Social Media For FRC

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Social Media For FRC

• Utilizing Social Media Marketing Strategies to
  Spread FIRST

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Not just anybody...

• Hi, Im Karen!
• Member of SWAT 771 since 2007 season
• Titles that I have accumulated Co-captain,
  webmaster, tweeter, blogger, status-updater,
  awards writer, awards presenter, robot builder,
  drive operator, drive coach, overall troublemaker

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About Social Media

• Web hubs that connect people
• IE. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, FourSquare,
  Gowalla, LinkedIn, Google
• A revolutionary way to spread the word of FIRST

Think about the last time you were on the
internet. What websites did you visit? How many
of you visited facebook or twitter? Watched a
video on youtube? These sites have enormous
reach! These are the websites that your target
audience is using. You have to go to your
audience, they will not come to you.
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Why Social Media?

• Four Bs
• Be Found
• Be Relevant
• Be Accountable
• Be Engaging

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Be Found

• Having a strong social media presences enhances
  SEO
• Search Engine Optimization
• Your goal? Dominate the first page of a search.
• It should be easy to search for your team using
  keywords

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Be Found

• How to optimize searchability?
• Use tags.
• No really. TAG EVERYTHING!
• When you cant directly tag - go label crazy
• Be specific when you are uploading documents

photos search st. mildreds our team comes up in
the first 10 images
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Be Relevant
This is very applicable to websites as well.
They are not just a monument in cyberspace. They
too can become forums for interaction. It helps
to use platforms that are user friendly and also
easy to update. (Talk about how we use to do
it...) Prescheduling tweets. It helps! That way
you always have something up. TAG
EVERYTHING....that is relevant.

• Remember your audience
• Keep up to date
• Have current content
• Content relevance
• For websites use a platform that is easy to
  update

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Be Relevant
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Be Relevant

• Who is your audience?
• Potential sponsors
• Other FRC students and mentors
• Complete strangers who you hope to lure into FIRST

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Your Audience
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Be Relevant

• Your target audience is youth
• Think the I in FIRST Inspire
• The audience will not come to you. You must go to
  your audience.
• Your relevant social media forums are where your
  audience spends their time
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Youtube

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Be Accountable

• Track all your numbers
• There are many ways to keep statistics
• Use built in analytics tools
• Use outside analytic tools

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Built in analytic tools
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Outside analytic tools
tweetreach.com
These stats are really useful for sponsors too.
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Be Accountable

• All your statistics will be beneficial to both
  your team and your sponsors
• Use them for Chairmans
• These numbers are a measure of your effectiveness
  of influence

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Be Accountable

• Everything on the internet is permanent
• Make sure you have a social media marketing
  strategy that incorporates how and who uses these
  mediums of communication, on your team

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Be Engaging

• Be consistent
• In your username - Your overall branding

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Be Engaging

• Your team website
• User friendliness is important
• There are lots of studies available about what
  works and what doesnt work

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Be Engaging

• Interaction is key
• Social media breaks down physical barriers to
  communication
• Use it to reach out to rookie teams
• Reach out to international teams
• Think of everything you do as a dialogue

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Be Engaging

• You are marketing with people
• Leverage your audience to advocate for you
• Be positive
• Reflects well in the long run
• People are listening. Always.

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Final Notes

• Remember At the heart of it all, people are
  ultimately sold by why you do something, not what
  you do or how you do it.

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Connect with SWAT

• Twitter _at_frc771
• Youtube.com/frc771
• facebook.com/frc771
• www.swat771.com
• Questions? Karen klee_at_smls.on.ca

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Some links...

• tweetreach.com (tracks stats about your twitter
  audience)
• bitly.com (tracks stats about your links)
• futuretweets.com (preschedule your tweets)

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More links

• http//www.zoopmedia.com/websites-that-use-wordpre
  ss-1674/
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vJ0xbjIE8cPM