After you have decided on the content's focus and type, determine how often you can post updates. Here are a couple of tips.

• Post at the optimal time. Post during the times when you are most likely to receive responses in the form of Likes, comments and shares. Edge Rank Checker is a tool that can help you determine the best times to post on Facebook. Also, use Facebook Insights and Google Analytics to determine optimum posting times with your followers.
• Studies show that posting no more than 3 times a day is effective for Facebook pages.
• MediaBistro recommends posting at least 5 times a day on Twitter
• Put important points first. Express your core message within the first 90 characters, as longer messages might be truncated.
• Post images and graphics. Pictures and images on social media take up prime social media real estate space and are hard to miss whether the user is on a computer or mobile device.  Posting an interesting photo will receive more responses than posting a link and long description.  If your image is engaging enough, people will like and share it.
• Call to action. Ask your readers to like your page or post, ask them to share your content, and ask them to participate in an initiative with specific directions and asks.
• Be nice. Be responsive. Listen
• NO social presence is better than sporadic social presence. Not posting regular content and not replying in a timely manner translates to followers that you don’t care.

COLLABORATE

Social collaborators are Individuals and organizations working together for a common goal.

While competitors will not normally work together, collaborators may work together over social media to achieve a common goal- like getting a bill passed or celebrating a national day of recognition.

Social collaboration is more group-centric than individual-centric and can revolve around a cause or specific initiative.

Social collaborations can also be time-bound projects with partners or affiliates.

Example of group centric collaborations: 1)Advocates from multiple organizations coming together to change policy such as the Rally for Medical Research 2) multi-organizational support of a fundraising or marketing initiative like Stand Up to Cancer all-network shows for all cancer types and when celebrating Cancer Survivor Month.

Example of supportive collaborations:

1) All-cancer treatment facility promotes the initiative of a cancer-specific organization.

2) Organizations that promote services or resources that they do not offer themselves.

WorldCancerDay

PURPOSE

Create a social media strategy for your organization as a whole and create social media plans for each of your pages, events, and initiatives.  This could be as vast as a report or be as short as a few concise sentences. Your strategy and goals will guide your next steps.  Having a timeline and setting responsibilities will make your use of time on social media effective towards achieving your mission.

MISSION

In as little as 2-3 sentences, what is your mission with your social media strategy?  What are you trying to accomplish?  Having your mission or “end game” clearly stated before your effort begins will help keep your social media team on the same page.

POLICY & PROCEDURE

Set your social media policy and procedures (or Best Practices Guidelines).  Everyone should be familiar with and follow your company’s social media policies.  Know what topics you will or won’t discuss on your brand’s social media accounts and link all of your social media accounts back to your organization.

CONTENT

Content for social media needs to engage the reader.  Your content could be educational, inspirational entertaining or promotional or a combination of these.  Remember that you are trying to humanize your brand, so aggressive self-promotion will fall on deaf ears (or blind eyes!)

Use posts, tweets, quotes, blogs, articles, stories, contests and surveys to interest readers and interact with them. Social media is becoming more visual so photos, graphics, infographics, sites like Pinterest, and high quality marketing images should be a major consideration.

One benefit of high quality images and graphics are that photos can translate to an international audience.

Post regularly and post good content. Your content and consistency will set you apart from your competition and can help establish you as an expert/thought leader

Here is the 70/20/10 rule:

• 70 percent of content should focus on your customers' interests and needs. This can be accomplished through how-to tips, answers to frequently asked questions, and links to helpful resources. Ask yourself, "Would I find this content helpful?" If the answer is yes, then it's probable others will too.
• 20 percent of content should be "OPC" — other people's content. That mandates a willingness to allow user-generated content on social channels you manage, such as a Facebook page. This gives your customers a sense of ownership in the conversation and serves to foster trust.
• 10 percent of content should be promotional. If you are willing to focus 90 percent of your content on others, then, hopefully, no one will complain when 1/10th of it calls attention to your products and services.

The greatest gift of social media is the opportunity to humanize a brand, or in our case a cause or nonprofit and all people impacted by the focus of the nonprofit.

The only way to humanize a brand is if your social media effort is authentic. Your organization’s social media presence needs to have a personality that readers can relate to.  It must listen to your constituents and respond to them in a timely manner.  It needs to provide fresh content that engages readers and inspires them.

Your social media efforts need to relay the message that your organization cares.