To: Linsey Smith, Area Director, Special Olympics Florida Miami-Dade County Subject: Social Media Strategy Date: Oct. 18, 2016
Part 1: Memo This memo includes four parts for Special Olympics Florida’s Social Media Strategy to increase followers, likes, retweets and to overall improve all social media platforms. The target audiences for the main social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, are described in part one. Part two is an audit of all platforms available, describing how well each platform is already used and what needs improvement. Part three is a detailed social media calendar of the style of content necessary for successful social media platforms. Part four consists of 25 sample posts from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and two blog posts examples to help understand how each platform is different in style and appropriation. Social media is an online platform for ongoing conversation, it is available 24 hours a day and possible for two-way communication between the audience and the organization directly. As the organization it is crucial that your voice is conversational through all social media platforms, specifically within your own genre. The idea is to create conversations that your audience can respond to and interact with you. It is important to not just tell your audience information about upcoming events, but to interact with them through all social media platforms. There are four types of social media posts, informational, educational, promotional and entertainment. Informational is informing your audience about your organization, this could mean fun facts, information about other sections of Special Olympics or Special Olympics nationally and internationally. Educational is educating your audience on what Special Olympics is and who is involved with it. Promotional is promoting upcoming events and activities for your organization. Entertainment is updating your audience on current trends with Special Olympics or within the Miami area. All these types of posts should include hashtags and create engagement, which in turn will increase the number of followers. It is essential to consistently update your social media platforms as well as respond to those interacting with you to keep your audience interested. Target Audience: Facebook The target audience for Facebook for Special Olympics in Miami-Dade County is the older generation of Millennials and Generation X, approximately ages 30 – 50. The majority of those interested in this particular branch of Special Olympics are those who donate to the cause or have a family member or close friend with intellectual disabilities. Facebook does not necessarily need
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to be updated every day, as it has a longer shelf life than other social media platforms. Two to three times a week would be ideal to keep the audience interested and to have them continuously see your posts. Target Audience: Twitter The target audience for Twitter is primarily the same as Facebook, the older generation of Millennials and Generation X. On Twitter, it is important to retweet information received by the International Special Olympics Twitter account. It is necessary to keep your audience updated on both national and local information. The goal here is to garner retweets and likes. It is imperative to consistently update Twitter, as it has a shelf life of only a few minutes. Target Audience: Instagram The target audience for Instagram is younger than Facebook and Twitter so, it is important to target a younger audience, specifically Millennials. Posts should include engaging and clear pictures that either relate to recently occurred Special Olympic events, national or local trending events and entertainment.
PART II: Social Media Platform Audit Facebook Special Olympics Florida- Miami-Dade County’s Facebook page has almost 2,000 likes. Currently, they post several times a week, approximately once a day. There are less than 20 likes on the majority of each of the pictures posted. Almost every post is of a picture or link with a caption and consist of heartwarming stories that occasionally receive a few shares, while these a great, they can get repetitive. Special Olympics Florida in Miami-Dade County has almost 5,400 athletes throughout the county as well as more than 2,600 people volunteering each year. Therefore, the majority of those involved and their families should be liking and following all social media accounts, if they have them. There is definite focus for improvement for engaging and interacting with the target audiences. Special Olympics Florida does a great job of mediating between all four types of posts, promotional, informational, educational and entertainment. Before events, pictures are posted of the athletes practicing and preparing which cause the audience to get excited for the event. Links to articles are shared about people with intellectual disabilities and how it affects them in all aspects of life. To create more variety from pictures and links, you can post text posts that are informational or entertainment or have videos embedded in a post. I would suggest improving the quality of pictures posted. It makes a huge difference if the pictures posted are high quality and clear rather than somewhat blurry. Bad quality pictures usually will not get as many likes or shares on Facebook because they can look unprofessional.
