How Times Have Changed - The Rapid Advancement Of Social Media

The Rapidly Changing Face of Social Media
Who would have thought that, in less than 2 years, the number of people getting their news from social media would have doubled.  According to a recent Abacus Data report on Canadians' social media habits, Facebook is quickly overtaking television as our major source of breaking news.  If you're under 45, it's already your major source.  That's how fast things are changing.  

The Rapidly Changing Face of Social Media - This Is Today.  What's For Tomorrow?

So how fast is our riding association changing in getting the good news stories, events, and activities out in front of our volunteers and supporters?  Do we have a social media strategy that uses the major platforms that are available to us?

What Does Our Digital Media Team Look Like?  

• Do we have 2-3 people who post on our Facebook Page?
• Several people who tweet on the Twitter account?  
• A bunch of young people who message on Instagram?  
• At least a dozen people who know how to do e-blasts from Liberalist?  
• Some people keeping the website fresh and current with news of recent happenings (and archiving past events)?
• People who shoot videos of our events, edit and upload them to our YouTube channel? 
• Are we shooting those "in the moment" photos and uploading them to Flickr for use in 2019?   
• Do our e-blasts, Facebook posts, Twitter tweets and Instagram chats include some of those photos?  

What does our social media strategy look like?

What Does Our Social Media Strategy Look Like??

"Teamwork makes the dream work".  But if we don't have that dream team, we're gonna be behind the 8-ball come the next election.  Cause by the time we've finished reading this post, social media will be the #1 source of information for a large majority of Canadians.  Time to start ..... not just developing ..... but implementing ...... that social media strategy ..... to start growing that digital media team.  

Going From e-Mails & e-Blasts To Social Media
It's said that Twitter is for the world but Facebook is for our friends and neighbours. We're probably already into e-mail with e-blasts announcing our riding's events and calling for volunteers.  And since we want to expand our use of digital media to connect with and engage our volunteers and supporters in our campaign, our Liberal Facebook Group is a good place to start ..... the place we want to be. 

But Are You Ready For This Major Change?
Social media, however, is an entirely new concept.  Unlike e-mails, social media allows our volunteers and supporters to engage with each other .... and with us .... in conversations that are relevant to the objectives of our riding.  With social media, we can create momentum, enthusiasm and energy for what we're trying to accomplish in the riding .... with a minimum of effort as compared to e-mails and e-blasts.  

There is one question, however, that needs to be answered before we engage in social media for the riding.  To what extent do we want our volunteers and supporters engaged and involved in our riding association?

We may be used to the command-and-control style of management.  However, social media turns that concept upside down and on it's head.  And that may not be comfortable with some of our Board members. 

The Traditional Command-And-Control

For ultimately social media represents giving up control of our campaign content and delegating it to our volunteers and supporters ...... through posts on our Facebook wall ...... through comments on our blog ........ or tweets on Twitter.  While we can influence the content, we won't be able to control it ..... at least not in the usual sense.  And not all riding associations are comfortable delegating this power back down the chain of command to their volunteers or even down to voters. 

The decision to delegate is not a decision to be made by the IT guys. It's not even a decision to be made by the publicity-and-promotion folks. It's a decision to be made at the top level of the riding association ...... by the Executive, the Board and their inner circle. Because it's more than just an organizational change. It's a cultural change. And not all riding associations are prepared for that cultural change.

The Social Media Network - A Paradigm Shift In Thinking

But we're getting ahead of ourselves.  We said we were going to talk about Facebook.  If we're going to get into social media, the place to start is with Facebook and our Facebook Group. 

Facebook Social Engagement - Why Do We Want It?
First, let’s talk about social engagement on Facebook. What is it and why do we want it?

Facebook engagement is made up of five things:

• "Likes" 
• "Shares" 
• "Comments" 
• "Post Click-Throughs" 
• "Seen By" 

Facebook engagement is important because it influences how many people will be reached by a particular action .... the "Likes", "Shares", "Comments", "Click Throughs" and "Seen By"s.  The more engagement an action has, the more people it will reach, thus increasing the number of people who have a chance to take action. For example, we may want to tell our volunteers and supporters about the next "Politics In The Pub" event. 

• First we create the event on our riding association's website with Liberalist.  
• We next send out e-mails on an e-blast.  
• We then post it on our Liberal Facebook Page and Facebook Group with a link back to the event on our website.   
• And we do a follow-up post on our Facebook Page and Facebook Group a couple of days before the event as a reminder.
• At the same time we send out a reminder e-mail 
• (But be careful you don't "overpower" everyone with a whole bunch of e-mails coming from all different directions!).  
• And we haven't even discussed Twitter or Instagram!

The more people who engage in that Facebook post, (the "Likes", "Shares", "Comments", "Click Throughs" and "Seen By"s), the higher the probability that we'll have an overflow crowd at our "Politics In The Pub" event.  We've taken two forms of digital media (website and e-blast) and leveraged it with a 3rd form (Facebook).  But, more importantly, we've transformed our event from a static digital media format into social media where our volunteers and supporters can engage in the conversation.  

Facebook Engagement

How Do We Keep Our Social Engagement On A Roll?
But Facebook engagement isn't just about specific posts.  It's about how well our Facebook Group members are following what's going on in the group page.  If we're only posting once a month, we're not going to be engaging too many people.  However, if we're making interesting posts 3-4 times a week, our group engagement will be higher.  

And this is where we need that "dream team" of 3-4 social-media-savvy volunteers who can make those interesting posts on a broad range of relevant topics ..... the local riding association events; the national news items of common Liberal interest; the local, provincial and national conferences and meetings; happenings in other ridings .... a whole range of items that are in keeping with our riding's objectives.  

And if we can get the group members "Liking" the posts, ..... or better yet ..... joining in on the conversations by making comments ..... or making their own posts ...... the higher our level of engagement will be ....... and the more interest we'll generate on what's going on in our Liberal Riding Association ...... and with only a bit of time and effort.  

Next up:  Some Rules Of Engagement.