RIDICULOUSLY EASY GUIDE TO
SOCIAL MEDIA
Alberta’s a big place and while you could run round the province telling everyone you
see about Change Day AB, it’s probably not the best use of your time and could get
just a little tiring (for you and everybody else). You can reach more people using social
media, without the risk of blisters and being chased by dogs; here are some simple tips
and resources to get you started.
There are lots of different social media platforms out there but, to stop things from
getting too complicated; we’re only going to focus on Twitter, Facebook, and
Instagram. Don’t let that stop you from checking out or using any of the others
(Linkedin, Google+, Snapchat, Pinterest, YouTube etc.).
This isn’t going to be a masterclass and we’re not trying to make you a super advanced
user of any platform, the idea is just to give you enough information to join the
conversation, promote Change Day AB and to let us know what you are doing for it.
TWITTER
What is it? Twitter is a place where you can post messages, known as Tweets for others
to read. The twist is that Tweets cannot be more than 140 characters long, so you don’t
have to worry about creating a 10,000 word essay for every posting.
Over 300 million Tweets are posted every day and 1.6 billion (Yes, billion!) searches
are made daily. It’s quick, straightforward, and is highly engaging.
How do I get started?
We’ll cover the basics here but for more information you can check Twitter’s own
support pages at https://support.twitter.com/ or a beginner’s guide at
http://www.steamfeed.com/how-to-twitter-guide-for-twitter/.
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1. Set up an account. Go to www.twitter.com or download the app on your
smartphone or tablet. You use your email address and Twitter sends you an
email to confirm it’s really you. Later in the process you’ll be asked for your
phone number, but that’s optional and is only used if, for some reason, you
need to recover your account.
2. Pick a handle. Twitter usernames are known as handles and are what you use to
search for or contact people, e.g. @justinbieber (ok, it’s just an example…). The
@ always appears in front of the handle to show that’s what it is. When you're
actually choosing your username, there’s no need to include the @ – it gets
added automatically.
You can get very creative with your handle but the easiest option is to use your name,
except if someone else already has it. In that case, use a slight variation or maybe add
a descriptor like ‘handsome’, ‘super’ or ‘modest’. TIP: the shorter the handle, the better,
as it will add to others 140 character count if they want to ‘mention’ you.
3. Add a photo. Unless you are very camera shy or in a witness protection
program, it’s a good idea to let people see what you look like or at least post a
photo of something that means something to you. If you don’t add a photo
during the set-up process you can do it later by editing your profile; just click on
your name and an ‘edit profile’ option will appear.
4. Add a profile. Tell people a bit about yourself. Again you can go back and do
this later through ‘edit profile’, maybe after you see what kinds of things other
people have written about themselves.
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5. Using hashtags #. Putting the # symbol in front of a word or phrase, e.g.
#smellyfeet, when you are tweeting just makes it easier for anyone interested in
that subject to search and find your and other people’s tweets about it.
The hashtag for Change Day AB is, surprisingly, #ChangeDayAB. Type that into the
search box at the top of the Twitter page and you will see who is using that hashtag
and tweeting about Change Day AB.
6. Tweet something! The time has come to click on the Tweet button and send your
first Tweet. Type your message into the text box that pops up. If you haven’t
made a pledge yet, maybe just let people know how excited you are about
Change Day AB.
When you do make a pledge, tell everyone what it is.
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Make sure to include #ChangeDayAB in your Tweet so it can be easily found by
anyone interested.
Adding a photo to your tweet makes it more likely that people
will read it. You could attach a photo of you
holding a pledge card or doing something related
to your pledge. All you need to do is click on the
camera symbol next to ‘Add photos’ and then
browse to the photo you want to add.
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7. Retweet or Favourite. If you find a tweet that you’d like to share with others
simply click on the Retweet symbol:
below it and then add a comment or
just click the tweet button. The tweet will be copied and ‘tweeted’ by you.
You can also click on the Favourite symbol:
people can see it’s worth reading.
to favourite a Tweet so that other
8. Target others. In a nice way of course. If you want make sure someone in
particular sees what you are tweeting or retweeting, include their twitter handle
in your message – this is called a Mention. Do this by typing @(type username).
It’s best, for reasons that are too long and boring to go into here, to put the
handles in the middle or end of a tweet instead of right at the beginning. This
will help so your tweet won’t go just to them, but they will also get a notification
that you mentioned them.
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9. Follow People. Again, not in a creepy stalking way. If you find someone’s tweets
interesting and want to make sure you always receive them, click on their name
or handle in a tweet then click on the “Follow” button on their page.
10. Keep Tweeting and Retweeting. Give updates on how your pledge is going,
spread the word about what your colleagues, family, friends or dog are doing
for #ChangeDayAB and generally create as much buzz as possible.
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FACEBOOK
What is it? Facebook is an online networking website that makes it easy for you to
connect and share with your family and friends. You can post pictures, messages and
status updates, and anyone in your network can see them.
Facebook is the world’s largest social network, with more than one billion users
worldwide!
How do I get started?
This guide will help to give you a general understanding of how to use Facebook, but
there are some guides out there to help you learn more: http://cmrw.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/03/Facebook-Beginners-Guide.pdf and http://susanng.hubpages.com/hub/facebookforbeginners.
1. Create your account: Go to www.facebook.com, you can sign up on the main
page – just enter your name, email address, or phone number and a password.
Once you’ve done that, you will get an email or text to confirm your email
address or phone number. And just like that…you’re on Facebook! Facebook
tries to be helpful and will find people among your email contacts that have a
Facebook account, and suggests friends for you to add.
2. Fill out your profile: Now is the time for you to add a picture of yourself or
something that represents you (family, pets, etc.). You can add information
about your employment, where you work, and some of your interests. This will
help Facebook to determine things you might be interested in, and suggest
pages for you to ‘Like’. You don’t have to share any information you don’t want
to!
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3. Find pages you are interested in: Like Change Day Alberta!! (
http://ow.ly/Tr1p8 ) Once you like a page, you can get updates on Facebook
friends who like it as well, and you will get updates on who is posting to the
page. You can even invite your friends to Like the Change Day Alberta page –
how great is that?
4. Share! You can share posts from other people, and they will show up on your
newsfeed. If you see a Change Day Alberta post that you like – share it! Let
your Facebook friends know what’s happening with Change Day, and inspire
them to get involved. (include an example screenshot)
5. Post something! Post an update on the Change Day Alberta Facebook page!
Make your pledge, and share it with your Facebook friends! You can also post
a status update about Change Day, and link it to the Change Day Alberta
Facebook page.
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6. Link your social media: Now that you’ve created your Twitter and Facebook
accounts, you can link them so your Tweets are posted on your Facebook page,
and your Facebook status updates are Tweeted out from your Twitter account.
Just make sure you use the same email address for both accounts!
7. Like other people’s posts: On Facebook, if you like something that someone has
posted, use the “Like” button to let them know!
8. Encourage others: You can write messages to your Facebook friends, which will
show up in their newsfeeds. Ask your friends and family if they are going to
pledge for Change Day Alberta, or congratulate them for pledging when they
do!
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INSTAGRAM
What is it? Instagram is an online photo and video sharing social networking service.
Users can take photos and short videos and share them online. Instagram can also link
to your Facebook, Twitter and other social media networks, so if you post something on
Instagram it can be shared to any other social media you use. There are over 300
million active users on Instagram!
How do I get started?
This will give you a basic understanding of how to use Instagram, but if you want more
information, there are a lot of guides online that can help you
(http://mashable.com/2012/05/29/instagram-for-beginners/#MxOm3IvB48qN,
http://thebeginnerslens.com/iphone-photography/how-to-use-instagram.html for
example)!
1. Set up an account and profile. Go to www.instagram.com, or download the
app to your smartphone/tablet. Use your email address and choose a
password, and you will be asked to confirm that it is really you (similar to other
social media sites). You will be asked to pick a user name, and you can include
a personal website if you have one. You can choose to use your full name or
not, but it is helpful for people to be able to find you if you use your full name
(unless you have a fun nickname that everyone knows). You can also include a
short description of yourself, so get creative! ... Or don’t, it’s up to you! You
also have the opportunity to change your privacy settings. Instagram profiles
default to public, which means that anyone on Instagram can look at your
profile. You can change your profile to private, and people will have to ask you
for permission to view your profile.
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2. Follow people. Like other social media sites, Instagram can find people for you
to follow based on your Facebook friends and your contact lists. You can also
search for people you know, through the search function. You just have to type
in their name, and Instagram will search for them.
Once you find people you want to follow, you can select ‘follow’. If they have a
public profile, the ‘follow’ button will change to ‘following’ and turn green. If
they have a private profile, you will be notified that a request has been sent to
them and they can accept the request (or not).
3. Post a picture or video. Most smartphones and tablets have an option for you
to upload pictures through your photo album directly. You can also upload a
picture through Instagram using the
middle button that shows on the
bottom of the screen.
You can post a picture of you when
your Change Day Alberta pledge,
and share it with the social media
world!
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4. Use Hashtags. Instagram uses hashtags like Twitter – they are explained at the
beginning of this handy social media guide. Use the hashtag #ChangeDayAB,
but you can also use any other hashtags you want. Instagram does not have a character
limit like Twitter does, so you can go hashtag crazy. Use #change, #changeday,
#mychangepledge, as some examples. But you can use whatever hashtags you want and
even make them up.
5. Search for ChangeDayAB! Like Twitter, you can search for hashtags in
Instagram, so you can find people who are using the #ChangeDayAB hashtag.
6. Like pictures! When you find a picture that you like, or you find some great
Change Day pictures, you can “like” them. Click on the heart at the bottom of
the picture (or on the right of the picture if you are on a PC), when it changes to
red – you have successfully “liked” it!
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7. Comment and tag. Instagram lets you comment on pictures, and you can tag
your friends in other pictures too. They will be notified that you have tagged
them, so they can check out the picture you want them to see.
And that concludes our (hopefully) easy guide to social media. We hope you enjoyed
it, and found this helpful!
Social media will be a great tool to spread the word about Change Day
Alberta – so please use it as much as you want!
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