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To improve on the likes and comments for the big events throughout the year, it is crucial to report live on all social media platforms during big events. This is great for those at the event posting pictures, as they tag the organization’s account, use the event’s hashtag and you can repost these pictures to the organization’s social media. It also helps as those not at the event can see how exciting it may be which motivates them to come to upcoming events. Facebook is a strong and popular social media platform for Special Olympics Florida’s target audience. Aside from a few improvements on the quality of pictures and different variety of posts, Facebook is already a strong platform and should be kept. Twitter Special Olympics Florida in Miami Twitter handle is @SOFL_MDC. They currently have 205 tweets, 518 followers, 69 likes and they are currently following 334 accounts. The twitter definitely needs improvement as the majority of the pictures posted are the exact same as Facebook and there are a few retweets but not many original tweets. The posts are very sporadic as they post several times in the course of a few days and then do not post for a few months. There are a few retweets but other than that no interaction with their followers. Twitter is very faced paced and everything is usually seen within the first eight minutes. In order to keep up with the pace of Twitter, it is crucial to engage in conversation constantly. Twitter is focused mostly on conversations, as there is only 140 characters in each tweet. It is very hard to keep your audience interested if you start a conversation and then do not follow up with it. Instead of mostly focusing on promotional tweets, which tells the audience information about events, focus on asking questions about Special Olympics or trending topics. If a tweet is interesting and asks a question, it can start a conversation which in turn will gain followers. Its suggested to post somewhere between one and three times a day, even if it’s retweeting, liking tweets or actually posting an entertaining and funny tweet. If people respond to your tweets it is important to always reply to them, so they know you are a friendly and helpful organization. Following distinguished and well known people from the Miami area is a great way to keep up to date on news and events. The national Special Olympics Twitter account @SpecialOlympics does a good job of posting a variety of subjects and posting almost every day. Retweeting from the national account is a great way in staying up to date on what Special Olympics nationally is doing. Twitter needs significant improvement but is a great way to continue conversations with your target audiences and interact with them directly. It is crucial to post and interact with your audience on Twitter at least once a day, if not multiple times.
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Instagram Special Olympics Florida’s Instagram is @specialo_miami. There are currently 638 followers and the account is following 35 accounts. There is an average of 30 likes per picture. Half of Instagram’s users are Millennials specifically ages 18- 29. As the target audience for Instagram is very young, it is essential to aim the pictures posted towards a younger audience or you will not receive the expected responses. The four most recent posts on the Instagram are from the Special Olympics Gala which took place several weeks ago. It is great that multiple pictures were posted throughout the last gala, however, there has been no activity on the account in weeks since. Before that, the last post was eight weeks ago, which is two months with no Instagram updates. Instagram does not have a long shelf life; it is usually only about 20-30 minutes. In order to keep your audience interested, it is suggested to post twice a week minimum of any of the four post styles (informational, educational, promotional and entertainment). If you do not constantly keep your audience interested, you can lose their interest. On Instagram people unfollow you if you do not regularly post content and interact with followers because they think the account is no longer active. The amount of likes per picture needs improvement. On Instagram, it is important to tag people, events and locations as those accounts will see what you posted. Pictures should be posted frequently and use hashtags. The picture posted to Instagram from an event should be the best quality and most captivating picture. Videos are fine as well if posted occasionally and are high quality. If all the posts are exceptional quality and posted consistently with the use of hashtags in the captions and utilizing tagging the location of the event, it will increase your number of likes and followers. Instagram needs significant improvement. It is now a very popular social media platform but it is necessary for content to be posted one to three times a week in order to keep the audience interested and improve on responses and followers.
PART III: Weekly Social Media Calendar Facebook Post at least two to three times a week. Once a week post a picture of someone holding up a sign saying “Spread the Word to End the Word.” Using the hashtag #STW2ETW and #rWord. This campaign is a big part of what Special Olympics believes in and adds consistency to the Facebook page. Featuring winning athletes at big and small events is an efficient way to keep those not in attendance updated during the event, as well as a way for family and friends of the winner to repost and share in celebration. It is important to use the same hashtags for similar posts, for example, use #TennisTuesday for tennis events posted on Tuesdays.
