Engage Your Community and Grow Your Me mbership Through Facebook: Join the Conversation !

Engage Your Community and Grow Your Membership Through Facebook: Join the Conversation! Brynne GormanMembership and Community Engagement ManagerTaylor GrengaAdministrative and Program AssociateJuly 15, 2019

Benefits and goals of a Facebook page How to set up your League Facebook page and settings Creating posts, setting posting policies, content suggestions Creating and advertising events Tagging others, grow your reach Helpful tips Keeping the peace Example pages of other Leagues Presentation Overview

Benefits, and Goals Facebook provides an easy and effective way to promote content and communicate with both League members and the public. Through a Facebook page, you can help the public engage with your League and educate them on League issues and positions. Facebook can be used as a membership tool to gain new members as well as an advertisement tool to promote events. • Elevate the good work your League is doing. • Highlight the impact your League and other Leagues are having across the country. • Increase engagement by sharing information and fostering dialogue. • Gain new members.

How to set up your League Facebook page Designate a person in your League to create your Facebook page. Have them sign up at www.facebook.com (or if they already have a Facebook account skip to next step) Next create a free “Business or Brand” page for your League at https://www.facebook.com/pages/creation/?ref_type=registration_form

Name your page, select your business category (try “nonprofit organization” or “political organization”) and click continue.

Select a profile image and cover photo The profile image appears on the top left of your profile page as well as next to your account name on all posts. It is a image with the dimensions of 180 x 180. Most Leagues use their logo for their profile image. The cover photo acts as a header to your profile page. Cover photos are wide but a short rectangular shape so it is important to use Facebook’s adjustment tool to showcase the important part of the photo. The part of the photo that is shown is 828 x 315.

If you are using a logo, remember to use the official graphics provided by LWVUS. Logos used for profile photos must be the “LWV” logo in approved color variations, per LWV Brand Standards.

You may also use other graphics or photos of your League for your profile and cover photos.

Customize your page’s button

Create a username to find your page in a search Under your profile picture click the @username link to set a username. This is a unique name to help people quickly search and message you. I.E. The LWVMA username is @lwvmass

Check out your page settings Choose “settings” (upper right corner ) and then “page info” (left side panel) to add a brief description of your League, contact information, website and more. The more information you are able to provide here the better. Avoid using a personal phone number or email address.

While in “settings” click “general” to review general security and page visibilitysettings. We recommend that you disable Visitor Posts on your page to ensure that only your designated administrators can share content on your page. Visitors will still be able to comment on your posts.

You should add a colleague as another Facebook administrator or editor to help maintain your page. You can do so while in “settings” chose “page roles” (left side panel), “assign a new page role”, enter their email address that is associated with their personal Facebook account, and select their role on the page (selecting admin will provide full access). The admin view of the main page will differ from the visitor view.

Create a post On your page you can easily create posts, share videos, links and more. You will find the place to do so under your cover photo.

Scheduling a post in advance

Set a policy for posting If you have two or more admins, it might be helpful to have one person with authority (i.e. your president) review posts before it goes live on Facebook. You can do this by having Facebook admins create a draft for the person with authority to review and publish. To do this create your post but instead of publishing click on the arrow next to publish and select “save draft”

Set a policy for posting The draft will appear under the area where you create posts and the person with authority can click “see draft” to edit it, schedule it to post at a later time, delete it, or publish it immediately.

Content: What To Post • Your Facebook posts should update your followers on your League’s progress at the local, state and national levels. • It is good practice to include a link or a photo with each of your posts to make your content interesting and direct followers back to your website. • Please share links from LWVMA’s facebook https://www.facebook.com/lwvmass/ and LWVUS https://www.facebook.com/lwvmass/. Be sure to like both of these pages so you can see updates, tag us, and share content! • When sharing posts include introductory text and content to introduce and frame the content being shared.

Suggested Posts • News articles quoting or citing your League or other Leagues • Blog posts by your League, other Leagues and partner organizations • Press releases or statements • Photos from recent League events • New resources from your or other Leagues • Action alerts and calls to action • Voter guides, town hearings, town meeting dates, candidate nights. • Whenever possible link to more information on your website. • Voter registration deadlines and reminders to vote

Tag others and increase your reach! You can tag and mention other organizations/ coalition members/ people you are working with by first “liking” them and then typing their page name prefaced with an “@” sign. This will create a link in your post to their page and your post may appear on their page, increasing the audience. Others can also tag you but you can untag yourself if you do not want to appear in the post. Remember to like LWVMA, LWVUS, and other Local Leagues in MA. Tag other Leagues on events that they might be interested in. If posting a statewide action alert, tag the main sponsors of the bills in House and Senate.

Guidelines for Posting Photos • Choose your best photos--a few high quality photos from an event are better than a large album of low quality photos. • Try to capture “action shots” of members registering voters or engaging in advocacy activities. • Provide context for your photos. What are your members doing and why? • Be sure to get permission from your photo subjects, and ask them if they would like to be tagged in the post. • Remember to stay nonpartisan. When posting photos from candidates’ nights or debates, aim for equal representation of candidates.

Getting the Word Out • Invite your friends and fellow members to like your page • Include a message in your invitation, such as: “Hi, I’m inviting you to like this page because I think you might be interested in our events!” • Encourage members to share the page on their own profiles or to invite their Facebook friends • Include your Facebook URL in flyers and materials that you hand out at events • Add a link on your website and electronic newsletters to your Facebook page

Creating and Advertising Events You can create public events on Facebook to help advertise to the community. From your League’s profile page, click “events” (left side panel. Note you may have to expand the dropdown) then “create event”. • Choose an image that is related to the event. • Add event details and a description and post it to your page. • Once posted, others can engage with your event and indicate that they are attending or interested in attending. • Invite League members and encourage them to RSVP and invite their friends. • Encourage members of your League to share the event to their personal pages and the public can share it too!

Helpful Tips Each League can determine their own frequency but it is suggested to post 3-5 times a week. If you post more than once a day, space your posts out. Your Facebook audience is made up of both League members and the general public, keep posts accessible to someone who is new to the League. If there is a Facebook group in your town, with a bigger audience, share Voter Service and events to that page to increase reach.

Keeping the Peace • Encourage conversation on Facebook but keep the tone informal and fun. • You may block commenters who are behaving in an abusive manner, but not commenters who simply disagree with the post or other comments. • Apply this same rule when deciding whether to delete comments on your posts • Do not engage in arguments from your League’s account. Always be aware when you are speaking for LWV. • Reach out to LWVMA if you have any questions about keeping the peace or handling abusive visitors on your page.

Example Facebook Pages of other Leagues Franklin County: https://www.facebook.com/lwvmafranklincounty/ Salem: https://www.facebook.com/lwvsalem/ Needham: https://www.facebook.com/NeedhamLWV/ Topsfield-Boxford-Middleton: https://www.facebook.com/LWVBMT/ There are 40 local Leagues with Facebook pages. You can find a full list of Leagues at https://lwvma.org/leagues-in-massachusetts/massachusetts-leagues/

Questions? Contact Brynne Gorman at bgorman@lwvma.org Taylor Grenga at tgrenga@lwvma.org

Engage Your Community and Grow Your Me mbership Through Facebook: Join the Conversation !