Sustaining hiv vaccine Communications and Outreach

Social Media Tips:

1. 
   Choose the Most Appropriate Facebook Platform
   Facebook features a variety of platforms. It’s important to select the one that best suits your organization’s needs.
   
   1. 
      Page: Pages are intended for long-term relationships between organizations and Facebook users, and are therefore your ideal platform. Administrators can view statistics on visitors, and your page will be viewable even without logging in to Facebook (unlike groups). Also, you can create a “clean” URL for a page, like Gay City Health Project has done.(www.facebook.com/gaycity).
      
   2. 
      Cause: In addition to your page (or group), you could consider creating a Cause page. Cause is a Facebook application that allows you to conduct fundraising activities. For more information, visit http://www.facebook.com/causes?v=info.
      
   3. 
      Group: This is not the ideal Facebook platform for organizations to attract and communicate with followers. A group is designed for individuals who wish to connect on a certain topic, not organizations looking to build long-term relationships. For example, John Doe might create a group about HIV vaccine research to show support for volunteers. Because Facebook designed Groups for personal use, the platform is not ideal for organizational use. However, if you have a well-established group with many members, keep it.
      
   4. 
      Profile: A profile is intended for use by an individual. This is not the ideal Facebook platform for organizations; they are intended for personal use by individuals.
      

Please note: It is best to have only one profile, group or page; you should consider deleting any extras. For example, if you have a group and a page, you should delete whichever one has fewer followers. Having more than one could confuse your audience and make it difficult for you to communicate with them. To increase your Facebook presence, add a “Cause” to your offerings.

2. 
   Be Descriptive
   

1. 
   If your organization uses an acronym, your Facebook title should include its full name, followed by the acronym in parentheses.
   
2. 
   Use the opportunity to briefly describe your organization and its goals on the Info tab for groups or the box below your picture for pages. A newcomer to Gay City Health Project’s page can understand the general organization after reading:
   

3. 
   Be Active
   

1. 
   Posting news articles and linking to websites that align with your organization’s purpose along with new materials are just two ways to stay active.
   
2. 
   Refresh often! If possible, try posting something at least once a day.
   
3. 
   Maintain quality control. Your content is what will keep visitors coming back, so it’s important that it’s both informative and relevant. Make sure to remove old information (particularly regarding events) and any inappropriate posts or spam.
   
1. 
   Build Relationships
   
   1. 
      When fans or friends post on your site, it’s important to acknowledge their contributions by responding. Take a few minutes each day to respond to as many posts as you can and thank them. This will encourage a dialogue.
      
   2. 
      Try to build relationships with groups that have similar missions. That will allow you to share content and followers, expanding your reach.
      
      1. 
         Spend some time searching for organizations on Facebook with a similar mission.
         
      2. 
         When you find an appropriate organization, you can “like” the page or join the group. You might even want to send a message or post expressing your interest for collaboration and requesting the organization “likes” your page or joins your group in return. Remember, these do not have to be formal organizations; they can simply be groups of individuals who are committed to the fight against HIV/AIDS.
         
      3. 
         Regularly check these appropriate pages/groups to see if they have posted any relevant content that you can post on your own page. This will make it easier for you to keep your content fresh with minimal time and effort.
         
      4. 
         Join the dialogue. If you have any content you think is relevant for other organizations’ Facebook pages/groups (like other NHVREI partners), you can post it to their wall. This will build your relationships with other groups and help you recruit new membership to your own page/group.
         
2. 
   Leverage Your Website
   

1. 
   Gay City Health Project has a Facebook plugin on their homepage, so a visitor can “Like” their Facebook page right from the website. If your website does not support the plugin, you can insert a button that links to your Facebook page, or even just add hyperlinked text.
   

AIDS.gov

Facebook – Create your own page for your business, organization, team or personal page

Facebook – Causes

Useful Links for Website Managers (click on a title to view the resource):

eHow – How to put a link to Facebook on my web page

AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth & Families (national)

National AIDS Education & Services for Minorities (national)

National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors (national)

National Minority AIDS Council (national)

SisterLove (Atlanta, Ga.)

AIDS Alabama, Inc. (Birmingham, Ala.)

Multicultural AIDS Coalition, Inc. (Boston, Mass.)

AIDS Foundation of Chicago (Chicago, Ill.)

AIDS Project Los Angeles (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee (Nashville, Tenn.)

Gay Men of African Descent (New York, NY)

The SafeGuards Project/Circle of Care Family Planning Council (Philadelphia, Penn.)

