The AFL-CIO Is All A-Twitter!

February 24, 2010

Overview of the Federation’s Social Media Program

Danielle HatchettSocial Media Manager, AFL-CIOFacebook: www.facebook.com/aflcioTwitter: www.twitter.com/aflcio

Social Media: Growing Fast 3 out of 4 Americans use social technology 1 in 3 online Americans post to social networks at

least once a week Users spend at least 5hrs and 30 min per month on

average on social networking sites 99% of social media users believe organizations

should have a presence in social media 37% of internet users aged 18-29 use blogs or social

networking sites as a venue for political or civic involvement compared to: 17% of online 30-49 year olds 12% of 50-64 year olds 10% of internet users over 65

Social Media: Growing Fast Provides additional platforms to spread your

message outside of traditional means Plug your cause, raise awareness about an

issue, spread the word, and update your network

Allows opportunity for instant feedback from your constituents; tap into word of mouth.

Connect with influentials (i.e. bloggers, policymakers, press, advocacy organizers and people with large networks)

Provides organizing opportunities (Help for Haiti)

Developing A Social Media Strategy

Do some research and find out where your audience is

Spend some time listening to the conversation

Create a campaign around the launch of new social media platforms

Produce engaging content

Questions We Asked (or wish we had asked!) Before Getting Started

Who will manage the site? Who can post items to the site? What kinds of items are appropriate for the site? Are we prepared to let go of control of our brand just a

little? How does engaging users via social media integrate

with our overall communications/marketing strategy? How will we measure success or failure? (views,

number of followers/subscribers, comments)

Establishing A Social Media Policy Clearly state:

Anyone distributing content is acting as a representative of your organization and should ask responsibly in that vein

Social networking sites are public. Do not post any information you don’t want the world to see

Any social networking site exists to advance the goals of the organization. Personal opinions that defame or tarnish its image are not allowed.

Legal reminders about plagiarism, profanity, and defamatory statements which could land your organization in court.

AFL-CIO Social Media Tools Blog: http://www.blog.aflcio.org

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aflcio

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/aflcio

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/aflcionow

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/labor2008

Ustream: (live broadcasts)- http://www.ustream.tv/user/aflcionow

Digg-social news website made for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the Internet

AFL-CIO Now Blog 113,000+ page views per month

4-10 posts daily on issues important to working families; 1 post minimum on Saturday and Sunday

20,000 subscribers to our daily blog news e-mail

Weekly post on Firedoglake, which gets 40,000-50,000 visits a day

Each top officer has a Huffington Post column where we quickly publish blogs under their bylines on breaking issues and big campaigns

Cross-posting of blogs across the progressive network (Daily Kos, Everyday Citizen)

Conversation and feedback occur in the comments

Facebook 9100+ fans Links to our

blogs/national news items

Post questions to spark conversation

Use Event feature to spread word about events and campaigns

Provide space for open discussion. Wall is open so fans/affiliates can post relevant content of interest to our audience

Twitter 3900+ followers; following 1100+

Followed by reporters from CNN, The Hill, AP, NPR, ABC –reciprocal spreading of content

Share links to blog posts and other news items

Spread content of unions/affiliated organizations (retweeting) – we’re listening, not just broadcasting; we’re participating in the greater allied community

Retweet content from our media staff, bloggers, and Sec-Treas. Shuler which gives us more of an authentic voice

Live tweeting of events – integrated into blog posts (retweeting)

Instant feedback from followers

YouTube 230+ videos; 500+

subscribers to our channel

Embed video into our blog posts, e-mails and throughout our website

Flickr Central repository for

state feds and central labor councils to post and share photos from campaigns, rallies and other events – easy sharing

Convention photo galleries and officer photos

Campaigns – Convention 2009 Comprehensive convention website (convention

actions/resolutions, photo slide shows, video clips, blog feeds, interactive maps of Pittsburgh)

Up to the minute coverage on the blog of all convention activity

Staff were equipped with flip video cameras. Recorded breakout sessions and delegates sharing thoughts on the agenda and future of labor movement. Videos posted on YouTube.

Heavy promo via Facebook and Twitter starting three weeks before.

Web-streamed entire Convention for the first time; Page included Twitter and Facebook feeds

Photo galleries on Flickr; Major convention speeches on YouTube

Live tweeting of major speeches which also streamed on the blog

Convention 2009: Results Results:

Facebook: Gained over 800 fans (content generated over 1500 “likes” and we received over 400 total comments)

Twitter: Added over 500 followers and we made it into the trending topics for a short period during Obama’s speech

You Tube: Combined 15,000+ views on all of our Convention videos

Campaign: President Trumka Open for Questions

Implementation Google Moderator Ustream TV Cover it Live

Promotion Twitter Facebook Blog – Ours + Cross-posting E-mail – Lists/Listserves/

Campaign: President Trumka Open for Questions (Results)

Google Moderator: 323 people asked 160 unique questions and cast 6,744 votes.

Ustream: 4,607 unique viewers. Cover it Live: 520 participants, 160

comments, 188 tweets. Website: 5,465 page views.

Campaign: President Trumka Open for Questions (Results)

Twitter: 48 unique tweets/RTs and the bit.ly link generated 324 clicks.

Facebook: Event generated 149 RSVPs and 159 “maybes” + 436 actively said they were not attending.

AFL-CIO Social Media Group

Communications staff from unions and affiliated organizations sharing resources, successful social media campaigns, strategies, and tools

Working on development of social media training tools that can be distributed to unions

Trainings- Social Media 101 and 102

Trainings Social Media 101 and 102

Overview – Definitions; importance in communications strategy; usage

stats Questions to consider before making it a part of your

communications strategy Twitter –

How to set up a profile and start tweeting Finding people to connect with Clients you can use to better manage your experience Specific ways to build community

Facebook- Fan page vs. Group? Setting up a fan page Applications you can use to create campaigns Benefits of advertising on Facebook

Join our Social Media Group Danielle Hatchett

dhatchet@aflcio.org

www.facebook.com/aflcio

www.twitter.com/aflcio