Using Social Media for Your Local Section: Intermediate Track

1. American Chemical Society Using Social Media for Your Local Section: Intermediate Track ACS Leadership Institute ● Dallas, Texas January 19, 2018

2. What Do We Mean by Social Media? • User-Generated Content (status updates, blog posts, photos, videos) • Interactive (like, share, comment) • Relationships (friends, colleagues, communities, organizations, causes) • Frequentlymobile (check-in, location-based) • Immediate (real-time interactions, live-blogging/live-tweeting) American Chemical Society

3. Social Media & Local Sections Local sections help chemists stay active and involved in their communities by providing a forum for networking and collaboration and by supporting chemists’ efforts to educate their community about chemistry. Social media can enhance existing offerings • promote in-person outreach events and networking opportunities and create new avenues for interactions • groups to share info about chemistry news, the profession, jobs in your area • increase reach for geographically-dispersed sections • lower barrier for participation American Chemical Society

4. Social Networking Tools • Facebook • 2 Billion+ monthly active users • Social utility that connects people with friends/family, users upload photos/videos, share content. • Twitter • 330 Million monthly active users • Social networking and microblogging service (tweets are 280 characters or less.) • LinkedIn • 467 Million members • A networking tool to find connections to recommended job candidates, industry experts, and business partners. American Chemical Society

5. Other Social Media Tools American Chemical Society

6. Imagine going to a party and only talking about yourself.

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8. Engage! • Follow your members, like-minded scientists and science orgs, relevant community members, people whose work you admire, and those in the audience(s) you want to reach. • Follow hashtags like #SciComm or #RealTimeChem and join the conversation.

9. #ActualLivingScientist American Chemical Society

10. LOL • Humor can be a great way to engage, e.g., #chemvalentines.

12. Q&A • Twitter chats, Reddit AMAs (ask me anything), or other question-and-answer formats offer direct channels to talk about your work with fellow scientists and science enthusiasts.

13. Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) American Chemical Society

14. Pics Or It Didn’t Happen • Instagram and Snapchat are almost entirely visual media. • On Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, several studies have shown that posts with images are more likely draw engagement. • Ask yourself if there’s a compelling image that can accompany your posts.

15. Images = More Engagement source: Buffer: blog.bufferapp.com/the-power-of-twitters-new-expanded-images-and-how-to-make-the-most-of-it

16. Seeing is Believing “We had a great time at the outreach event in San Juan.” American Chemical Society

17. Video Killed the Radio Star • More video content is uploaded in 30 days than the major U.S. television networks have created in 30 years. • 45% of people watch more than an hour of Facebook or YouTube videos a week. Source: www.revenueriver.co/blog/how-social-media-is-changing-the-way-we-think-about-content

20. The Downsides Source: theoatmeal.com/comics/making_things American Chemical Society

21. Avoid Controversy and Keep Things Civil • If you set up a social media presence for your local section, remember you are communicating on behalf of ACS. • Keep your message positive. • Avoid political statements, especially partisan attacks or endorsements. • Some topics may be appropriate for you to comment on as an individual chemist but not as “official spokespersons for ACS.” (Research findings, accidents, etc.) • Moderation may be necessary with a group or in a comment section • Consider a policy to keep your group free from personal attacks, offensive language or imagery, or inappropriate commercial content. American Chemical Society

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23. Managing Multiple Accounts • There are a number of dashboard tools that can help manage multiple accounts. Examples include: • Hootsuite • Sprout Social • Buffer • Tweetdeck • These can help you schedule content, track conversations around topics, and allow multiple users to share access to your channels. American Chemical Society

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25. Final Thoughts • Taking your social media activities to the “next level” will require time and energy—think about opportunities to share management (shares the workload, broadens engagement, and diversifies the content). • Developing an editorial calendar can help alleviate the stress of feeling you need to constantly “feed the beast” • e.g. Sharing a Reactions video every Thursday on Facebook; Setting up a series of tweets throughout the month pointing to newsletter/website items; #National____Day or important dates in chemistry’s history • Tools can help, but they don’t create strategy • Think about what content is right for different platforms. American Chemical Society

26. Follow ACS on Social Media Flagship channels: • ACS Facebook page (facebook.com/AmericanChemicalSociety) • 798,000 followers • ACS Twitter (@AmerChemSociety) • 54,000 followers • ACS LinkedIn (linkedin.com/company/american-chemical-society) • 42,000 followers • ACS Instagram (@AmerChemSociety) • 22,500 followers Looking for more content? Visit www.acs.org/social for a comprehensive list. American Chemical Society

27. More resources • ACS Webinars on social media for science communicationhttps://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/acs-webinars/professional-development/social.html • Social Media Training for Local Section Younger Chemist LeadersJanuary 24th, 2018 at 7:00 pm EThttps://buff.ly/2CWsTWY Chris McCarthy Manager, Social Media & Member Engagement, ACS External Affairs & Communications c_mccarthy@acs.org@CMcCinDC American Chemical Society