Social+Media+Strategy+and+Policy+-+Culmination

=Conference Call= =Learning Culmination=

Red Dots 8:30 am Pakistan Time
 * November 1, 2012 **


 * Agenda**

This is our final call to reflect on our process and what we learned. Everyone as submitted a social media policy and the strategy -the "homework" for the Red Dots. The Yellow Dots have been doing a great job on the action learning project. Everyone should be ready to share a brief reflection answering these questions:

1) Think back to April, 2012, where was your organization in terms of using social media? 2) Where are you now? What did you did learn? What is your big success? 3) What will you commit to doing with social media moving forward?

Follow up after call: Please take a few minutes to complete this survey [] to help us prepare the final report.

Call-In Information Primary Dial-in: 1 (888) 291-0312

Participant Passcode:7299 096 * Please arrive on the call promptly as we'll begin shortly after the call starts * Please announce yourself once you get on the conference call * You can call on your land line, paid SKYPE, or your cell phone. Please select the most reliable option. The 888 number is a US number and long distance charges may apply. * Dial the participant passcode slowly or you may get a message that says the code in invalid. If you get this message, please try dialing in again and re-entering your code - SLOWLY. * Please do not use a speaker phone or speakers without a headphone as this creates an echo * Speak up on the call * If there is background noise, please mute your phone.

__**Red dots:** __
**Aahung: Sheena - Social media wasn't as well understood based on their work because they hadn't explored it. By exchanging over the last 6 months, they've identified audiences and ways that it will & will not serve their objectives which was significant. When looking back, it's had positive impact. Significantly increased likes when staying focused. Photos were very engaging. Looking at how they can continue being more interactive and being integrated into their website. It's been a great tool in reach out to youths. Now and in the future, Facebook is part of their plan. The website is being re-done and will be more interactive with social media. They are planning on integrating social media into the work plans of others so it's not the sole responsibility of one or two people. Identifying their online target audience has been instrumental in identifying more ways to engage new audiences. Thanks for always responding immediately with support.**

**HANDS: Bilquis - It was a handful at the start - understanding how to interact with other ngos, beneficiaries, new audiences. They have been successful through the learning project overall. They have connected with many other people by discussing issues like early marriage, disasters, etc. Learning from others on how they are communicating about important issues. They have found the learnings to be beneficial. They have set targets/goals and keep reaching them. They are redefining new goals and want to be using Facebook in a more advanced, engaging manner. Planning on staying in touch because the support has been amazing.**

**Heartfile: Dr. Saba - Started with a communication strategy and then created a social media strategy that was later modified once they began using the tools and bringing it into the workplace. Have been using social media for advocacy. Originally, their aim was to increase likes by 20% which they have exceeded. They have become more organized by following the learning plan. The editorial calendar was valuable. They have done a soft launch of their blog which has integrated both Twitter & Facebook. They feel successful and continue to move forward with confidence. Plans to get people outside of their org to blog and share their material on the platform and share that in the social space to reach a greater audience**

**LUMS: Tayyaba - They had no presence on Facebook to start and now they feel that they are walking! They have learned to organize the policy & strategy and are sharing the sm policy with other LUMS centers because they don't have a formalized document. They are making their visibility increase by having project specific blog posts that will be shared on social media as well as have more staff members participate in the social media.**

**LEAD: Hina - Much more structured - created the policy, strategy and then are looking back at what is working. They are working to reach out of their audience. They had not been making communications a priority within their projects. They will be implementing a social media plan for each program for greater outreach. They struggled creating content so they are looking at how they can generate posts that are more engaging. They are also interested in using Twitter for listening and outreach. Great opportunity to network with everyone else in the Networked NGO program to build a stronger community.**

<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em;">**__Yellow dots:__**
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">**HANDS: Dr. Haider - When they started, they had 395 likes. They were not strategic before the program and not that they are planned. Doubled their likes and engagement continues to increase as they review activity. They are using apps and focus on what their audience response to in order to plan future activity. Using Facebook advertising is the next priority.**

<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">**Heartfile: Yasir -** **Measuring Facebook content was very telling. They see how different types of posts are generating more engagement than others. This helps them to think through future posts. In April, 226 likes. Facebook page existed with minimal activity. They are increasingly active and they have 311 likes. Their goal was 298. They plan on continually increasing activity because they see it working. They have a blog + Twitter account now and have integrated the posts from the blogs to appear on both Twitter and Facebook. They have a new employee managing the blog & Twitter. The editorial calendar has helped them be more organized. They have learned a lot from the calendar alone so that they can stay well-planned. They are working to assign more of the staff to help participate in using the tools.**

<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">**LUMS: Tayyaba - 120 likes, a little short on the goal but feeling successful. Consistent posting generates interest from users. Posting from credible journals has proven to be engaging. The editorial calendar tells them that their reach is great than what simply looking at likes or comments reflects. Linking events with Facebook is a focus that has reduced their work burden. That is where they post all pictures from events and direct people there to see them which has increased likes. They will be doing the editorial calendar in one month increments. They plan on expanding to Twitter and to a blog.**

<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">**Marie Stopes: Ayesha - The editorial calendar helped them be more structured which will continue to help them. Even with holidays and being out sick, it helped them maintain activity and it will help them stay streamlined in the future. 6 months ago, they had absolutely no sm presence so they have come a very long way. They have developed a strategy so that senior managers hopefully have greater freedom. Although some people in the organization have been skeptical of sm because they are nonusers, but they are patient and trying to focus on sharing the positive outcomes. She and Insha are hopeful and realize internal progress can be slow. Their big success is yet to come - when they have approval to use more social media channels, she will feel like they've made a big leap forward. She is very optimistic in moving forward.**

<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">**Rutgers WPF: Aasia - Just started offering consultancies and job opportunities which has saved costs and that has built up their fans. Photos continue to bring in the most response. Serious issues don't draw a huge response but when they sweeten the message, they are having greater engagement. They reached their goal - they hoped for a 10% increase and actually had over 50% increase. Consistent posting has made a big difference from how their social media existed before they started the program. Now, they are better organized.**

<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">**Shirkat Gah: Uzma - In April, they had just barely begun using social media. Facebook was entirely inactive. Since then, they have made quite a lot of progress - especially in the past month. They have seen a dramatic increase in engagement in the past month since using the editorial calendar. Photos continue to impress them. Now, people in need of help or information are reaching out to them privately on Facebook - pleasant, unanticipated outcome. They are happy to be of service in that space so they are hoping to continue that. They plan on sharing more about their organization instead of only disseminating information.**


 * <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">LEAD: Abbas - LEAD started using social media on facebook in 2009 and when we attended the training we already had 600 likes but what was missing even at that time was the user engagement which we able to learn from this training. We found out that the reason we were unable to engage our users was because we were not posting regularly and since the training emphasized a lot on posting regular content, we also did the same and the result is outstanding, we now have more than 1200 likes on our facebook page. This was not only a learning experience for us but also a big success as we managed to double our likes. The editorial calendar was also helpful as it tells us that we get more likes at the time when we post regularly and lesser likes when there’s a gap in posting. In Future our priority is to share regular content with our users. We have already told our LEAD fellows (more than 300) to share their content with us which we will promote on facebook and twitter. In this way our fellows will get promotion and we get likes on our page. I thank the master trainers Beth and Stephanie for their constant support during and after the training. Apart from this we will have event news, vacancy updates and video interviews to share.**