A Hands-On Approach to Teaching Social Media Tools
Here I am, two weeks into my Social Journalism Tools and Platforms class at CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism and the pace has really picked up. The thing I appreciate most about this class is the hands-on active approach to learning (a common theme at CUNY).
Our class has been divided into four groups each assigned to work with a specific nonprofit organization to help them optimize their Facebook strategy. We’ll be running their Facebook pages, creating and posting content, and analyzing results, to create a strategy that helps them achieve their growth goals. It’s a great way to use what we’re learning in class for the good of the organization, especially since we’ll design a sustainable strategy for the future once we have completed our assignment. It’s a win-win when we can provide valuable insights that help a nonprofit reach their goals and gain valuable experience through a team effort, all while being able to tap into the expertise provided by our beloved professor, Thomas McBee.
My group is working with The Adventure Project (TAP), a remarkable organization whose mission is to “give people the tools, education and resources to become entrepreneurs, so they can serve their own communities with improved health, decreased hunger, a safer environment and clean water.”
TAP has some amazing stories to tell and a library of beautiful videos and photography that will certainly make our job easier. Each week we’ll be posting content to their Facebook page and tracking their metrics.
So what is the point of a metric? In class this week we discussed three primary benefits:
1. To measure the progress toward reaching goals
2. To provide meaningful feedback to both outside and inside stakeholders about that progress
3. To provide insights into user behavior and broader social landscapes
We also talked about how we can make metrics work for us by:
1. Setting goals and sticking to them
2. Noticing patterns and repeat what’s working/eliminate what’s not
3. Developing theories and making space to test them
We learned that these Facebook insights are most helpful for:
1. On-the-page performance of FB posts
2. Engagement overall with the page
3. Assessing what types of posts perform best
In analyzing some of the metrics for The Adventure Project, we’ve learned that organic posts often work better than paid promotion, so we’ll be more strategic about using this tool in the future.
Since Facebook generally is not a big driver of donations, we may want to limit the number of posts that ask the audience to take action (i.e. donate) — our primary job is to promote greater visibility and engagement.
We plan to post engaging stories about the people being served by our nonprofit, being sure to include videos since they often perform well on Facebook.
Thomas has asked us to document our progress through Storify, a social network service that will allow us to create a timeline of our Facebook posts and the ability to add context to demonstrate the progression of our project. What an incredible opportunity we have to learn to use these tools by partnering with a nonprofit and engaging with their audience. I’m grateful for this opportunity and can’t wait to see what happens next.
