2012

Social Media Analysis & Recommendations

[BEAUTIFUL SOCIAL : THE TESFA FOUNDATION]

Saint Josephs University Ethics in Communications Aubrey Bellezza, Eileen Forsyth, Grace Gunnels

Beautiful Social : Social Media Report & Analysis The Tesfa Foundation

Existing Social Media:

Website: www.tesfa.org Facebook: The Tesfa Foundation Twitter: @tesfafoundation Blog: http://tesfafoundation.blogspot.com/

Background Research 1. Ethiopia Reads - [www.ethiopiareads.org]

What Social Media are they using? Ethiopia Reads utilizes Facebook, Twitter and a Blog Why is their Social Media effective? Facebook: The organizations Facebook page is useful because it is frequently updated (averages about one post per day) and has a moderate following (877 likes). Updates: The updates consist primarily of photos which is beneficial because visual images are accessible and have the ability to tell a story. They also utilize links and tags throughout their posts which is necessary to build and connect with outside organizations or persons. On the other end, organizations tag Ethiopia Reads in their personal or organizations posts to draw attention to the program. The updates are consistent throughout the week and almost always include an image which draws in the attention of the viewer. Some posts are meant to gain donor support, while others are meant to inform on current situations in Ethiopia which need immediate attention or on the progress of the organization (success stories). While their page is not perfect, it represents a small start-up and the impact which that can have on the community to enact change. Photos: Also Ethiopia Reads has various photo albums which show the work and progress of their programs in Ethiopia. The photo albums show the preparation and the final product of their mission. This gives donors and supporters a way to connect with their initiatives. Many photos which the organization uses are wall photos which are not organized into an album. Therefore, these photos are left uncategorized. It is important that albums exist to show the support a grouping of similar photos. This connects a title or mission with the images. The photos are focused around the children and those involved with successfully implemented programs. It could be even more effective to the viewer if photos posted throughout the process...possibly of the structuring of libraries or just of the finished product. 2|Page- Background Research

Beautiful Social : Social Media Report & Analysis The Tesfa Foundation Donors will be interested to see the physical evidence of their support and showing them what a final project looks like may inspire further or future support.

Photo oriented Facebook Page easy to scan quickly

Twitter: Ethiopia Reads Twitter page is nicely organized with a structured, but not overwhelming background. The Twitter account for the organization has a good amount of followers (1,028), but lacks the consistency necessary to maintain or grow their following. They should better utilize the instantaneous nature of twitter accounts and post multiple times throughout the day. Also, the account lacks hash tags, Re-tweets, and mentions. Therefore, I would argue that because they do have a follower base, it is important to utilize the benefits of twitter to get their message out to the general public.

Lack of followers and tweets makes Twitter obsolete

3|Page- Background Research

Beautiful Social : Social Media Report & Analysis The Tesfa Foundation Blog: The organizations blog is generally utilized. It posts about important events related to the organization, as well as success stories. I would argue that its primary use is to inform supporters and donors on the important events or happenings within Ethiopia Reads and the overall regional changes. Blog posts are consistently shared with other social media outlets which broadens the base of those who see and can access the information. Videos: Ethiopia Reads does not have an official YouTube account. However, other outlets post videos which mention or revolve around the organization. Various videos have been posted which mention the work and success of Ethiopia Reads. Therefore, it would be extremely beneficial if these videos were under one umbrella. If that would be possible, it could benefit the reach of the organization. Also, these videos would be good publicity for their Facebook account which is based on visual media.

2.

A Glimmer of Hope Foundation [http://www.aglimmerofhope.org/]

What Social Media are they using? A Glimmer of Hope utilizes Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Vimeo Why is their Social Media effective? Facebook: 2,751 likes

Status updates: A Glimmer of Hope posts fairly frequently on their Facebook page. Typically, they do one status update a week that includes a photo, link, or video. However, they do not post enough in order to stay top of mind for their fans. It is a fine line when using social media to know when is too many or too little posts. A 4|Page- Background Research

Beautiful Social : Social Media Report & Analysis The Tesfa Foundation Glimmer of Hope does a really good at having good, meaningful posts that will give incentive to look at their page; however they should really be posting 2 or 3 times a week instead of just once on average. Photos: A Glimmer of Hope is effectively using their photos on their Facebook page. They have a large number of photos that they have put in different labeled albums. This makes it easy for viewers to navigate and find photos of something that they might be interested in. Example album titles include Water, Health, The Children, Education and different albums showcasing Glimmers events and staff. Most photos also have detailed captions that depict what is happening in the photo so that viewers can be even further educated on the organization. The organization shares these photos through status updates so the fans will be more likely to see them on their newsfeeds. For example, in the past few days they posted a photo of Ethiopian children having a good time playing foosball and also a photo of the children with a caption of an inspirational quote such as "We can do no great things, only small things with great love" by Mother Teresa.

