection of dusty books. They reflect on their history using images and anecdotes, promote the local art they have on hand, help you decide what to read next, and leave a place for staff to offer their favourites.

For an organization as diverse as EPL, Pinterest seems like the perfect visual outlet for all it's endeavours. But for somebody who prefers the written word, I would be hard pressed to find a place for it in my busy social media arsenal.

A screencap of EPL's Pinterest page at http://www.pinterest.com/EPLdotCA/.

Pinterest Assigment by Sandra Cuadra

In my opinion, Pinterest is a visual social tool where you can have a visual look at the things you are interested in, is like an images bank of your favorite information where you can easily create collections and organize your pins. For me Pinterest is a source of inspirational ideas for my personal and professional life.   I follow different boards from cooking ideas, travel landscapes, educational sites, social causes to marketing companies, packaging and branding ideas.  

One of the NGO that have an excellent use of Pinterest is PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) http://www.pinterest.com/officialpeta/.  Through their Pinterest boards they not only create social awareness, but also they create solutions and alternatives to help people support their cause.  They interconnect all their social media channels, have a good use of hashtags and post frequently.  They also interact not only with their followers but with the “outside community” audience as well and have a large list of ambassadors.  

Well done PETA!

Facebook Page Assignment Rubric

This is how you'll be marked on your page and accompanying social media plan (how and why you did what you did for your FB page and how that might fit in with your larger social media presence):

• Part 1: in-class draft and response to questions/suggestions from the class (5/5 marks)
• Part 2:
• Written submission clearly articulates what techniques were used for the Facebook page creation and why this will meet the needs of the organization/audience, integrating where appropriate supporting concepts/resources from the class (19/20 marks)
• Facebook Page is fully functioning, visually pleasing, and contains basic technical elements (9/10 marks)

#ESMC Selfie: Before and After

Before

I learned a lot from this course, but I think the greatest take away for me is to be authentic. Social media is about being social: creating connections and strengthening relationships. Every Facebook post, tweet, and blog article should reflect yourself in some way, and offer a glimpse into your own point of view.

I also learned about the importance of creating posts that people want to interact with. Instead of spouting facts, be engaging.

After

Facebook Page Assignment: Information and Rubric

An example of a strong business Facebook Page.

Another example of a great Facebook business page.

As noted in the syllabus:

Assignment D (35%) - Social Media Plan: Facebook Page

Part 1: Draft Facebook page creation with in-class demo.
Due in-class Oct. 17, 2014

Part 2: Written Submission (3-4 pages double spaced) and Facebook Page.
Due by 11:55 PM Oct. 24, 2014.

In this assignment, you will create a brief, two-to-three page social media plan, describing the W5 (who, what, where, when, and most importantly, why) of using social media for a particular goal or purpose. Within this plan, you will describe a Facebook page (not profile) that you’ve created in order to (start) putting the concepts of this course into practice. Your page can be for your own (real or one-day-might-be-real) company or organization. The Facebook page should focus on an a product, theme, or event (real or imagined) of your choosing.

In your two-to-three page written plan, be sure to outline the following:

• A screenshot of the Facebook page, as well as a link to the page location
• Reference to and discussion of the case studies or other online resources/readings for items you have included or might include in future (though yours can be much simpler with only basic information – this is just practise)
• A detailed description of what you’ve created or will create in future on the Facebook page, and why you think this will meet the needs of your audience. (You may label or point to specific items in the Facebook page to illustrate and support your points).

Finally, within the class blog Week 5 post, leave a link to your new facebook page to share with the class.