MOCHA Center (Rochester, NY)

San Francisco AIDS Foundation (San Francisco, Calif.)

Entre Hermanos (Seattle, Wash.)

Gay City Health Project (Seattle, Wash.)

The DC Center (Washington, DC)

NHVREI Social Media Spotlight:

Successfully Using Twitter to Promote Your Organization and Message

Partner: National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC) – Washington, DC

Website: http://www.nmac.org/

Twitter page: http://twitter.com/NMACCommunity


Why Tweet?

NMAC says…

…it drives people to the site, and the site drives people to Twitter. It’s also a way to bring those who don’t necessarily know much about HIV/AIDS in the door to help them to learn more.
Internal news: NMAC's MILES training is coming to New York on Feb. 8-9th. Applications are due January 21st. More info: http://blog.nmac.org/?p=434

External news: TIME Magazine says HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, or PrEP, is top medical breakthrough of 2010: http://ow.ly/3xu6p

1. 
   Twitter Glossary and Links
   
   1. 
      Follower: A follower is another Twitter user who has followed you. Find out more about following, or learn how to follow others.
      
   2. 
      Following: Your following number reflects the quantity of other Twitter users you have chosen to follow on the site. Find out more about following.
      
   3. 
      Handle: A user's "Twitter handle" is the username they have selected and the accompanying URL, like so: http://twitter.com/username
      
   4. 
      Hashtag: The # symbol is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet as part of a category. Was created organically by Twitter users. Read more about hashtags.
      
   5. 
      Mention: Any Twitter update that contains @username in the body of the tweet. These are collected for each user and listed in their account.
      
   6. 
      Reply: A Tweet posted in reply to another user's message, usually posted by clicking the "reply" button next to their Tweet in your timeline. Always begins with @username. Read more about replies and mentions.
      
   7. 
      Retweet: Noun: A Tweet by another user, forwarded to you by someone you follow. Often used to spread news or share valuable findings on Twitter. Verb: To retweet, retweeting, retweeted. The act of forwarding another user's Tweet to all of your followers. Find out more about retweets. Learn why you can't retweet certain tweets.
      
   8. 
      Tweet: Noun: A message posted via Twitter containing 140 characters or fewer. Verb: Tweet, Tweeting, Tweeted. The act of posting a message, often called a "Tweet", on Twitter. Find out how to post a Tweet.
      

2. 
   Setting up Your Account
   
   1. 
      Choose your handle. Twitter restricts handles, or usernames, to 20 characters, but for retweeting purposes, the shorter the better. Try to shorten your organization name without losing its brand, so take advantage of an acronym if you use one.
      
   2. 
      Set up your page. Since your handle will likely be an acronym or otherwise abbreviated version of your name, you should be sure to include your full name, location, website, logo and a brief description of your mission. NMAC provides enough information on their page that anyone can understand their organizational function.
      
   3. 
      Design your page. You can customize your page’s background – giving you the opportunity to incorporate your brand image to your Twitter page. However, make sure your design is not overwhelming (e.g., wallpapering the background with tiles of your logo) – the majority of the background should be a solid color. NMAC incorporates their brand in a simple and manageable – yet impactful – way.
      
   4. 
      Spread the word. You should have a prominent link to your Twitter page on your website, Facebook and other communications tools. Include your Twitter URL in any newsletters or emails you send to your audience.
      

3. 
   Relationship Building
   

1. 
   Find organizations with similar missions, and follow them. Hopefully they’ll reciprocate by following you.
   
2. 
   For particularly relevant organizations, you may want to follow as many of their followers as possible. Again, the hope is that they’ll reciprocate.
   
3. 
   Try to respond to all replies to your tweets to let your follower know you’ve received their message.
   

4. 
   Content
   

1. 
   Twitter content must be regularly updated. Here is a list of potential tweet content:
   
   1. 
      An upcoming event like HVAD
      
   2. 
      A new achievement in the treatment of HIV
      
   3. 
      Any new media attention
      
   4. 
      Relevant news/data
      
   5. 
      Pose a relevant and timely question to your followers
      
2. 
   Take advantage of other organizations’ information:
   
   1. 
      It’s a good idea to set up Google News Alerts for key words/phrases that are relevant to your organization so you’ll be the first to know about appropriate news. Examples: “HIV OR AIDS funding” or “HIV OR AIDS treatment.”
      
