Resources

Here are some tips and tools for making the most of social networking.

Your club (and district) should consider whether a social media policy is necessary. We have developed some guidelines for using social media for Rotary at a personal, club and district level.

News and articles about social networking are added regularly to the ROSNF Facebook page. A selection of those are available below.

What can you use social networks for?

• What is Web 2.0?
• Social Media to Build Rotary Participation
• Ten Commandments of Social Media
• Top 6 Social Media Mistakes and How to Fix Them
• Use Social Media or ‘Web 2.0’ Tools with your Website to Enhance your Member Recruitment & Retention article by ClubRunner
• Using the Network for Business Success – a reminder to keep an eye on what others are saying

Which networks to use?

• Blogging vs Twitter examines the time commitment required and messages shared
• LinkedIn Group versus Facebook Group gives a good overview of the differences between the two, but does not account for the new Facebook groups, which does send you notifications of activity.

Presentations given to Rotary Clubs, Assemblies, and Institutes

Socialbakers provides statistics about social media usage in various countries. This data is useful if you would like to adapt any of the presentations below with local / updated statistics.

• “Social Media voor Rotary Club Maarssen Breukelen” (Dutch) by Eric Marks, Netherlands [May 2011]
• “Social Networking for Rotarians” (English) by Simone Carot Collins, Australia [October 2011] – 20 minute talk for club meetings
• “Social Media” (English) full day workshop by Simone Carot Collins [October 2011] – full day workshop with Australian statistics, plus hand outs
• “Using Social Media in Rotary” (English) by Sebnem Demirel, Turkey [November 2011]
• This was updated with US statistics and screenshots and had information about the Facebook Ad campaign added in August 2012 by Rich Lalley
• “Social Media” (English) keynote speech given at the 2012 International Institute in Bangkok by Simone Carot Collins, Australia [May 2012]
• “Using Social Media to Strengthen Your Club” (English) break out session at Bangkok Convention [May 2012]
• “Using Social Media to Focus and Increase Humanitarian Service” (English) break out session at Bangkok Convention [May 2012]
• “The Shift to Social Media” (English) break out session at Bangkok Convention by Melissa Ward [May 2012]
• “Demystifying Social Media” (English) by Vivian Yang, Australia [September 2012]
• “Perché Utilizzare la Rete” (Italian) by Cesare Andrisano, Italy [September 2012]
• “Reseaux Sociaux” (French) by Jacqueline Fétis, France [October 2012]
• “How Rotary Clubs can use Social Media” (English) by Dani Fogarty, Australia [March 2013]

Webinar Recordings

• Social Media: How Rotary can harness this powerful tool presented by Kerry Rego [District 5960]
• Advanced Social Media – Facebook (16 November 2011) with panelist Simone Carot Collins [RI]

Facebook

• Getting started with Facebook
• Facebook Learning Lab
• Facebook 101 for Business: Your Complete Guide – although slightly out of date, it gives an excellent step-by-step look at what to consider when setting up your own profiles, how to manage friend lists, and setting up a Facebook page.
• The Ultimate Guide to Facebook Marketing
• How a Facebook Group is different from a Facebook Fan Page
• How to Get Your Rotary Club on Facebook
• How to spot Facebook scams
  • Designing a Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorial, Resources
  • Connect your Facebook Fan Page to a Twitter Account
  • How to connect your Blog Feed to your Facebook Fan PageFacebook Pages – a step-by-step guide to creating a page
  • How to change the name of your Facebook page regardless of how many people “Like” it
• Facebook Shortened Name Tags – how to tag people and pages on Facebook
• Create a Facebook Like button for your web page

Twitter

• Twitter Guide Book
• ROSNF Twitter Guide
• Designing hashtags
• Storify provides a way to curate tweets into “stories” – see this in action
• Twitter

LinkedIn

• How to opt out of Linked In sharing your data with third parties
• How to Create a Company Profile on LinkedIn
• Fix your LinkedIn Company Page

Blogging

Popular free blogging software includes WordPress, Blogger and Tumblr.

URL Shorteners

As the name suggests, these are useful for sharing long links which wrap over many lines by providing a much shorter version (or memorable version) to take you to the same page.

For example, tinyurl.com/ROSNFgroup redirects you to our Facebook group, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=84858753744

• Bit.ly is a URL shortening service which enables you to bundle multiple links in one short address. This is the service used by Twitter.
• Goo.gl is a URL shortening service offered by Google.
• TinyURL was the first URL shortening service, and offers the ability to specify your own memorable URL rather than just being assigned random letters and numbers.

Other Useful Web 2.0 Tools

• Flock is a browser which aggregates all your social network feeds. See a video on how it works.
• Gravatar enables you to associate an image with your email address. If you comment or join a gravatar-enabled site, your central photo will automatically be used as your avatar.
• SlideShare enables you to upload documents, powerpoint presentations and short videos, which can be embedded in a web page rather than having to download the document to view it. A SlideShare app on Facebook and LinkedIn allow you to showcase your documents within you own profile.