Assignment D Grading Criteria

Students will be assessed based on the following criteria:

• Part 1: in-class draft and response to questions/suggestions from the class (5 marks)
• Part 2:
• Written submission clearly articulates what techniques were used for the Facebook page creation and why this will meet the needs of the organization/audience, integrating where appropriate supporting concepts/resources from the class (20 marks)
• Facebook Page is fully functioning, visually pleasing, and contains basic technical elements (10 marks)

Note: the readings you might want to refer to are these:

1.  Weblink:

Slabaugh, J. (2013). The ultimate social strategy: Build lasting relationships. [Weblog Post]. Social Media Today. Retrieved from

http://socialmediatoday.com/jordanv/1791856/ultimate-social-strategy-build-lasting-relationships

2. Weblink:
Steuer, E. (2013). How to buy friends and influence people on Facebook. Wired. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/business/2013/04/buy-friends-on-facebook/

3. Library e-Reading:

Smith, S. (2013). Conceptualising and evaluating experiences with brands on Facebook. International Journal of Market Research, 55(3), 357-374. doi:10.2501/IJMR-2013-034. Available at

http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=87975676&site=ehost-live&scope=site  

4. Weblink:
Harbison, N. (2011). Coca Cola uses Facebook face recognition technology in the real world. Retrieved from http://www.simplyzesty.com/Blog/Article/August-2011/Coca-Cola-Use-Facebook-Face-Recognition-Technology-For-Latest-Campaign

5. Weblink:
Stelzner, M. (2010). The Inside Scoop on How Intel Manages Its Facebook Page. Retrieved from http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/intel-case-study/  

You may also want to reference some of the Facebook pages I showed you including the Edmonton Humane Society and their Friday Caption Contest as well as the City Market Downtown.

 

And another great Facebook business page for you to peruse.

Facebook Page Assignment

For your Facebook Page assignment I highlighted the importance of crafting a strong story, something that will connect with your community and build those authentic relationships. The "About" section is one place where you can show your network that you are a real person interested in listening.

This morning I also noted an article from Forbes that details nicely, in ten steps, how to create a Facebook page that will get those all-important likes.  Here it is:

(Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife)

In October 2012, Facebook surpassed a big milestone when it recorded over 1 billion active monthly users.

With 2.7 billion “likes” recorded on Facebook each day in 2012 (according to statistics released by Royal Pingdom), Facebook has become an essential place for businesses, brands, celebrities, musicians, public figures, non-profit organizations, schools, and more to interact with consumers and the wider audience of online users.

Anyone with a Facebook account can create a Facebook Page within minutes. It’s free and easy. However, creating a Facebook Page and creating a great Facebook Page are two very different things. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a web designer, programmer, marketing expert, or technology guru to create an irresistible Facebook Page.

Following are 10 simple steps that you can take to create a great Facebook Page that motivates people to click the “like” button.

1. Choose a great username.

The username you choose for your Facebook Page will also appear in the URL for your page. There are already a lot of Facebook Pages, so your first choice might not be available. That’s why it’s critical that you create a Facebook Page and get your username as soon as possible. Even if you don’t plan to aggressively use Facebook today, you might want to in the future. Get your username now, so you’ll have it when you need it.

2. Give the key details in the About section.

Your Facebook Page includes a small About section where you can include a couple of sentences about your business or organization. Make sure you include the most important information about what you offer to your audience, so they instantly understand why your page should matter to them.

Also, it’s extremely important that you include your website URL in this section of your page. Otherwise, it gets buried in the full About description that’s not visible unless a person clicks on the About link on your Facebook Page (discussed in #3 below). Make it easy for people to learn more about your business or organization by making sure your URL is visible in the top-level About section.

3. Provide as many details as possible in the full About description.

Once your Facebook Page is live, you can log into your account and click the Edit Info button to add details and content. Fill in as much basic information as you can to tell your entire story and fully explain what your business or organization does, where you’re located, how to get in touch with you, and so on.

All of this information appears in the full About description that people see when they click on the top-level About link on your Facebook Page. If someone is interested enough to click this link to view your full description, you want to make sure they find as much information as possible.

4. Capture attention with a fantastic cover photo visual.

Choose a cover photo that is visually dynamic, capture’s people’s attention, and lures them in to take a closer look at your Page content. Don’t forget that you can include a marketing message in your cover photo. Just be sure to follow Facebook’s current guidelines related to cover photos, which you can find in Facebook Page Help.

5. Choose an appropriate profile photo.

Your profile photo is the smaller image that appears on your Facebook Page and as your avatar on all posts and photos you publish on Facebook. Make sure the photo you use is one that accurately reflects your brand, because the more people see it, the more they’ll recognize it and associate it with your brand.

