A (Brief) Guide to Social Media Platforms and Working With a Small Staff Jamie Tatsuno, Communications Manager Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA)

Social Media Platforms How do we do it all with small staff and limited time?

Don’t Try To Do It All Nothing will be done well if you try to do it all. Evaluate top social media sites and the staff you have to dedicate time. Pick and choose!

Choose Your Social Networks

What’s Your Social Media Perfect Fit? How will this serve our riders? What will this really do for our agency?

Twitter Quick and short messages - real time updates Consider linking to Twitter to your agencies website homepage to act as a real-time service alert tool Great for connecting with local media and sharing positive news stories Ideal post frequency is however often you have something to push out

Facebook Most widely spread and diversified social network Try using Facebook’s advertising tool to reach specific groups of people Ideal post frequency is once or twice a day with posts on Thursdays and Fridays being proven the mostly actively engaged Keep text short and provide interesting visuals

Instagram Focused on visual content Use hashtags! Hashtags are a great way to find content to share and for people to find your agency Works with Facebook’s advertising/boosting tool Ideal post frequency is once a day - photos, images or short 15- second videos

Google+ YouTube More than 400 million active monthly users Compatibility with other Google products Growing rapidly YouTube Only interesting and short videos will be watched in entirety Videos should be short, no more than 1.5 minutes

LinkedIn Great place to find employees, including bus drivers! Informative materials related to industry niches, trades and professions Ideal post frequency is 2-4 times per week

RFTA’s Social Media Management and Stats FACEBOOK TWITTER Channels are checked first thing in the morning, and monitored throughout the day Inbox displayed on desktop throughout the day Checked periodically by mobile when not at desk Facebook – 2,337 followers Instagram – 1,323 followers Twitter – 1,447 followers Daily postings Mon. – Fri. Postings increase if news/alerts warrant (detours, accident/weather delay, rider alerts) Holiday/Weekend/Event posts pre-scheduled INSTAGRAM

What About Content? Glamour Shots - Get out and take pictures, or recruit employees out in the field to take pictures Search Hashtags – Use local hashtags to attract and find local audiences to follow your page Caption Contests/Photo contests - Engage participation in your posts Memes - relate to your audience and keep it lighthearted Special Events/Holiday Posts - make a presence Throw Back Thursdays - Fan Favorites Infographics - make information rider friendly! Look local for cross-promotion opportunities. Riders Alerts - Have a graphic ready for editing and posting on demand April Fools, Halloween posts - Have fun with your audience!

Find Your Voice and Tone If your agency was a person, what kind of personality would it have? If your agency was a person, what’s their relationship like to the riders? Describe in adjectives what your agency personality it NOT. Are there any companies that have similar personality to yours? (If so, steal their content ideas!!) How do you want your riders to think about your agency? How would your company sound at a backyard barbecue? There’s your voice.

Tools to Help Create Content Canva www.canva.com Slideshare www.slideshare.com PowToon www.powtoon.com Piktochart piktochart.com Visme www.visme.co

Tools to Help Schedule Posts Hootsuite www.hootsuite.com Buffer buffer.com Tweetdeck tweetdeck.twitter.com SproutSocial www.sproutsocial.com IFTTT ifttt.com

Social Media Advice – take it or leave it Images are key. Use free tools and free social media platforms to your advantage. Take on what you can handle – and nothing more. Be a customer resource to your riders on social media. Entertaining and useful content is better than promotional content. Be patient and persistent! Take your cues from the successes of others. Consider a posting plan and content calendar, to start.