   2. 
      Make a list of pertinent organizational sites – especially for organizations that create new data – which you can check out daily/every few days for new content. Examples: AIDS.gov or CDC.gov/HIV.
      

5. 
   Composing Tweets
   

1. 
   Single topic. If you have multiple items you want to address, put each in its own tweet. It’s okay if you tweet them within a few minutes of each other!
   
2. 
   Leverage your relationships.
   
   1. 
      Retweet. If you see a tweet by someone you follow that is relevant and you particularly like, Retweet it! This strengthens your relationship with that person/organization, and relieves you of the need to come up with new content.
      
   2. 
      Use mentions. Any time you refer to another organization in a tweet, use a “mention” so they’re notified that you’ve mentioned them. For example, when citing new AIDS.gov content, instead of typing “AIDS.gov,” use “@AIDSgov.” This helps to build your relationship with organizations whose content you use, and is considered a Twitter courtesy.
      
3. 
   Use hashtags. Hashtags (#) are a way to categorize tweets. When you type “#HIV” or “#AIDS” in your tweet and you have a public account, anyone who does a search for HIV or AIDS may find your tweet. Although any keyword with a “#” in front could be considered a hashtag, there are many commonly used hashtags (you can find popular hashtags at hashtag.org).
   
4. 
   Shorten URLs. Links – especially for news articles – are often very lengthy. In order to save enough space for the actual content of your tweet, you can utilize a URL shortener (e.g., bit.ly and ow.ly). These services are free, simple to use and also provide link analytics. If you create a free account, you get custom links, so you’ll know how many people clicked on the link you posted.
   

6. 
   Making it Manageable
   

NMAC uses HootSuite, an application that not only updates their Twitter and Facebook pages simultaneously, but allows them to set it all up in advance. They spend an hour teeing up tweets for the next several weeks, and HootSuite automatically posts them at indicated intervals.

If breaking news hits, then they tweet manually.

7. 
   Tracking Your Progress
   

However, it’s always a good idea to evaluate your outreach efforts. Here are some ways you can track your progress over time. You might want to take a few minutes at the end of the month to track the following:

1. 
   Number of followers. Understandably, this number indicates how many people each tweet potentially reaches.
   
2. 
   Your following. This number demonstrates how actively you are pursing relationships, rather than simply waiting for others to follow you. This can be a good way to measure your efforts to increase your followers. In fact, one of the easiest ways to attract more followers is to become an active follower, yourself.
   
3. 
   Retweets. (Click “Retweets” in your sidebar to see who retweeted your Tweets.) This will tell you how many of your followers “retweeted” one of your posts to their followers. It can exhibit how interesting your followers find your tweets, and how far beyond your own followers your tweets have reached.
   
4. 
   Replies/Mentions. Note if anyone “mentioned” you in their tweets (by including “@username”) or “replied” to one of your tweets.
   
5. 
   URL analytics. Log into your URL shortener account (e.g., bit.ly, ow.ly) to see how many people clicked on your links.
   

Twitter support

http://hootsuite.com/

http://gigaom.com/collaboration/eight-ways-twitter-is-useful-professionally/

http://www.bethkanter.org/twitter-tip-few-man/

http://blog.social-marketing.com/2008/02/twitter-for-health.html

http://www.slideshare.net/jeffingramdc/twitter-for-organizations-1107766
NHVREI Social Media Spotlight:

Blogging

Partner: The DC Center – Washington, DC
Website: http://www.thedccenter.org

Blog: http://www.thedccenter.org/blog

Why blog?

The DC Center says…

1. 
   Background
   
   1. 
      Blog, a blend of the term “web log,” is an online journal intended for public view, which often includes interactive features, like comments.
      

2. 
   Gather Your Thoughts
   
   1. 
      First, think out these key questions:
      
      1. 
         What's the purpose of your organization's blog?
         
      2. 
         Your organizational website isn’t enough because…
         
      3. 
         Who is your intended audience and how do they access information?
         
      4. 
         Who will write for the blog?
         
      5. 
         What is the voice of the blog?
         
      6. 
         How often will you post to the blog?
         
      7. 
         What happens if something controversial comes up, how does your blog react?
         

3. 
   Set it Up
   
   1. 
      Choose the type of blog that best suits your needs. The DC Center has an institutional information blog and mostly posts about events/activities.
      
      1. 
         Institutional Information Blog: This is a blog that provides information about the organization's programs and services.  The content includes announcements, events, program happenings, staff changes, commentary, stories about volunteers or donors, and answers to stakeholder questions.   The blogging platform makes it easy for non-technical staff to update a web presence.
         