This is an example of a photo that Glimmer posted on their Facebook page. Because of its unique photo and explanation caption, the photo has been Liked or Shared many times.

Videos: They have posted four videos that are used for different reasons either just to showcase some of the people that work at Glimmer of Hopes office. They do not use the videos as effectively as they could because they did not post them enough to 5|Page- Background Research

Beautiful Social : Social Media Report & Analysis The Tesfa Foundation make them go viral and become popular. One of the videos was very cute because it was just called Smiles and had footage of children smiling. This video only received 4 likes and no comments so if they had posted this more, they could have received more views. Their YouTube channel is much better for receiving Links to other organizations: A Glimmer of Hope is able to support other non-profit organizations by either liking their Facebook pages or also linking to their websites through status updates. Twitter: A Glimmer of Hope has been very successful with their Twitter because they have gained a lot of followers and activity on their page. (2,462 followers; 1,651 following; 1,227 tweets) Two sided communication: A Glimmer of Hope does a good job at following the people that follow their account in order to be able to have conversations with them and reciprocate their comments to them. Most of the accounts that they follow are other non-profits that have similar missions or foundations to their own. This makes it easy for A Glimmer of Hope to promote the other organizations through tweets. These relationships through Twitter are helpful in gaining more publicity because followers of one non-profit might see A Glimmer of Hope on their page and become more interested in A Glimmer of Hopes mission. They are very good at supporting other organizations through Retweets and @ Tweets.

Responding to and re-tweeting other organizations is a great way to pat eachother on the back

Weekly Tweets: A Glimmer of Hope is very active on their twitter with well over a thousand tweets. They foster conversations with other non-profits as well as other people that are following them. They typically tweet everything that they post on their Facebook such as links to photos with an inspirational quote attached but on top of those posts they also tweet other things. They often tweet links to articles about the organization or articles about health and education in Ethiopia. Photos: A Glimmer of Hope used many different photos of people in Ethiopia to create a unique background for their Twitter page. They also have just a simple logo photo as their main photo page which makes it easy for followers to recognize them. See Appendix A for a photo of this unique Twitter page.

YouTube 49 subscribers, 36 videos 6|Page- Background Research

Beautiful Social : Social Media Report & Analysis The Tesfa Foundation Both animated and photo montage videos Vimeo 117 videos Posting the same videos on multiple social sites makes it easy for viewers to find the videos through web searches.

3.

UNICEF [http://www.unicef.org/]
What Social Media are they using? UNICEF uses YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, News Feed, and Podcasts. Why is their Social Media effective?

YouTube: UNICEF has a plethora of YouTube videos. They have impactful videos that are effective because they help UNICEF show why they are passionate about what they do. Facebook: UNICEFs Facebook is effective because they update their statuses frequently enough (2-3 times per day). They fill their updates with photos and videos that focus on informing their audience. They also have tabs that can be clicked on to learn more about what Unicef is doing including Info, State of the Worlds Children, Livestream, Donate, YouTube, Twitter, Photos, Flickr, FAQ, Links, Multimedia, and Questions. Each one of these tabs is very thorough, which is an excellent quality. All of these things come together to be successful because there is always something to read about and share on their page. However, the page has not been updated to TimeLine which makes the page a little boring to look at without a cover photo.

The Donation page is easy to find and understand.

7|Page- Background Research

Beautiful Social : Social Media Report & Analysis The Tesfa Foundation

Example of how UNICEF links to other social media sites such as YouTube right on their Facebook page.

Twitter: The background for UNICEFs Twitter page is a neatly organized collage of their photos and their logo. They tweet almost once an hour and use all of the functions of Twitter including RT, hash tags, and mentions. They also tweet many informative links for their followers to click and learn more about what UNICEF supports. All of these things are what makes their Twitter have heavy traffic and thus, what makes their Twitter a success. We found that since UNICEF is such a large organization, that accounts for how they have so many followers. However, we feel that a smaller organization such as Tesfa could still have a compelling Twitter page if they followed some of UNICEFs tactics. See Appendix B for the full photo of what UNICEFs Twitter and Twitter background looks like. News Feed: UNICEF updates this about once a day about relevant world events. It is effective because they use global events to justify why their organization is important. Podcasts: The UNICEF Podcast is a new global radio service focusing on the health, education, equality and protection of children.

