Ross McCulloch

1. Ross McCulloch
@ThirdSectorLab
www.rossmcculloch.com
ross@thirdsectorlab.co.uk
0141 554 1587 | 07515162686
Add me on WhatsApp to get a quick
response

2. Check out our full
2016 programme

3. All of today’s resources:
delicious.com/thirdsectorlab
New guides on OSCR website

4. 72% of libraries have no social media policy or
plan in place [CILIP, Dec 2014]
Hands up if…
You have a social media strategy.
You have a content plan/calendar.
You have a social media policy.
You hate workshop facilitators who make you
put your hand up all the time.

5. Eleven steps to content planning heaven
(a social media strategy that works)
1.Align content with organisation goals
2. Know your audience
3. Define your audience with personas
4. Dominate your niche
5. Focus on what you’re good at
6. Allocate time and set a budget
7. Brainstorm content ideas
8. Create content
9. Make a simple content calendar
10. Get a promotion strategy
11. Measuring success

6. 1. Let’s get back to basics, how can your content help you achieve
organisational goals?
- Increase library usage by 5% in 2016.
- Increase event & training attendance by 10% in 2016.
- Create engaging written, audio and visual storytelling content to show the
difference you make to your local community.
- Increase sign-ups for a specific fundraising event by 10% in 2016.
- Increase overall volunteer recruitment by 20% in 2016.
- Repurpose current printed content for online audiences.
- Use blogging as a thought leadership and self-reflection tool to raise your
profile within your sector.
- Use social media as a way of making your organisation seem more
personable.
- Engage with key journalists and local influencers to ensure your work
reaches as wide an audience as possible.
- Increase peer reviews and recommendations of your services by 25% in
2016.
- Increase email (newsletter, event updates, supporter bulletin, etc) sign-ups
by 15% in 2016.

7. What do you want to
achieve?
- Work in pairs to come up with
one goal specific to your work
- Think about your audience for
each goal
Check out: Make your content marketing meaningful – 7 steps to heaven

8. 2. Know your audience
Which channels do my potential or current supporters use the most?
What do they normally talk about?
What do they need from me?
What sort of content will they find most appealing?
What do my users search for and how do I ensure my content is optimised
for search?
Use analytics, social media, face to face conversations and surveys to
understand your audience.
Tools:
- Adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner (Understand search)
- Answerthepublic.com (understand what questions people need
answered)
- BuzzSumo.com (Most-shared content)
- SocialMention.com (Real-time social media search and analysis)
- Facebook.com Graph Search
- Twitter.com/search (Fine tune with advanced search)

9. Knowing your audience means
understanding…
The average Facebook user has 1500 potential
newsfeed stories per day. Only 20% make the
cut.
Twitter and Instagram are rolling out
Facebook Edgerank-like algorithms.
People on social media channels engage with
content that is either interesting or useful
to them.

10. 3. Define your audience with personas
Check out: A Beginner’s Guide to Marketing
Personas

11. 4. Dominate your niche (what a horrible
term)

12. 5. Focus on what you’re good at…
Infographics
Guides & toolkits
Webinars
Audio Interviews
How-to videos
Lists
Thought leadership
Q&A sessions
Case studies

13. 6. Allocate time and set a budget
How much staff time can you commit to content
creation?
Do you plan to pay for promoting your content?
Do you have a budget to bring in an expert
writer, videographer, designer, etc?
Tools:
https://www.canva.com
http://www.shakr.com
http://piktochart.com/
http://www.freeimages.com/
http://search.creativecommons.org/

14. 7. Brainstorm content ideas
- Meet as a staff/volunteer/supporter team
- Use the tools mentioned earlier (BuzzSumo, etc)
- Find a role model
Let’s look at some content ideas for Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, your blog and
beyond...

15. Ask
questions.
Understand
your users.
Spark
debate.

16. Interview
library users,
staff,
volunteers...

17. Think beyond dull
organisational updates

18. User-generated
content is gold dust.
Use it as an
opportunity to
convert.

19. Piggyback
on breaking
news.

20. People love
a list.

21. Combine
channels
effectively.

22. Create videos
people actually
want to watch and
share.

23. Don’t be afraid to ask for
recommendations.

24. Make your work
human.
Go beyond boring
case studies.

25. Engage in thought
leadership.

26. Give behind
the scenes
insights. Go
beyond the
usual
channels.

27. Go to where your
audiences are.
Where do your
key audiences go
online right now?.

28. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/dec/11/huge-amount-of-cannabis-twitter
Don’t take yourself too seriously.

29. 8. Actually create content
(a task for back at the office)
If you were asked to create one piece of content (blog post,
video, audio, etc) for your organisation tomorrow which
topic would you tackle?
- Work in a pair.
- Focus on your audience, ticking either the useful or the
interesting box.
- What is a big topic for your sector right now?
-Think about the approach you would take (pinch an idea
from my next slide).
- Use this process to begin developing a comprehensive
content strategy for your organisation.

30. Ten content ideas
1. Share and comment on breaking news
2. Use your blog as a thought leadership tool
3. Share stories, photos and videos from events
4. Show the difference you make to children and families
5. Interview experts in your field
6. Allow guest bloggers to share their expertise
7. Share resources and useful tips
8. Ask or answer a question
9. Lists...people love a top ten
10. Highlight your staff and volunteers

31. 9. Create a simple content calendar
A good content calendar is one you’ll actually use. Keep it simple and
effective. It could be a Google Doc, Trello Board, Sprout Social or Buffer’s
specific tool or a staff-room whiteboard.
Think about key events and timely themes throughout the year.
Once a month may be fine for your chunkier pieces of content such as blog
posts, how-to guides, video, audio, etc.
Quality and consistency should be your focus
Remember to dominate your niche (yuck)
All think about ticking either that interesting or useful box
Check out:
15 Life-Changing Content Calendar Tools
How to create a content planning and management process with Trello

32. 10. Get a promotion strategy
Go back to your personas and think about...
How will your users actually see your content online?
Can you guest blog on a site popular with your users?
What newsletter do your users read regularly?
Do you have budget for highly targeted online ads?
Do you have a Google AdWords grant?
Who are the key online influencers in your sector?
Check out:
5 Tools to Discover Industry Influencers
A Complete Guide to Facebook Advertising

33. 11. Measuring success (setting KPIs)
1. Number of new people signed up for library membership (also use offline ways of
measurement)
2. Number of real-life stories told using video, audio and blogging
3. Increase in fundraising revenue (Use Google Analytics, Facebook Pixels, etc to
measure conversion)
4. Newsletter subscribers
5. Number of new volunteers (also use offline ways of measurement)
6. Number of sign-ups for a specific event
7. Increase in monthly giving
8. Number of publications brought to life using visuals, blogging, video or audio.
9. Significant impact - piece in press, new corporate partner, new contract, etc
10. Number of Likes, Followers, etc

34. Eleven steps to content planning heaven
1.Align content with organisation goals
2. Know your audience
3. Define your audience with personas
4. Dominate your niche
5. Focus on what you’re good at
6. Allocate time and set a budget
7. Brainstorm content ideas
8. Create content
9. Make a simple content calendar
10. Get a promotion strategy
11. Measuring success

35. Say hello...
ross@thirdsectorlab.co.uk
www.twitter.com/thirdsectorlab
www.thirdsectorlab.co.uk
www.rossmcculloch.com
07515162686 | 0141 554 1587
Any questions?