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Appreciating all those who help and volunteer is crucial to a non-profit organization. Posts of volunteers looking cheerful can easily be shared and reposted. Make sure to use #iamspecialtoo when posting pictures with those who volunteer and support Special Olympics athletes. Create a contest to promote more followers. Through Facebook, people can upload a video, tagging Special Olympics Florida Miami-Dade and using #specialochallenge to be entered in the contest. For example, the person who can throw a baseball the farthest and have it land in a trash can and afterword say, “I spread the word to end the word with Special Olympics Florida, the world’s largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. I threw the baseball __ feet to spread the word.” In the video, the person must measure the distance the ball was thrown. After a month from the launch of the contest, the person who threw the baseball the farthest wins. By creating a contest, it directly engages the followers to an exciting challenge, and when they post their video to their Facebook, it exposes Special Olympics Florida and the challenge to all of their social media friends. This creates a lot more exposure and in turn spreads the word. For every holiday there should be a post with a photo, for example, “Wishing everyone a Happy Holidays from Special Olympics Florida, Miami-Dade County.” National Spread the Word to End the Word Day is in the beginning of March every year, this should have a post to spread awareness leading up to the day and on the day. Instagram Post at least once a week, but two to three times is ideal. Posting the highest quality photo from events is best for Instagram. It is important to tailor the posts and captions to a younger audience. When posting a picture, tag whoever is featured in the photo, tag the location of the event or where the photo was taken and utilize hashtags from the event and Special Olympics to get it trending. For Special Olympic Area Games events, use #GoForGoldSO in the caption of pictures of the athletes at events. Samples are listed below. Creating a consistent hashtag to use for all Area Games is useful because it connects them together. Posting a throwback on Mondays from the weekend using, #victorymonday showcasing a particular Special Olympics athlete who beat their personal record at that weekend’s events. This is currently a trending hashtag which will create more people discovering your page, liking the post and following this account.
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Twitter Be active every single day, whether by retweeting, liking tweets or posting tweets. Twitter has a very short shelf life, only about eight minutes and in order to keep up, you have to consistently post. This platform is the best for utilizing hashtags. It is necessary however that hashtags are incorporated into sentences in the posts instead of adding them to the end. Posting about trending topics is a great way to start conversations on Twitter. Asking followers thoughts on trending events locally and nationally. It is important to respond and acknowledge the followers if they engage with you. For example, recently a Miami Marlin’s pitcher passed away, a great time to post on twitter would be your condolences for his passing. This was a trending topic and would have been retweeted by many. Every Monday use #mondaymotivation and post an inspirational and motivational phrase to inspire all those who support Special Olympics. Once a week post an interesting fact about Special Olympics using #FunFactFriday to engage the followers and share information about your organization locally and nationally. Asking the audience questions on Twitter is a great way to get feedback and engage in two-way conversations. For example, tweeting asking for feedback from volunteers who attended last weekend’s event is helpful to you as the organization and it makes those who volunteered feel they are heard.
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Part IV: Social Media Content Samples Facebook Posts: 1) “At the #specialogala, these families share why they relate to #iamspecialtoo, why Special Olympics has a special place in their hearts and why they dedicate so much love and time to our organization…” During big events throughout the year, those in attendance are often donors who are really dedicated to the organization. One example is to get four or five donors, who continuously donate and come each year to the awards gala, talk about why they enjoy the gala, why they look forward to it, and why Special Olympics is so important to them. Include a short video of three or four families each talking at the event, each clip should be no more than 30 seconds to 1 minute. (examples include one talking about how much she enjoys the event each year, she buys a dress only for this event and looks forward to it).
(example of what video angle should look like) 2) Volunteer Kara and Special Olympics athlete, Anna, show their support for Spread the Word to End the Word campaign today. How do you show your support? Send us your picture holding up a ‘Spread the Word to End the Word’ sign and #STW2ETW #rWord.
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3) Thank YOU to each and every one of our volunteers, coaches and sponsors. YOU make every athlete in Special Olympics LOVE what they do.
4) Big high five to John Brown, who #GoForGoldSO and got first place in the Special Olympics Florida 200-meter race during today’s track and field competition.
5) For our #victorymonday, a huge congrats to our first place champion in dressage in the Special Olympics 2016 Equestrian Show, Joelle Miller and her horse, Dream. #GoForGoldSO Joelle!