      2. 
         Aggregate Content Blog: These blogs distribute news related to the content of the organization. These become the living version of the organization's topic areas and are typically made up of short posts that link to other content sources for the full story.
         
      3. 
         Community Blog: These are blog communities or group blogging sites created by a nonprofit that lets their stakeholders blog on their site.
         
      4. 
         Specialized Content - Campaign, Event, or Program: These blogs are focused around a specific event, program, or campaign.  While they may include organizational information, they primarily serve as a focused source on a particular issue or topic.
         
      5. 
         Personal Blog: Though this approach is the gold standard for personal professional blogs, it can be adapted for organizations.   These are blogs where an individual from the organization or small group of staff offer their personal commentary about their organization, programs, issue areas, or field.  It's blog with personality included.
         
   2. 
      Choose a blog platform.
      
      1. 
         You can host your blog directly on your website, like the DC Center does. This simplifies the URL (www.thedccenter.org/blog).
         
      2. 
         However, you could use any web-based blog platform (most are free). Here are some of the most popular free platforms:
         
         1. 
            Blogger: Blogger is a popular and free blogging service owned by Google. Blogger's big draw is ease of use and nearly instant setup. You can go from blog-less to publishing your first post in less than 15 minutes. Blogger supports drag-and-drop template editing, dynamic updating, geo-tagging for location-based blogging, and easy publication from editing tools like Google Docs, Microsoft Word, and Windows Live Writer. Blogger supports up to 100 users, so if you grow your blog beyond single editorship you can expand without any hassle.
            
         2. 
            Tumblr: While Blogger is an easy way to set up a full-fledged blog, Tumblr is an interesting fusion between a full-fledged blog and a Twitter feed. Known as short-form or micro blogging, the style of blogging on a Tumblr blog is focused on short and frequent posts that are normally longer (or more focused on media like images or video) than Twitter updates but not as involved and formal as a regular blog post. Check out Tumblr's About Us for an interesting picture of micro blogging.
            
         3. 
            WordPress: WordPress is a popular open source blogging platform. As a WordPress user, you have the option of setting up a WordPress blog on your own server (for free) or creating a WordPress-hosted blog at WordPress.com. Thanks to an absolutely enormous community of followers and developers, WordPress has themes, plug-ins, and gadgets of all stripes. It isn't as simple to set up and configure as some of the other options, but once you get it up and running you're rewarded with a nearly limitless array of options, configurations, and plug-ins. WordPress is a scalable solution that allows you to do everything from maintain a single blog with a single user to an entire stable of blogs with multiple users all overseen by a primary administrator.
            
         4. 
            Posterous: Posterous aims to be an absolutely no-fuss and zero-stress way to blog. You don't need to sign up, you don't need to know any code, you don't need to know how to do anything but send an email to set up your own Posterous blog and start sharing your ideas and media. Simply email post@posterous.com from any email account and Posterous will create a YourName.Posterous.com blog for you. While email-based blogging might not be for everyone, it's impressive how much you can do through the Posterous system with a single email. Check out their FAQ file to see how you can do everything from multimedia posts to tagging your entries right from your email subject line.
            
   3. 
      As with other social media platforms, your blog should represent your brand image in a simple, non-distracting way.
      

4. 
   Connect the Dots
   
   1. 
      The DC Center has set up its blog to automatically feed to Facebook, Twitter and specific web pages. For example, when the DC Center tags a blog as “HIV” and “African American,” the blog automatically posts to its HIV/AIDS program page and Twitter account, and African American community page and Black LGBT Twitter account. Executive Director Daniel Mariner believes that this targeted information distribution prevents people from unsubscribing for DC Center updates, because they only receive the specific information they want.
      
   2. 
      Connecting your blog to Facebook and Twitter not only promotes your blog, but also takes care of your daily Facebook/Twitter update and prevents you from having to create additional content.
      

5. 
   Maintaining Your Blog
   
   1. 
      Even if you do not choose an Aggregate Content Blog, it would still be helpful to set up Google Alerts for relevant terms, like “HIV vaccine research,” “HIV vaccine development,” “HIV funding,” et cetera. This way, you are aware of relevant news as soon as it breaks and can craft appropriate blog responses. People are more likely to follow you if you blog about relevant and timely topics.
      
   2. 
      Blogs do not have to be updated as frequently as Facebook or Twitter, but do blog when you have something to say. The DC Center blogs about every event and all news attention the Center’s programs receive.
      
