Harnessing the Power of Social Media for Your Co-op

How to Raise Your Co-op’s Profile Using Social MediaOctober 17, 2012

SpeakersColette Beyer

NCBAWendy Goldman Scherer

Cabot Creamery Cooperative

(Please check all that apply)

Facebook Twitter Pinterest/Instagram Blog None

Which social media platform is your organization using?

Objectives

• Setting Goals• Getting Started– Developing your value proposition– Identifying your core audience & their values– Choosing social media platforms– Listening to current conversations

• Gaining Influence– Crafting impactful, targeted messaging– Conversing in an authentic way

SETTING GOALS

Creating Social Media Goals

• What are you looking to achieve by creating and maintaining a social media presence?– Growth?– Influence?

• How will you define success using metrics?– Twitter: followers, retweets, replies– Facebook: likes, shares, comments– Pinterest: followers, likes, repins

Use Metrics to Measure Progress

• Measure yourself against yourself monthly

– Twitter• Number of Replies + Retweets / # Tweets /

Total Followers X 100

– Facebook• Likes + Comments + Shares / # Wall Posts /

Total Fans X 100

GETTING STARTED

What unique value do you deliver?

Identifying Your Audience

• Who are you trying to reach?

• What are your target audiences’ core values?• Tip: Utilize existing institutional knowledge on your target

and what they care about most

• Where do they look for valuable content?

• How do they like to receive information?

Choosing Platforms

• A crowded space: As of August 2011, 200 well known social networking sites existed online

• Concentrate on key platforms

• Tip: Create only what you can consistently maintain on a weekly basis

Listen to Current Conversations

• What are people saying about you?

• What are people saying about the area you’ve identified as a place where you can add value?

• Tool: HootSuite streams– Search for keywords and users– Create Twitter lists and monitor via HootSuite

Listen to Current Conversations

Listen to Current Conversations

Listen to Current Conversations

Search can provide insight. For instance, this search (food OR grocery) AND (coop OR co-op OR cooperative) shows that visuals/photos are important to this target. Insight into keywords (for HootSuite or other) can be found, also.

Listen to Current Conversations

Listen to Current Conversations

Listen to Current Conversations

• You’re already getting Google Alerts (aren’t you?) Watch for the social mentions and respond or make note for future strategies

• What are your competitors doing? Bookmark their social media pages and make a habit of scanning them– Facebook– Twitter– Pinterest– Blog

GAINING INFLUENCE

Crafting Impactful Messaging

• Be true to your brand• Tone and manner• You should be consistently identifiable

wherever you are – in person, online, in store, etc.

Tailoring Messaging

• Each platform is used differently• Don’t use the same message everywhere– ADAPT to the environment– Promotional messaging stands out – and not in a

good way– Don’t put the same message out exactly the same

repetitively (on any platform)

Authentic ConversationsTwitter

• Join the conversation and add value politely– Add value to show you’re not just interrupting a

conversation in progress– Answer questions, re-post others’ content– Share or retweet someone’s content with a small

piece of commentary at the front• Tip: keep updates to 130 characters or less with spaces

so others can retweet your message without having to truncate or heavily modify the content

Authentic ConversationsFacebook

• Provide entertaining or useful information • Promotion is okay, but don’t let it be the star• Messages ‘live’ longer • Visuals are key• Like, comment, share• Respond to customer/consumer questions in a

timely manner• Be human/set guidelines for team and fans

Authentic ConversationsPinterest

• Visuals! Don’t clutter nice visuals with a lot of words

• Slightly longer descriptions have been shown effective

• Photos have a long shelf life• Link back to your site when it makes sense• Like, comment, re-pin, follow back

Now What?

• Start listening• Choose 1-2 platforms that your co-op can

contribute to consistently• Listen to your audience• Talk with your audience• Help your audience• Measure and test for continuous

improvement