8|Page- Background Research

Beautiful Social : Social Media Report & Analysis The Tesfa Foundation

Analysis & Critique on The Tesfa Foundation Website:

I know that the organization is working to improve the website. Here are some suggestions after we did a short analysis of the site. While we may not be able to assist in the overhaul of the site, we wanted to provide suggestions and an outside look on your main tool. The Tesfa Foundation website is easy to navigate. The tabs provide clear descriptions about what can be expected once taken to the page. However, a single word on the tab would be sufficient. The small print distracts the viewer and can overwhelm. I like the header and tag-line at the top of the homepage; they are bold and your eye is immediately drawn to the photograph embedded in the header. Overall, the site provides easy access to information and can be found easily if the reader knows what to look for. The structure can be overwhelming at first and the abundance of words on the site may discourage further exploration of the site. If Tesfa were to simplify homepage with images and small descriptions I think that this would greatly benefit the organization and entice further reading. I would definitely recommend that Tesfa continue to have the store features on the homepage, as well as many images. The organization has so many beautiful pictures of children and the sites where they have worked. This is what potential donors or supporters want to see. Images grab the attention and tell a story in much less time than a sentence. Pictures of progress and completion could be a focal point to the organizations marketing strategy. Whats effective? The store and option to become a monthly member on the homepage. It shows the viewer right away that there is a need which the organization is working to meet. Photos are a vital part to the organization and they should be highlight. The possibility of a small photo gallery or slide show may be beneficial to the overall aesthetic of the site. Profiles and Interviews centrally placed on the homepage. Viewers enjoy visual images and short, accessible videos. Whats ineffective? TOO WORDY- Sometimes things can have too many words and it makes it difficult to decide what the eyes should read or process first. Therefore, if Tesfas website contained fewer words on the homepage, the viewer might be more willing to look further into the tabs and stories. A main heading, photo or video, and a short description are adequate to draw the attention of potential supporters.

9|Page- Analysis & Critique

Beautiful Social : Social Media Report & Analysis The Tesfa Foundation TOO MANY TABS-The tab organization becomes confusing with the underlying phrases. One word can be simple enough to explain what and how choosing this action will result in.

Facebook:
The Tesfa Foundations Facebook page is currently one of their strongest social media outlets. Whats effective? PICTURES- The Facebook page has many fantastic pictures that really help their audience see the cause that they are working towards and make the audience feel connected to the organization.

An effective use of the beautiful photos that Tesfa has to offer. Facebook is a great outlet for sharing these.

VISUAL APPEAL- Another thing that is effective on the Facebook page has a clean appeal and the cover photo draws the eyes attention immediately. However, the Profile Picture should really be a picture that fits the square box and is not stretched out. A good idea might be just to simply use the Tesfa logo as the Profile Picture. STATUS UPDATES- The Tesfa Foundations status updates are always original and unique and entice followers to read or click on them. When they include pictures or links to news articles, it makes it more tempting for the viewer to click on it and read

10 | P a g e - A n a l y s i s & C r i t i q u e

Beautiful Social : Social Media Report & Analysis The Tesfa Foundation more. They will also be inclined to like or share the status if it is something they appreciate. Whats ineffective? ABSENCE OF TABS- The Facebook page is missing tabs, which are a crucial part of a non-profit organization that works with sponsorships. Tabs are extremely relevant and useful. FREQUENCY OF UPDATES- The statuses are not updated frequently enough to gain and retain a following. LINKING OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA SITES- The Facebook page doesnt advertise their other social media, such as Twitter, Blog, Webpage, as it should.

Twitter:
The Tesfa Foundation currently has a Twitter account under the username of @tesfafoundation. However, they are not using it to maximum potential since they only have 18 followers and 7 past tweets. The twitter account has only been used to re-tweet other organizations tweets. The background of the account also needs to be updated as it is not original to the organization.

Blog:
We definitely agree that it is a good idea for The Tesfa Foundation to have a current blog where they can write about ongoing projects in more detail than social media sites like Twitter or Facebook allows. After doing an analysis on the current state of Tesfas Blogger account we have come up with a list of what they are doing effectively and what we feel could be improved. Whats effective? POSTS- This blog is a perfect outlet to give more detailed information to followers on whats happening with Tesfa. Past posts that were really interesting include Ethiopias Future Superstars which focused on different girls were elected to become part of Team Tesfa's teen program to encourage Ethiopian children to follow their dreams of being professional athletes. This type of story is really interesting and heartwarming to read but if it was posted on Twitter or Facebook, it would not be as easy to find and read. PHOTOS- The blog is able to highlight some of Tesfas best pictures and offer a brief description as to what the picture is of. APPEAL TO MULTPLE GROUPS OF FOLLOWERS- The followers on Blogger are a much different group than the type of people that would just follow on Twitter or Facebook so it is good that Tesfa is keeping connected with the public on many various platforms.