   3. 
      The DC Center also blogs about other relevant local LGBT/HIV/AIDS news and events. As a result, the Center is viewed as a local LGBT community calendar. Furthermore, as with other social media, forming relationships with similar organizations is very useful, and can often lead to collaboration (which means less content generation for you!). If another organization writes a blog post that is relevant to your audience, you can – with its permission – simply repost it. If an organization reposts your entry to its blog, your message is reaching a larger audience – and you might obtain additional followers.
      

6. 
   Making it Manageable
   
   1. 
      Even small organizations can blog without being burdened – the DC Center employs fewer than 2 full-time staff. Here are some ways to help manage the workload:
      
      1. 
         Set up automatic feeds for Facebook and Twitter.
         
      2. 
         Monitor retweets, Facebook re-posts and website statistics to determine what content is generating interest and is therefore worth spending time on. Don’t continue to pursue a strategy that isn’t working (the DC Center uses TweetDeck for such monitoring).
         
      3. 
         Use your interns and younger volunteers. Most are social media savvy, so they can typically assist in managing your organization’s social media with ease. You can utilize unpaid interns or college volunteers – even part-time – to assist you with these activities. However, you shouldn’t completely hand your social media activities to volunteers.
         
         1. 
            Be sure to review their work to ensure that they are posting relevant and accurate information and are maintaining your organizational voice.
            
         2. 
            Your social media does have a voice and a tone, so ideally a permanent staff member should oversee all these activities. If temporary volunteers completely manage your social media, your social media will lack a consistent strategy and tone.
            
      4. 
         Have fun with it! Engage your entire organization and its network, including volunteers and the rest of the community. Even a personal blog can have guest bloggers.
         

How to set up a nonprofit blog

Should your nonprofit launch a blog?

BlogSpot

TweetDeck

Five best blogging platforms
NHVREI Partner Blogroll (click on an organization to view its blog)

AIDS Foundation of Chicago (Chicago, Ill.)

The DC Center (Washington, DC)

AIDS.gov

1. 
   Integrate. All your social media should be linked prominently from your homepage. This way, any visitors to your site will immediately notice your social media presence, giving them the opportunity to follow you.
   

2. 
   Cross-pollinate. You can use similar content in various channels. For example:
   
   1. 
      You can link your blog to your Facebook and Twitter pages using a service like TwitterFeed. It’s a great way for your blog to reach a whole new audience.
      
   2. 
      APLA has found that calls to action (e.g., email your senator/representative about issue x) receive a much greater response when emails are supplemented with Facebook and Twitter promotion. When people submit responses, they are automatically added to APLA’s emailing list, expanding the organization’s database.
      
3. 
   Join the Conversation. Social media is meant to be – social! Make sure you are joining the conversation rather than simply disseminating information. It’s a good idea to spend a few minutes each day or every few days to acknowledge the people who comment on any of your social media channels. Pose questions to your followers to start a discussion, and join in yourself. Active participation is a great way to gain a large social media following.
   

4. 
   Promote Creatively. Submit key blog posts and articles to social news sites like Digg, StumbleUpon and Reddit. These sites are great for search engine optimization (SEO) and driving traffic to your blog/website.
   

5. 
   Fundraise Socially. A number of donors prefer to give online, and APLA has formed a robust online fundraising campaign.
   

6. 
   Never Miss an Opportunity. Social media use shouldn’t just be an afterthought. Use your social media channels to promote your events, organizational news, earned media, et cetera. For example, you can use all social media platforms to promote a single event by:
   
   1. 
      Creating a Facebook event page and Tweeting in advance to announce the event, its purpose and timing.
      
   2. 
      Asking participants to Tweet live throughout the event and use a specified hashtag. Don’t forget to Tweet live yourself!
      
   3. 
      Taking photos and video throughout the event and posting them to Facebook, the photo sharing site flickr and YouTube. APLA has found that sending an email to event attendees telling them to check out the photos on Facebook is a great way to attract new followers, since they are likely to visit your page to see if they’ve been captured. (You can enlist the help of high school and college-age volunteers to help you edit your video footage and upload photos.)
      
   4. 
      Write a blog afterward, summarizing the event, its accomplishments and attendees. It’s a good idea to end your post by mentioning your next event and promising additional information soon. Even if you don’t have another event in the works yet, you can say something general like, “Follow APLA on Facebook or Twitter to receive updates on our next community activity!”
      

100 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits