Stand Out Make Your Team Stand Out on Social Media December 12, 2015

Christine Jereb Communications Manager, Community Investment ◎ 3 years with Comcast ◎ Penn Alum ◎ Lifelong Philadelphian ◎ Never touched a robot!

Today’s Topics ◎ Think Before You Post ◎ Determine Your Audience ◎ Activate the Right Channels ◎ Share Engaging Content ◎ Set Achievable Goals

Think FIRST You ALWAYS represent FIRST, your team, your school, and YOU !

“ Think once before you act. Think twice before you speak. Think three times before you post on social media.

Building Your Team Strategy Get engaging content to your audience through the right channels

ChannelsAudienceContent

ChannelsAudienceContent

“ Everyone has a story to tell. Know your audience before you post.

Potential Audience ◎ Participating students ◎ Prospective students ◎ Parents ◎ Volunteers ◎ School ◎ Other teams ◎ FIRST global community ◎ Current donors ◎ Future donors ◎ Alumni ◎ Media ◎ Local community ◎ Tech leaders

Build Over Time Prioritize. Start by focusing on a few of these audiences, and grow from there.

ChannelsAudienceContent

“ Be selective. Just because a social media channel exists doesn’t mean it’s right for your team.

Channel Considerations ◎ Why are you doing this? ◎ Do you have the time and resources to do it well? ◎ Do you have team members and mentors with these skills? ◎ Who will “own ” this?

Ghost Accounts Retire accounts you are not going to actively maintain. Remove them from your website, too.

Where is FIRST? (Alumni Network)

Picking Your Path ◎ Establish clear ownership and protocol ◎ Comply with your school guidelines ◎ Use a content management tool ◎ Check your performance regularly ◎ Consistent branding across profiles ◎ Partner with others who can share your team’s message for you ◎ Go beyond? Periscope, Vine and Snapchat

ChannelsAudienceContent

“ People don’t share facts. They share emotions.

Great Content 1. Makes your audience laugh 2. Makes your audience think 3. Is relatable to your audience Zero of these? Don’t bother posting! One of these? Nice! Two of these? Woohoo! All three?

FIRST Parody

Content Considerations ◎ Tailor your content for each channel ◎ Shorter is better, both with text and video ◎ Don’t go hashtag crazy ◎ Less is more if it’s engaging ◎ Events vs. day-to-day ◎ Repurpose! Goldfish attention span = 9 seconds Human attention span = 8 seconds

Content Ideas ◎ Meet the team member profiles ◎ Meet the mentor profiles ◎ Where are they now? Alumni profiles ◎ Gracious Professionalism in action ◎ Outreach events ◎ FIRST Friday ◎ Funder acknowledgments ◎ Behind-the-scenes ◎ What is FIRST is asking teams to share?

Fundraising Using Social ◎ Nazareth Academy HS raised $15K+ from donors on #GivingTuesday ◎ Facebook and Twitter campaign with short videos from students and teachers ◎ Individual donor acknowledgment to maintain momentum RoboLancers Road to 2015 Championship

Twitter Tips ◎ Unless you’re trying directly reply to another Twitter account, put a period in front of any tweet you write that starts If you don’t put the period in front, your followers will likely not see your tweet. ◎ Use pictures with your tweets ◎ Use “Who’s in this photo ” to tag more accounts and save character limit

Goal Setting Pick 2-3 things you want to achieve this season on social

Sample Goals ◎ Recruit additional team members to create and execute social media plan. ◎ Evaluate current team channels. Retire outdated ones. Refine and maximize remaining. ◎ Engage with other teams more regularly to enhance strategy and increase opportunities for alliances. ◎ Create a social media fundraising campaign, tapping into team alumni.

“ The essence of social media is knowing your audiences and engaging them in something they love.

Recap ◎ Think Before You Post ◎ Determine Your Audience ◎ Activate the Right Channels ◎ Share Engaging Content ◎ Set Achievable Goals

Media & Technology Innovation Award, presented by Comcast NBCUniversal ◎ Recognizes the team with a robust digital media experience and marketing strategy ◎ Announced and presented at Championship ◎ Apply in February ◎ 2016 details coming soon to:

2015 Winner: Girls of Steel (Team 3504)

@ComcastCareers

Thanks! Any questions? Keep in touch with