6) Anna Smith raises the torch as she walks across the arena initiating the start of the 2016 Special Olympics Summer Games, hoping to #GoForGoldSo.
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Twitter: @SOFL_MDC 7) “We are so sad to hear about Marlin’s pitcher Jose Fernandez’s passing - he was a big supporter of SOFL athletes #RIPJoseFernandez #specialolympics”
8) “These signatures represent all that support #STW2ETW of the use of the #rword during #SpecialOGala this Saturday”
9) “Do YOU love to volunteer? Be a #volunteer #ambassador at #SpecialOlympicsFlorida #FallClassic sponsored by @ESPN on 11/11 & 11/12” 10) Our athletes cannot wait to watch the World Series game with @ChicagoCubs vs. @LADodgers. Who do you think will win? 11) “@LadyGaga is announced as headliner for the #halftimeshow at @SuperBowl2017 in Houston, Texas.” 12) “Who’s favorite sport is basketball? Team captain of @SOFL #basketball team, Jorge Smith challenges you to play with their team this Saturday” 13) “Are you volunteering at Special Olympics Florida’s Area Softball Games on 10/5? We are always looking for more #volunteers cause #iamspecialtoo” 14) Happy #motivationmonday from Babe Ruth, “Never let the fear of striking out, keep you from playing the game.” 15) Did you know we currently offer 17 #sports in Special Olympics? Tweet back and guess all 17 and you’ll win a prize! 16) Did you know we currently serve 4,949 athletes in Miami-Dade County alone! Tweet back to guess how many we serve nationally.
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Instagram: @specialo_miami 17) A top Special Olympics athlete @johnlogan receiving encouragement from @NBA all-star player @officialmutombo in a Unified Sports competition as he #GoForGoldSO
18) Our #PolarPlunge is one of our favorite fundraising events each year in Miami-Dade County and we cannot wait for it this year. It is at the Lake Shore pool on January 5, 2017 at 2 p.m.
19) #throwbackthursday to Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of Special Olympics, showing children how to swim at Camp Shriver, the day camp for the intellectually challenged on Aug. 21, 1964
20) Congratulations to our 2016 #SpecialOlympics #AthleteoftheYear- Valerie Van Balen!
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21) Special Olympics athletes #GoForGoldSO at our Annual Area Tennis Games at @univmiami (location: University of Miami Wellness Center, tag: athlete’s instagram).
22) Our #undefeated champs at the 2015 Fall Classic Games. Can they be beat this year?
23) A few of our inspiring athletes were featured on @WESH2 news as they shared their experience in Special Olympics Florida.
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Blog Examples: These are two examples of what could be a multi-part series featuring all of the coaches and athletes that won awards in the past year. It’s a great way to make each athlete and coach feel special as well as a great thing to have shared on social media and featured in the blog. 24) Frank Marion wakes up each day at 7 a.m. and works with the Special Olympics athletes until 1 p.m. nonstop practicing with them for upcoming events and competitions every day, five days a week. Working with Special Olympics athletes has given him the passion and drive that continues to rub off on all the athletes. Marion was nominated as the 2016 Carol MacArthur Coach of the Year. He goes above and beyond as a coach, regardless of the athlete. “Something I admire about him, aside from his work ethic, is his compassion to get the most out of each individual,” says Daniel Cartaya, the 2015 Coach of the Year. “The most amazing thing about Frank is the connection he makes with his athletes. They respect him more than just as a coach, but as a father-figure as well.” 25) Minutes after Valeria Van Balen steps onto the deck everyone in the pool is grinning from ear to ear. She has such an unmistakable passion for swimming that is undeniable. With Balen around, it reminds everyone why they have such a passion for swimming. Valeria Van Balen was nominated as the 2016 Athlete of the Year. “She has a great attitude towards swimming and she really brings such a positive presence to the pool deck,” said Kyla Valls, Olympic Trails Qualifier. “She taught me not to just write off someone just on their appearance or what you think they can and cannot do. By swimming with her, we all learned that if you have the mindset and the determination nothing can stop you.”
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