Social Media Once

Over Training

September 22, 2021

© 2017 Northern Illinois University

 Introduction
• Department: Institutional Communications
• What we do:
• Manage main NIU social media channels
• Photo and video production for marketing purposes
• Media Relations
• NIU Homepage content management
• Huskie Spotlights
• Partner with Marketing, Web & Internal Comms and departments
across the university

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 Social Media for Non-Profit Organizations
• The Social Media Once Over will
focus on the Facebook pages of
organizations in the DeKalb
Community.
• According to a Pew Research
study on Social Media Use in 2021,
Facebook remains one of the most
widely used online platforms
among US adults.

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 Social Media for Non-Profit Organizations
How Orgs can benefit from social
media use:
• Building brand awareness
• Customer Service
• Drive website traffic
• Build trust through
authenticity
• Generate leads

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 Social Media Once Over
• Your role:
• Review organization Facebook page based on the SMOO Considerations document
• Fill in the checklist with notes and feedback
• Keep in mind that you’re providing recommendations, and it will be up to the organization to decide to
implement them or not.
• If you feel especially strongly about a recommendation, provide an outside resource that backs up
your recommendation. You can find this by googling it, or by offering a comparison to a similar
organizations’ Facebook page.
• Most importantly, managing a social media presence on behalf of an organization is time consuming
and these organizations often have tight budgets and staff with minimal time to spend.

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 Social Media Once Over
• Your role:
• Most importantly, managing a social media presence on behalf of an organization is time consuming
and these organizations often have tight budgets and staff with minimal time to spend.
• Our goal is to provide them with straight forward, non-judgmental tips and advice to strengthen their
Facebook presence, without getting into content strategy or analytics.
• The steps outlined in the SMOO Considerations document will help the organizations appear in
searches on Facebook and on search engines because the Facebook algorithm favors pages that
complete all of the fields and information available on the platform.

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 NIU Resources
Social Media Quick Six
• Best practices document that we share with departments and programs interested in starting
new social media accounts. You can share this with the organizations you’re working with and
encourage them to adapt their own version for social media management. This will also be
helpful for you in understanding how NIU manages social media.
Response Protocol
• This is a guide for understanding when and how to respond to comments on social media. You
can provide this to organizations to utilize going forward, and you can use it when reviewing the
organizations responsiveness on their Facebook page.

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 General Info
• The General Info content can be
found under the About section on
Facebook.
• Chicago Foundation for Women
Facebook page is the example I
reviewed.
• They’re a good example to look
at for their use of the donation
feature on Facebook.

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 Content
• Plan to spend some time getting
to know the organization(s)
you’re reviewing.
• Visit their website, make note of
the logo, photos, graphics and
content they share there.
• Read the content, make note of
the tone of the organization.
• Cover photo: relevant means a
photo that represents the
audience the organization serves
or the work they do. Graphics
might include information about
donating, attending an event or
other initiatives.

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 Content
Utilizing replies in messenger Facebook events info might be
• This won’t be publicly available, but it listed under “more”
can be a suggestion you provide in
your final summary notes. You can
link to Facebook’s information about
how to implement this:
https://www.facebook.com/business/le
arn/lessons/set-up-automated-
responses

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 Content
Link previews:

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 Post Frequency
Facebook Algorithm
• The Facebook algorithm controls the ordering and presentation of posts,
so users see what is most relevant to them.
• Rather than publish content chronologically, posts and ads are presented
based on what Facebook sees as relevant to you, the user.
• When providing feedback, remember to be empathetic and understand
that all organizations do not have staff dedicated to running social media.
If you’re going to recommend content that they could share, think about
content that we refer to as “evergreen,” meaning it could be shared
repeatedly or at any time.

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 Inclusive Language and Imagery
• Again, getting to know the organization based on the information they
share on their website is critical.
• Consider the audience for the organization you are reviewing; audiences
often include multiple types of stakeholders:
• Current or prospective clients who use services provided
• Current or prospective donors who might want to give money or time to an organization
• Prospective employees
• Members of the community the organization is located within etc.

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 Sources
• Hootsuite Blog: https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-for-business/
• Pew Research: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/04/07/social-
media-use-in-2021/
• Sprout Social Blog: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/
• Facebook Messenger auto replies:
https://www.facebook.com/business/learn/lessons/set-up-automated-
responses.
• URL shorteners: https://zapier.com/blog/best-url-shorteners/

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