CACFP and Social Media: How Part 2

Editor's Notes

1. Why do we make a plan for anything? So we do it! We make a meal plan…we make a project plan…we make to-do lists. We plan so we commit and we accomplish. It’s no different with social media.+Things that can happen in the world of social media if you don’t have a plan? inconsistent messaging not easy for multiple people to contribute necessary “buy in” from colleagues doesn’t occur won’t be ready for “negative” comments and interactionsWhat does a plan give me? Direction Opportunity to budget time and money for it You will be ready for the “what ifs” Helps you think through what you want to say and what you want to accomplish with your social media helps you determine what social media “applications” you want to use
2. When you start your plan you want to think about how this is going to benefit CACFP and your Agency. If it benefits CACFP, it benefits your agency – right? If there is no CACFP, there is no us ;)1) What do you want social media to do for you? What is going to make it worth it? 2) Then you want to take those general ideas and think through how this is really going to help your agency.If your one of your overall goals is to Engage with the community, explain why the engagement is going to help your agency. Will it help your customer service team communicate with a lot of people at once? Will it help you get referrals?If one of your overall goals is to get some free marketing, consider how this will help your agency. Do you want to bring in more providers, get your non-profit donations….what else?
3. Phase 1: Industry -- Look around you and see what other agencies are doing. You can’t really do that part here since we don’t have computers but I can show you quickly what some are doing. As you look through it yourself, note what you do or don’t like about it. Things you would like to try and/or their main focus for their posts. Is it just to get donations? Is it just to remind providers that claims or enrollments are due? Do they educate about CACFP and nutrition as well as remind providers about their claims etc?Phase 2: Planning/SchedulingDecide which “channels” you want to use.Create a draft “posting schedule”Decide which “channels” you want to use.Create a draft “posting schedule”Get other people in your organization on board!Know what you start out with and measure your goals against that
4. What you decide to post and share with your network is completely up to you!Make sure your messaging is on point with the goals you outlined in your plan If your entire point for using social media is encouraging a positive perception of CACFP then you are going to want to make sure that at least one post a day (or whatever your schedule is) is CACFP heavy.Make sure you consider who your audience isRocking the boat creates activity on your page, just make sure you can steady the boat after you begin rocking it. Don’t ignore comments you don’t want to interact with. If you choose to be a little controversial, be prepared for off-color remarks. It is not the end of the world, just don’t let your image or reputation get muddied.Keep in mind, depending on the channel or application you choose, your message will be different. Let’s see how hereConsider The Goals in Your PlanConsider your audienceConsider relevant topicsNews: CACFP and Child Care in general TrainingsYour ServicesYour Work DayMention a provider you were impressed withAsk questions about CACFPAsk questions about their child careTake polls Share relevant news from the organizations or people you follow
5. See the differences?When scheduling this, I think it is reasonable to do 3 tweets a day and one facebook post a day.It takes more times to get the same amount of information across in twitter. There are also a LOT more “tweets” coming through so its easier for people to miss anything you put out there.We’ve talked about messaging and scheduling, does it seem kind of impossible to do all of this on top of your normal daily routines? I have an answer for you.Facebook:Longer postsShare article links with descriptionsMore Interaction with QuestionsMore detail neededAudience might be differentConstant Facebook posts are not as important as TwitterTwitter:Short postsLinks are more valuable tweetsUse Twitter Conventions: @, #, and RTAudience might be less providers and more “professionals”Tweet more consistently (daily, if not twice a day
6. Hootsuite and Tweetdeck kind of do the same things, which are awesome. You can schedule your social media posts for the day or week or however far away you want to schedule them for. Although keep in mind timely posts are important so if you schedule them for the month, be sure to check in and retweet or repost a relevant link throughout the week. It really depends on which interface you like the best. You can post to all of your social networks at the same time! But beware like we said earlier facebook posts and twitter posts look different so if you are using hashtags and @ and RT in your tweets I would refrain from adding your facebook profile to those posts. It just isn’t relevant on Fb and looks kind of lazy. Also people that don’t know the twitter conventions are likely to be irritated.Paperli is one of my favorite twitter tools. Create your own paper of your twitter feed and have people subscribe to it. Child care providers most likely aren’t going to be on twitter through-out the day but they can get a daily digest of all of your tweets and the tweets of people you follow. Brilliant for the people that aren’t on twitter regularly but find the posts relevant.