American Chemical Society Using Social Media for Your

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

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) • Frequently mobile (check-in, location-based) • Immediate (real-time interactions, live-blogging/live-tweeting) American Chemical Society 2

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 3

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. ) • Linked. In – 467 Million members – A networking tool to find connections to recommended job candidates, industry experts, and business partners. American Chemical Society 4

Other Social Media Tools American Chemical Society 5

IMAGINE GOING TO A PARTY AND ONLY TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF.

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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 #Sci. Comm or #Real. Time. Chem and join the conversation.

#Actual. Living. Scientist American Chemical Society 9

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

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

Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) American Chemical Society 13

Pics Or It Didn’t Happen • Instagram and Snapchat are almost entirely visual media. • On Facebook, Twitter, and Linked. In, 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.

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

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

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 You. Tube videos a week. Source: www. revenueriver. co/blog/how-social-media-is-changing-the-way-we-think-about-content

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

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 21

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Managing Multiple Accounts • There 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 23

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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 25

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

More resources – ACS Webinars on social media for science communication https: //www. acs. org/content/acs/en/acs-webinars/professionaldevelopment/social. html – Social Media Training for Local Section Younger Chemist Leaders January 24 th, 2018 at 7: 00 pm ET https: //buff. ly/2 CWs. TWY Chris Mc. Carthy Manager, Social Media & Member Engagement, ACS External Affairs & Communications c_mccarthy@acs. org @CMc. Cin. DC American Chemical Society 27