Create, Curate & Disseminate: Telling your GEAR UP Story with

Social Media

Alison Eldridge, WA State GEAR UP

Sean Brennan, CA State GEAR UP

Daniel Bremer-Wirtig, NCCEP

Agenda

1. Why are we here today (and why do I need to be doing social media)?

2. How do you tell a good story (and why is it important for GEAR UP)?

3. The Social Media Universe (Unabridged and Unraveled)

4. Getting started with Twitter

5. The Publication Cycle

6. Using social media day-to-day

7. "Hello world“ – Your First Tweet

8. 5 Takeaways

9. Q&A

Intro

Why are we here today?We want to help:• Your program, so it can stand out

among the competition for funding, media attention, and partnerships

• You develop a simple social media strategy that empowers you to communicate with families, educators, legislators and the community, easily and effectively

• You choose and activate a specific social media channel(s) and guide you on how to create, curate and disseminate content that engages your audiences

• But because you probably trust a video from the Internet more than what we’ll tell you, here’s a short video on why you need to be doing social media:

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQzsQkMFgHE

(highlight facts about video + more)

• From video– Social media is about

people– And since e-mail is a thing

of the past…– This is how people are

connecting, communicating and doing business…

– So, as Erik Qualman said:“We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it.”

• In February 2012– Facebook has grown to

more than 845 M active users

• (see “Social Media in 60 seconds”)

• (see “Data-in-one-Minute”)

Telling the GEAR UP Story:Why and How?

Why is it important to tell the GEAR UP story?

1. Shines a spotlight on a specific need/challenge through a human face.

2. They work because they’re memorable and persuasive

3. The move people into action

4. They empower us, your team, your students, parents, teachers, community…

What makes a good story?

1. You need ONE hero. Yes, only one.

2. You need ONE villain: poverty, family history, negative environment, low performing schools, etc.

3. Your hero needs to struggle. Everybody loves a good fight. (i.e. “I was failing all my courses and was on a fast track to drop out.”)

4. The Catalyst – GEAR UP. It helps our Hero in in her/his epic struggle against the Villain.

5. Connect with your audience through universal values – perseverance, hard work, community… the American Dream.

6. Call to Action1. This is how you can help the Hero.

2. You can be a hero, too. This is what you need to do.

Telling the GEAR UP Story:Jumpstart exercise

To kick off your story, start by answering these questions:

• Who are you? (In the GEAR UP universe) – Find The Hero.

• What are your dreams & aspirations? (Why do you do what you do.)

• What has been in the way of your dreams and aspirations? –Find The Villain.

• What has been your experience? – Define The Struggle

• Where are you now? What are you doing? – Explain how The Catalyst moved you forward.

• How can you (third party) help? – Call to action for your listener.

Telling the GEAR UP Story:Where to tell it.

• You “tell” stories all the time. In fact, every time you talk about your grant you are telling a story.

• These are not exclusive for your Members of Congress (Although it helps us all when you share them with them!)

• Use these stories to help you locally, where your students, parents, teachers and partners are:– Forging partnerships

– Requesting funding from foundations

– Raising state/local awareness

– Getting sponsors

– Engaging parents

– Involving state/local leaders

Social Media Tools Overview

Source: http://www.flowtown.com/blog/the-small-business-social-media-cheat-sheet

Social Media Tools Overview

One Account to Rule them All - Twitter

Start with twitter to Tell Your GEAR UP Story… Three reasons why:

1. Everybody can write 140 characters on a regular basis, from almost anywhere (even the toilet).

2. Twitter allows you to easily cultivate a following that can expand your reach incredibly (more on that later)

3. Again, it’s only 140 characters. No special skills required.

Let’s get your hands dirty!

Setup a Twitter account

1. Visit http://twitter.com

2. Sign up

- Name

- e-mail

- Password (Shhh!!! It’s secret)

- Twitter handle

Internet:

• Username: axxter

• Password: 6154

3. Search for GEAR UP sites to follow:

• California GEAR UP @CAGEARUP

• NCCEP @edpartnerships

• Washington State GEAR UP @gearupWA

• CMU GEAR UP @GEARUPCMU

• SD GEARUPSD GEARUP @SDGEARUP

• Colorado GEAR UP @ColoradoGEARUP

• GEAR UP Iowa @GEARUP_Iowa

• GEARUP Kentucky @GEARUPToday

• UofW Rise Up/GEARUP @UWGEARUP

• WEHS GearUp @WEHSGearUP

• Oklahoma GEAR UP @OklahomaGEARUP

• WV GEAR UP @WVGEARUP

• U of M GEAR UP @UMGEARUP

• APV GEAR UP @apvgearup

• GEAR UP & SOAR @GEARUPandSOAR

• Maine State GEAR UP @GearUpME

• GEARUPNorthCarolina @GEARUPNC

• Oregon GEAR UP @OregonGEARUP

• FSU GEAR UP @FSUGEARUP

• FSU GEAR UP @GEARUP4COLLEGE

• St. John's GEARUP @STJGEARUP

• St John's GEAR UP @STJ_GEARUP

• Ypsi GEAR UP @YpsiGEARUP

• SD GEARUP @SDGEARUPTweet

• U of M Drbrn GEAR UP @UMD_GearUp

Own your own Twitter

The Musts

• Picture or logo

• Name – Who are you?

