Guest blog: How Can We #ShiftThePower Using Social Media?

Social media is about relationships. Like offline relationships, the value of your online relationships is based on the time you invest in building them. While many of us may not be able to spend hours on social media every day, if we are strategic about the time we do invest, the results can be huge and transformational. The trick is to find and build your tribe – the people and organizations that care about the issues you care about. Instead of blindly casting your net into the vast twitter ocean, for example, you can find and enter smaller rooms where people are having conversations that you can contribute to and influence. One way to do this is using hashtags.

Hashtags allow you to track what anyone, anywhere in the world is saying about a particular topic, in real time. By using #ShiftThePower, for example, it allows you to easily find and connect with other people who are using the same hashtag. While it may be difficult for one organization to be visible or make an impact on social media, the power of the collective is what amplifies voices for change. If influencing and transforming the field of philanthropy is your core business, then connecting with others who embrace or can support your agenda and theory of change, is both strategic and critical.

You do not have to be a social media guru, have a social media team, or even fully understand how twitter works in order to make a valuable contribution. What matters most is the content you share, the connections you make, and the voices you help amplify.  You do not even need to have hundreds or thousands of followers. In fact, even if you had 1 million followers, and none of them cared about what you talked about, you would not be able to effect the change you want to see. Think of a drum circle: no matter how many followers one organization has, if they are beating one big drum alone, they can only make so much noise. When we all beat our individual drums together, even if they are different sizes, and have different sounds, we are able to make beautiful loud music that others can both hear and appreciate. We ride off of each other’s energy, work in harmony, and draw others into our drum circle. That’s how a hashtag works – it pulls people into the conversation because they hear the sounds of the drumbeats, and want to know more. This is why we hope to use social media to #ShiftThePower before, during and long after the Global Summit.

If you would like to help #ShiftThePower using social media, below are a few simple tips and guidelines for your consideration. The main social media platform we will be using for the Summit is twitter, but feel free to use the hashtag and share content on any of your platforms. (If you are not yet on twitter, but would like to, you can open an account in a few easy steps via twitter.com and download our Twitter for Beginners guidelines)

1. Use the hashtag #ShiftThepower

• Since we are all in the business of shifting the power using sustainable philanthropy models, we can assume that most of what you tweet about is aligned with this agenda. We invite you to use the hashtag as often as you can in the next couple of weeks, and certainly during the Global Summit. Your voice matters, but if you are speaking to yourself, or to the same crowd you always speak to, then others who might be interested in hearing your stories but don’t know where to find you, can’t.
• Global Fund For Community Foundations and our influencer ambassadors will retweet all your relevant tweets using the #ShiftThePower hashtag in the next few weeks.

2. Join & Build The Conversation:

• When you use the hashtag, you enter, share, and shape the space around the conversation.
• Click on or search the hashtag to find out what others are saying/sharing.
• Contribute to the conversation by listening to and engaging with others.
• Invite your friends, followers, partners, and networks to join the conversation. (You can mention/tag them individually, or send direct messages to those who follow you.

3. Amplify Voices:

• Share other people’s content and credit them in your tweets. You can use URL shorteners like bit.ly if you need to.
• Regularly check the hashtag and retweet valuable content to increase its reach. (When you retweet the twitter handle and original tweet appears on your timeline).
• Quote other people’s tweets if you have an insight/comment to add, or if you think your social media influence will help amplify it even more and significantly increase the reach of the content.
• Invite others who are tweeting about similar issues to check out and use #ShiftThePower to join the conversation.

4. Build Your Tribe:

• Find your tribe – We have created a twitter list of all the Summit Delegates. Please feel free to follow and connect with them.
• Build your tribe – You can create your own twitter list by asking yourself who all the people or organizations are that you’d like to engage with to help #ShiftThePower in your own or global context.
• Participate in the upcoming twitter chats, which will focus on more specific topics.  The chats will be a chance to learn, share knowledge, network and grow your circle.
• Participate in the upcoming twitter chats , which will focus on more specific topics.  The chats will be a chance to learn, share knowledge, network and grow your circle.Please join @GlobalFundCF for the first #ShiftThePowerTwitter Chat: “Who Calls The Shots” on Nov 23rd with @mamacash &@DaliaAssoc!

5. Twitter 101:

Here are 10 tips and hacks that should help us collectively #ShiftThePower in a more strategic and effective way:

• Content is always king! Share your best content. Don’t hold your best content until the Summit or any other event. You can always share good content repeatedly. Give your followers content that they’ll want to share/engage with. Ask yourself, “Would I retweet this if I didn’t work for this organization?”
• Personify your twitter handle. People connect with people and not with institutions. Give your organization a human touch, define your voice, and remain consistent.
• Create a list of at least 30 strategic partners and friends that are likely to share your content. Tweet (mention) them, share how you #ShiftThePower or let them know how you’d like them to help #ShiftThePower.
• Use images in your tweets whenever possible, as images generate higher engagement and impressions. Tag up to 10 of your strategic partners in each tweet.
• Create a list of at least 10 twitter influencers that follow you and send them a direct message asking them to support the #ShiftThePowercampaign. If they agree, you can tag them in your tweets. These are your social influencer ambassadors.
• Tag @globalfundcf for retweets or to request information.
• Use a social media management tool like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite and create a column to track #ShiftThePower.
• Create a list of at least 10 twitter influencers you would like to enroll in supporting your work. Begin to build relationships with them by engaging with their content first, and then sharing your content with them next.
• At least once a week (if possible once a day) check your twitter analytics to gauge how your tweets are performing based on number of impressions, engagements, and new followers gained. Learn from this information and insights to improve your strategy.

Zawadi Nyongo, 7th Sense Communications