Literacy Volunteers of Monongalia and Preston Counties

Social Media Accounts in use: Facebook Website Linked-in

Kietzmann et al. state that there are seven functional building blocks of social media: presence, sharing, identity, groups, relationships, reputation, and conversations. The most applicable to meeting the goals of LVMP are Groups, Identity, Reputation, and sharing. Success for this social media aspect of the plan will be getting the groups identity to correlate with philanthropy in the community and promoting that aspect (company is nonprofit and all they do is help people really show that aspect), their reputation of being able to show the community how passionate they are of helping others, Groups in appealing to the public on how close the volunteers, learners, and organization is , Sharing with keeping followers updated on progress with people being tutored (attach yourself to story of one of the people who are being tutored, emotional appeal: Pick a person and tell the social media to follow his story throughout the process)

Swot Analysis

What is a Swot Analysis-?

A SWOT Analysis is a method of internally examining the strengths and weaknesses of something, and externally examining the opportunities and threats as well. It is done using a matrix to break down each and compare them. Once completed, the model can assist the user in accomplishing his or her objectives, and what obstacles must be overcome or minimized to achieve desired results (Humphrey, 2005).

.

Goals Met: Groups, Identity, Reputation, and sharing

Strengths: Large member base User-friendly Globally used Many options for

communicating with others

Weaknesses: Time-consuming (to keep up

with every post, etc.) Privacy controls can be difficult

to manage

Opportunities: Can give the LVMP

access to a younger demographic

Can connect tutors and volunteers with organization

Creates an online presence

Can share pictures with others ( Follow someone’s story)

Threats: Members can post whatever

they want (can be a liability threat)

Must keep up with page, otherwise it can seem worse than never having started.

What is Twitter?

Twitter is an effective means of communication for companies that are looking to enhance conversations and maximize sharing potential. Twitter gives users the opportunity to “tweet” information in a 140-character message. Tweets are streamed on a timeline that is updated throughout the course of the day. Using Twitter could be beneficial for a company looking to modernize their image and connect with a younger generation. Instant and streaming feedback is one of the biggest advantages for this network. When harnessed properly, feedback contributes to the sharing of ideas, information, and opportunities.

Strengths: Streams updates Large member

base Short and sweet

Weaknesses: Limited character

allowance in posts Must post

regularly to gain followers

Opportunities: Ability to instantly

share information with “followers”

By increasing followers, could increase interest in or participation in the LVMP

Conversations

Threats: Requires a lot of

posting to gain members (may require more attention)

Lack of followers can be worse for reputation than not being on Twitter

Strengths

Linked-in is meant to help connect professionals and the LVMP is a professional organization

Many options for developing reputation

Weaknesses Low amount of connections thus far

Opportunities

Can access new or old Volunteers/Tutors of members of LVMP

Shows the number of networks to which one is connected

Can broadcast achievements of the LVMP and its members and make others want to become a member

Threats

For the beginning stages of the LVMP in the linked-in network they will appear small.

Website1. Website is not very appealing to the eye, perhaps a small revamp with more images to

accompany words.

2. Add a tab for a personal story of someone being tutored, gains emotional appeal as well as

interest as people can attach themselves to the person and follow their story.

3. Revamp of donation page, make it emotionally appealing, and use persuasion theory of guilt on

page to make people want to donate.

4. Classes & workshops page- show people how much more they could benefit from these classes,

add videos of the workshops, people love visual appeals.

The brain processes visual information 60,000 faster than text. – 3M Corporation, 2001

Approximately 65 percent of the population are visual learners. – Mind Tools, 1998

5. Community partners page is blank, needs to be updated with all of the partners to show that

they are involved with the community.

6. There should be an audio button for every single piece of wording, they are trying to help

learners, so if the learners do have access to a computer they can listen instead of attempting to

read to receive the services provided.

7. For the services page, there needs to be more photos of the actual service being provided,

instead of just wording.

Analysis of New Model

In this model, the LVMP has many methods for disseminating information

to volunteers and potential volunteers as well as receiving information from

volunteers. These methods include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, in addition to the

original methods, like Email and the LVMP website. These methods allow users to

access the LVMP in many different ways; what is more, these platforms allow

users to access each other. In this model, the users can interact with the LVMP, the

LVMP can interact with them, and the users can interact with each other. These

methods allow the LVMP to meet more or all of its goals. The platforms allow for

more conversations, more relationships, more sharing, and more presence. The

strengths and opportunities of the model far outweigh the weaknesses and threats,

and the weaknesses and threats are all things that can be managed very easily once

familiarity with the platforms has been established.

Social Media Sitemap

Users

Users

Users

Website

Users

Social Media Action Items1. Register Organization with the Communication Studies Department at

WVU,

http://communicationstudies.wvu.edu/undergrad/intern/requesting-an-

internship-for-your-organization. This will benefit both parties, as the

intern will be receiving credit hours for his class professional

coursework and the organization will be receiving experienced social

media help from a social media student.

2. Once approved for internship credit, interview interns and hire the best

candidate.

3. Give the newly appointed director of social media intern an overview of

what is lacking in organization and what is needed for social media

platforms ( use this social media plan as a reference)

4. The current web page, while doing a great job of containing

Information about the organization and helping establishing its identity,

needs to

Be branded to represent Literacy Volunteers of Monongalia and Preston

County as more than the

Letters “L” “V” “M” “P” and “C”.

5. We recommend the creation of a branded Facebook page as part of a

Web 2.0 approach to LVMPC digital footprint. ( Their Facebook is

currently web 1.0, as there is no conversation actively on the

Facebook, users can only simply read and retrieve information posted,

Web 2.0 Is a web format where users are engaged in conversations

with the organizations, rather than just reading the information)

6. We suggest that LVMPC uses social media heavily to promote events,

as social media marketing is essentially free. All it takes is a tweet,

post, or facebook comment to say thank you for the follow and a

mutual interest could be formed between the person and the

organization.

7. Consistent use of the social media pages through the intern is

ESSENTIAL, as being inactive on a social media page can be as harmful

as not having one at all. Engage with your followers to show that a

nonprofit organization cares about opinions, thoughts, etc.

8. This document (and the social media plan as a whole) should be visited

on an

Annual basis to ensure that (a) the stated goals of Groups, Identity,

Reputation, and sharing are being met and (b) the vision of LVMPC still aligns

with those social

Media goals specified here.

9. in the interests of maintaining and eventually expanding its digital

footprint to

Meet changing demand, we recommend LVMPC appoint an individual - either

a

Member officer or a student intern - to oversee their digital footprint

operations.