6. Make sure the most important apps are visible.

Add apps to your Facebook Page to provide more diverse content and experiences to your audience, and make sure your four most important apps are listed first. These are the ones that will be automatically visible in the app thumbnails section of your Facebook Page beneath your cover photo.

6. Ask your Facebook friends to like your Facebook Page.

Once your Page is setup, use the handy invite option to invite all of your Facebook friends (or a group of your Facebook friends) to like your Facebook Page via a Facebook direct message. This is a great way to get the ball rolling and start building a following.

7. Create some content to make your Page look useful.

Start creating useful, meaningful, interesting, or entertaining content that your target audience wants to read and see. This includes photos and posts (be sure to tag people in both). Also, enter milestones and add content to apps used on your page such as events, videos, and so on. A Page without content is one that no one will like.

8. Feed your online content to automatically publish on your Facebook Page.

Don’t have time to publish a lot of content on your Facebook Page? No problem. You can automate some publishing by feeding your blog posts and Twitter updates to your Facebook Page. There are external tools that you can use to set this up such asTwitterfeed as well as some tools integrated with Facebook such as RSS Graffiti.

9. Promote your Facebook Page.

Use Facebook social plugins to enable people to like your page directly from your website and blog or to like your website or blog content and share it on their own Facebook profiles with a single click. There are also social plugins that enable you to show your Facebook Page updates on your blog or website.

10. Offer something extra or exclusive on your Facebook Page.

There is little incentive for people to like your Facebook Page or return to it after their first visit if you don’t offer useful, meaningful, interesting, or entertaining content and experiences. Not only should your posts be useful, but you should also create content and experiences that visitors can’t get anywhere else. For example, offer a discount for your Page fans or hold a contest and give away a great prize to one of your Page fans. Get creative and find ways to acknowledge your fans and reward them for their loyalty.

#ESMC My Selfie!

Billy's Selfie

Happy to be here at Effective Social Media Communications in real life today. Hi to everyone!

Module 3 Intro by Tara

This is my first blog, and I hope I published it correctly....

I am the Internal Communications Manager for Civeo - a global workforce accommodation specialist. This is a new role within the organisation, and at this time there are three on the team - me, myself and I. Together 'we' lead the planning, development and implementation of company-wide employee communications initiatives. This includes the analysis of new and/or improved methods of communicating with staff, which is where the enrolment into Effective Social Media Communication comes into play.

With an audience of more than 3,500 geographically dispersed, culturally distinctive and technologically diverse employees, communications can be a challenge. Approximately 75% of my workforce is "non-wired" or "remote", meaning that their job is not at a desk or even in an office. These employees typically work in manufacturing, transportation or housekeeping roles often in very geographically remote areas. Nor do they have a company-issued computers or mobile devices. Did I mention the communication challenges? :-)

I currently manage my company's social media recruiting platforms (Facebook careers page and LinkedIn) as well as contribute to the corporate social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook corporate page, etc.). These platforms are primarily used for communicating and engaging with potential staff (candidates/recruits) and not for connecting with current employees.

Our organisation is going through a large amount of change at the moment. Having recently spun-off from our parent company to create separate stand-alone, and publicly traded, company has left the organisation with a plethora of communications needs. Both inside as well as outside the company.

I graduated from the UofA with a B.Com in Marketing back in 2003 and have worked in the field of Marketing since. While I have dabbled in the SM arena since 2007, I find that there is still so much more to learn and discover. Pursuing a Social Media Communications citation is a beneficial, and necessary, path to this discovery.

I am hoping to be able to use the teachings from this course to enhance the development of my current communications plans and to be able to develop my company's first-ever social media strategy. In addition I am excited to begin exploring the idea of using social media to communicate and engage employees that have, thus far, been "unreachable" by traditional communications tools.

Thanks for taking the time to read my introduction. Looking forward to meeting all of you on Thursday.

