social media strategy at lance armstrong foundation

Social Media at the Lance Armstrong Foundation

January 14th, 2010

Housekeeping

• Attendees are encouraged to interact and ask questions

• No question is too basic

• You may be called upon

Brooke McMillan – Online Community Evangelist Lance Armstrong Foundation @livestrong

Frank Barry – Director of Professional Services Blackbaud Internet Solutions

http://www.netwitsthinktank.com @franswaa

Speakers

Agenda

• About Lance Armstrong Foundation

• Why LAF embraced Social Media

• The tools

• Most impactful outcomes

• Key learning

Agenda

Definitions

• In simple terms: Using online technology to foster communications and relationship building

• Social media changes the dynamic of marketing & communications from ‘one to many’ to ‘many to many’

• Common tools: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn, MySpace

Baseline Definition of Social Media:

LANCE ARMSTRONG FOUNDATION

LANCE ARMSTRONG FOUNDATION

• Founded in 1997 by Lance Armstrong

• Unite people to fight cancer

• Take aim at the gap between what is known and what is done

• Our mission: To inspire and empower people affected by cancer

• Unity is strength. Knowledge is power. Attitude is everything. LIVESTRONG

Why LAF embraced Social Media

Why LAF embraced Social Media

Why LAF embraced Social Media

• We believe that we have to communicate with our people where they are

• Social media, at it’s core is a community building tool.

• It’s a low cost & convenient way to communicate with a very broad (or very narrow) audience

The Tools

The Tools

The Tools used by LAF

The Tools used by LAF

Blog (http://livestrongblog.org)

The Tools used by LAF

Twitter (www.twitter.com/livestrong)

The Tools used by LAF

Delicious (http://delicious.com/laf_livestrong)

The Tools used by LAF

YouTube (www.youtube.com/livestrongarmy)

The Tools used by LAF

Flickr (www.flickr.com)

The Tools used by LAF

Blackbaud Sphere Friends Asking Friends (http://www.sanjose2010.livestrong.org)

Outcomes

Outcomes

By the Numbers

• Facebook: 700,500 fans

• Twitter:– Foundation (@LIVESTRONG): 58,218 followers– Doug (@LIVESTRONGCeo): 989,420 followers– Lance (@lancearmstrong): 2,386,189 followers

• YouTube: 2,099 subscribers

• Blog: 1833 subscribers

• FAF Events: – 21,000 Participants– $10.2M Raised online in 2009

Most impactful outcomes

1. Relationship building –

– social media and online engagement significantly accelerates LAF’s ability to build relationships

2. Extended community building –

– these tools have facilitated connections, partnerships, support circles that may not have happened face-to-face.

– And, introduced the foundation to the whole world—we now have world wide awareness in place; we think we are well positioned for our new global campaign.

Key learnings

1. What didn’t work?

– MySpace - membership dropped on their site overall, so did our friend base—we have left our site up, but not working with it.

– Overzealous tweeting from the Summit—lost us 2500 followers…lesson learned.

2. Biggest surprises?

– People’s willingness to watch the summit on Ustream– The outpouring of support for those affected by cancer from those

affected by cancer- on Facebook.– @fatcycllist and #blamedrewscancer

Takeaways

Outcomes

Key learnings

• Be authentic, not corporate, in your online interactions

• Tie your SM initiatives together each channel naturally feeds the others

• Don’t be scared…give it a try. The longer you put it off, the more ‘catch up’ you’ll do later

If you only take three things from this session …

Brooke McMillan – Online Community Evangelist Lance Armstrong Foundation @livestrong

Frank Barry – Director of Professional Services Blackbaud Internet Solutions

http://www.netwitsthinktank.com @franswaa

Speakers