Social Media and Advocacy SIDA Advanced International Training Programme UN Resolution 1325: Women, Peace and Security March 27, 2012

Today’s Session Understanding Social Media Social Media Strategies &Tools ”Women and Conflict Resolution” Campaign Exercise

What is Social Media? “Social media is a category of web-based media where people interact, participate, share and collaborate.” “Social media is the sharing of user (human) created information and interacting on-line using Internet technology (Web 2.0)” “Social media is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into publishers. It is the shift from a broadcast mechanism, one-to-many, to a many-to-many model” “Social media is online conversation.”

Social Media is NOT... FREE A trend soon to be replaced by another Only about social networking A simple process a communication strategy A race to get more people to your page one off ad-hoc job Is not about immediate results Always controllable and predictable

Join the Social Media Revolution! We don’t have a choice on whether we DO social media, the question is how well we DO it.” If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 3rd largest. The #2 largest search engine in the world is YouTube There are over 200,000,000 Blogs in existence 60 millions status updates happen on Facebook daily 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations, only 14% trust advertisements 60 millions status updates happen on Facebook daily Social Media isn’t a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate

Tools to connect and engage with communities Spreading awareness Attracting volunteers, media coverage, and employees Collaborate & get measurable feedback Social Media for NGO’s?

Why is Social Media Strategy important? “Without direction social media can lead you to no direction.” Maintain the focus on organizational objectives Get the best ROI possible Integrate with other platforms Avoid backlash, social media fatigue and lost opportunities

Designing a Social Media Strategy

1.Listen - Conversation Mining Find your target audience, listen to conversation, find influentials (Technocrati, Wefollow, Twitter Search)TechnocratiWefollowTwitter Search 2.Identify SMART Goals and Objectives (less is more) Ex. Increase followers by 15 percent in six months. 3. Develop Your Plan and Time Your Content What? To Whom? When? How? Choose your tools? Resources?

Social networks where you work Focus on a few things that you want to achieve. Be specific Become expert - gather facts and figures that supports your goals.

Designing a Social Media Strategy 4. Develop CONTENT (Sticky!) Relevant and timely statistics Ask your community - take polls and share results Invite guest authors Top 10 lists Case studies Guides to help educate Interviews News Opinions Photos Videos Competitions Tutorials

Designing a Social Media Strategy 5. Implement Your Plan, ENGAGE! Communities are built not bought Communities cannot be forced Get to know the community principle Stroke egos Provide VERY useful content Ask questions Moderate Know the culture and respect it Seek expert opinion and advice Make it personal Accept and respond to criticism Showcase and acknowledge good work Do not try to please everyone

Designing a Social Media Strategy 6. Measuring Success (engagement & influence) a.Gross views b.Connections (no. of subscribers, fans, followers) c.Audience engagement (comments, retweets) d.Social media referrals e.Social media conversions f.My engagement Measuring tools: ZoomSphere.com YourBuzz.com Unilyzer.com

FACEBOOK SESSION’S BRAINSTORMING Use privacy settings Share experiences and achievments Invite to events Start campaigning, create fan page/group Share important political, social and cultural information Publish photos Link to interesting interviews and articles Be personal, send personal messages Use Knodes application to make your network searchable Be creative: use social games, pools, ask Q:s

- Create a FB page/group - Be brief & visual – keep to 200 characters - Directly engage with your fans - Grow your fan-base -Post during weekdays and on hours people usually use FB - Drive action off of Facebook

TWITTER SESSION’S BRAINSTORMING Use Twitter to lobby for a cause Use # hashtags ReTweet Keep up a dialogue with your followers Share news

Twitter - Follow people & causes (search, RSS) - Clear personality of your Twitter handle - Create useful content - Use # replies & ReTweet - Use Trending Topics - Increase your visibility thru relevant #:s -Network! Foto Rosautra Ochoa

BLOG SESSION’S BRAINSTORMING Connect to your webpage if you have one Publish what’s new on the topic Use it to network with other bloggers och to connect within you group Experiment! BE YOURSELF!

Photo:Robb Sutton Blogging: - Blogspot, WordPress, Tumblr, LiveJournal – discover the platform where your target group is! - Blog regularly - Shorter texts with a clear message on topics you know your audience is interested in - Solicit comments - Action alerts

YOUTUBE SESSION’S BRAINSTORMING DO IT – upload your videos, interviews Learn from it - use it to do research, look for documentaries Cross promote, publish links to your videos at other platforms Be inspired by music you find

Photo: Andrew Perry - Make videos: interviews, footage from your activities and actions - Partner up - Reach out: ask Q:s, make statements, call for action - Be genuine - SHARE Photo: Andrew Perry Andrew Perry

WOMEN AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION PROJECT Goal: to promote women’s participation in peace processes and conflict resolution in order to create stability. Objectives : - to identify the obstacles for women to participate in peace negotiations and peace processes - to make women’s rights and women’s participation in peace processes and conflict resolution an integral part of security analysis and policy on a national and international level. - to promote awareness about the necessity of involving more voices in the peace and rebuilding processes; in particular women’s voices.

ACTIVITIES Five analyses – the DRC, Liberia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq and Nagorno-Karabakh Report and advocacy material High-level conference in Brussels Seminars Documentary A web-based campaign in English, Arabic and Russian Cross-regional network meetings Capacity-building