This is a copy from my original blogpost: here

Module 3 - Non-profit Communications

As the Communications Coordinator for a small non-profit organization, communications plays a huge role in my day to day work-life. APPLE Schools (Alberta Project Promoting active Living and healthy Eating) is a research-based healthy school initiative dedicated to improving the health-behaviours of students, staff, families and community members (our stakeholders). Specifically we work with our stakeholders to improve healthy eating, active living and positive mental health behaviours. 

I've been doing the work of Communications Coordinator off the side of my desk for the past 3 years, and in June of this year the position was offered to me officially. My educational background is in Marketing and General Management, and the vast majority of my work experience has been in public health, making this role a terrific fit for my different skill sets. 

I'm currently working with the management and staff of APPLE Schools to develop a comprehensive strategic communications plan to help the organization reach its goals. This includes:

• clarifying our internal and external communications, 
• identifying specific communications goals, objectives and activities, 
• developing processes to make the organization more effective and efficient, and 
• developing a social media strategy, (which the Social Media Citation is directly helping me with). 

Additionally, I'm developing an online database to house data about all of our stakeholders, to assist us with developing grants and funding requests to the government, as well as communicating internally and externally with our stakeholders and partners. I also maintain a resource library that's accessed by over 100 different school communities and partners across Alberta, and write and distribute a weekly newsletter for internal use. 

Some of my future projects will include a YouTube channel to chronicle the different health initiatives and activities that happen in the schools we work with, and possibly a blog to support the distribution of these videos. 

Module 3: Communicating with Mortgage Brokers

Social media has always been a key fascination of mine, ever since 'Nexopia' was launched when I was in junior high. At the University of Alberta, I studied Marketing and graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 2012. I toyed with Facebook and blogs for a while, but it wasn't until graduating that I really began to realize how powerful of a role social media can play in people's daily lives. My personal social media experience shifted from sporadic Facebook posts, to a blog documenting my travels in Ecuador, and then my presence today—on a number of social media platforms.

Source: Flickr. (Illustrated by Gerardo Obieta.)

I'm currently a Marketing Coordinator at Optimum Mortgage—a division of Canadian Western Bank. Our clients are mortgage brokers, who are looking for lending solutions that will meet their customers' needs. Communications, in general, plays a pivotal role in my daily responsibilities. Some of them are:

• Creating, editing and distributing weekly Optigrams (eNewsletters), to thousands of brokers across Canada. 

• Finding innovative ways to provide product and service messaging at conferences and tradeshows.

• Developing content for editorials, magazine ads, digital ads, and our website. 

More recently, I have convinced our management team to consider social media as another communication tool. Through my own research, I've found that there are many brokers who use social media to connect with their own clients. Every week, I analyze trends in what brokers are discussing. Any trends I see are then used in the creation of our weekly Optigram. 

On November 22, I'm planning to launch Optimum's first Twitter account, which will coincide with the largest Canadian mortgage conference of the year. 

Adding Apps to Your Facebook Page

Assignment D asks you to create a Facebook Page. Since working on it in class, we have had numerous questions via e-mail and Twitter, asking how exactly to include apps on our page. Pertinent ones would be Pinterest, YouTube and Vimeo.

Here are some directions I tweeted:

Module 7: Metrics

Module 7 Metrics and Analytics

Activities/Assignments Send @JessL a tweet with your thoughts on A. Kaushik’s article on or before Oct. 21 What do you think of examples of Pinterest? Who do you follow on Pinterest? Can you share with us a board of an NGO or Non-Profit that exemplifies good use of Pinterest? Post your thoughts to the class blog or on Twitter on or before Oct. 21 Assignment D - Social Media Plan: Facebook Page (Part 2) due via eClass by Oct. 24

Module 6: Optimised News Release

Module 6 Business & Social Media Communications

Activities/Assignments Assignment C - Optimised News Release Oct. 20

Optimised News Release

You can find the assignment here.


Please read the Edelman position paper available here or right here in our blog:


Search Engine Visibility

Module 5: Facebook

Module 5 Facebook

Activities/Assignments Assignment D - (Draft) Social Media Plan: Facebook Page (Part 1) creation and in-class presentation (in class Oct. 16/17)

This resource is also very helpful:

Explore more visuals like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.