• Website

• Short descriptive bio.

• Go mobile

The Desirables (for later)

• Personalized design

• Connect to Facebook

• Other Apps

Before you Tweet…

Let’s determine our audience:

• Students?

• Parents?

• School personnel?

• Policy-makers?

• Partners & community members?

• General public?

And then…

1. Listen to the folks you follow.

2. Learn the lingo.

3. Learn the etiquette.

4. Participate in conversations.

5. Start Tweeting!

The Publication CycleCreate - Curate - Disseminate

60-30-10 Rule:

• 60% retweets & pointers

• 30% conversations & responses

• 10% announcements & events

A tweet a day, keeps the doctor away.

• Tip of the day / Photo of the day

• Social Media Strategy– Who – Target Audience

– What – Type of content

– When – How often

• Have a “content plan”– Check your calendar for

important dates & events

• Use a tool to help you manage it

• Connect social & traditional media & other info channels

The Publication CycleCreate - Curate - Disseminate

content curation

\ k̍yu̇r-ˈā-shən\ also k̍yu̇r-ˈā-shən\\

process of sorting through the vast amounts of contenton the web and presenting it in a meaningful andorganized way around a specific theme.

=• sifting, sorting, arranging & publishing

• cherry picking best content – important andrelevant to share

• collecting links

• information pack rat

(via http://www.bethkanter.org/content-curation-101/)

content sources

• RSS feeds (Google, etc.)

• Google Alerts

• Reddit

• www.educationnews.org/

• www.huffingtonpost.com/education/

• Twitter #hashtags

The Publication CycleCreate - Curate - Disseminate

#Hashtags

Definition: The “#” symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages.

The Publication CycleCreate - Curate - Disseminate

Using hashtags• use # symbol before a relevant keyword or

phrase (no spaces) to categorize Tweets and help them show more easily in Twitter Search.

• Clicking on a hashtagged word in any message shows all other Tweets marked with that keyword.

• Hashtags can occur anywhere in the Tweet – at the beginning, middle, or end.

• Hashtagged words that become very popular are often Trending Topics.

The Publication CycleCreate - Curate - Disseminate

Using hashtags to categorize Tweets• Use # symbol before a relevant

keyword or phrase (no spaces) to categorize Tweets and help them show more easily in Twitter Search.

• Clicking on a hashtagged word in any message shows all other Tweets marked with that keyword.

• Hashtags can occur anywhere in the Tweet – at the beginning, middle, or end.

• Hashtagged words that become very popular are often Trending Topics.

Using hashtags correctly

• Tweeting with a hashtag on a public account, allows anyone doing a search for that hashtagto find that Tweet.

• Don't #spam #with #hashtags. Don't over-tag a single Tweet. (Best practices recommend using no more than 2 hashtagsper Tweet.)

• Use hashtags only on Tweets relevant to the topic.

The Publication CycleCreate - Curate - Disseminate

Things to check before you click send (and what to do if you screw up)

• Google (think) before you tweet.• Spell check.• Check “legitness” of #hashtags.• Check links (specially when retweeting).

Too soon?1. Go to your profile and hit delete – ASAP2. Repost corrected version3. Issue a correction if you discovered it too late.

Social Media – Day-to-Day

(Organic)• Capitol Hill Visits

– Thank you to Members of Congress

– Picture of students/meeting participants

• Summer program activities• College campus visit• Tweet on #trends• Be gracious• Retweet Mentions• Ask questions

(Planned)• Newsletters• Press releases• Important community

dates/events)• Tweet schedule-calendar• Use lists• Distribute content• Be deliberate (keywords #)• Stick to a routine• Sync Facebook and Twitter

“Hello world”

Your first Tweet!

Takeaways

1. GEAR UP Story Takeaway

Stories empower us, your team, your students, parents, teachers, community… and move people into action.

2. Twitter Takeaway

Stick to your Social Media Strategy. Set a schedule and follow through.

3. Creation Take Away

Include links and content tailored to your audience, elicit a response.

4. Curation Take Away

ALWAYS use the #GEARUP OR #GEARUPworks #hashtags

5. Dissemination Take Away

Review and edit your tweets because it is FOREVER (also not effective you have errors)

Q&A