11 | P a g e - A n a l y s i s & C r i t i q u e

Beautiful Social : Social Media Report & Analysis The Tesfa Foundation Whats ineffective? INCONSISTENT POSTINGS- The blog has existed since 2007 but has only had about 20 posts over the past 5 years. This blog could be used a lot better with offering more in depth stories or profiles on children that Tesfa has helped. This blog could be linked to Tweets or FB statuses so that more people would read it after reading a short message about it on another social networking platform. BACKGROUND AND DESIGN- The blog serves its purpose of being a platform to share more information but it could be much more visibly appealing. A header and background would make the page much more enticing to look at especially if it was related to the Tesfa mission. LINK THE BLOG TO OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA SITES: This will increase traffic better to all the different platforms and not just the Tesfa websites. COLLABORATE AND MATCH ALL PLATFORMS: A good social media plan has various different platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and a blog but they all have some underlying themes that are the same throughout them. This could be the same background or the same logo as a main photo. This makes it easier for people to start following the blog if they see it on the other pages.

12 | P a g e - A n a l y s i s & C r i t i q u e

Beautiful Social : Social Media Report & Analysis The Tesfa Foundation

Recommendations for The Tesfa Foundation

This section details a sustainable and engaging media strategy for The Tesfa Foundation.

Website
One main recommendation that I have is to enlarge the social media outlets on the homepage so that viewers are aware of Facebook, Twitter, and Blog pages. This is important to maintain a following. If the viewer does not immediately see these, they may be discouraged from sharing with friends and family. Consider adding a section on the Tesfa homepage which shows recent Facebook status updates or Blog entries.

Here is an example from Ethiopia Reads where they added a section on their website for Blog updates.

Also, possibly consider rearranging the tabs. For example: move the about tab next to the home for easier navigation. If a new viewer goes to the site they will want to explore the who and what of the organization before they look into other aspects.

Facebook
The Tesfa Foundation has a strong Facebook page, but there are several ways that it can be improved to gain even more likes and shares.

13 | P a g e - R e c o m m e n d a t i o n s

Beautiful Social : Social Media Report & Analysis The Tesfa Foundation PICTURES - The Tesfa Foundation has many fantastic pictures that really help their audience see the cause that they are working towards. Continue to put pictures into status updates and add photo albums full of beautiful pictures and your audience will continue to look at them and share them with others. TABS- We would suggest that a few things be added to the Facebook page, including different tabs that their audience can click on. I think that UNICEFs Facebook tabs are ones that would be extremely relevant and useful on The Tesfa Foundations page as well. Having strong tabs are also going to be important for explaining to new friends what The Tesfa Foundation is all about. The tabs that need to be added are: Info, Donate, Twitter, YouTube, Webpage, Blog, and FAQ. The Twitter and YouTube tabs are updated automatically once they are linked to their prospective social media. o DONATIONS TAB- This tab is a great way to inform followers how to donate without over-pushing donations in their face. If the tab is easy to locate and understand followers will be more likely to click on it. It is important to including information on donations in Facebook updates about once a week. Facebook is better used to inform on current happenings instead of pushing donations onto the followers. STATUS UPDATES- We suggest The Tesfa Foundation updates their status at least once a day. Statuses are a great way to show your audience what you are working on, how your work has paid off, your upcoming projects, etc. Make sure that your statuses have substance to them and are something that you think others would want to read and share with others. One or two times a day is definitely not overbearing but followers might get annoyed if there are too many posts every day. As long as the status updates include interesting information, photos, links or videos, one to two status updates should be perfect. RELATIONS WTH OTHER NON-PROFITS- A great way to pat other organizations on the back is to like their page and then share their updates and mention their causes in Tesfas own status updates. In return, they will hopefully do the same which will allow Tesfa to reach a broader audience. An example would be to share another Ethiopian non-profits event or photo and link to their homepage.

Twitter
BACKGROUND- By creating a background featuring many of Tesfas photos this will serve to be a way to share photos as well as serve as a more visually appealing background. UNICEFs Twitter background is an excellent example on using many smaller photos to create one large background photo. TWEETS- Twitter update frequency is a little bit more lenient than Facebook. A good Twitter account Tweets several times throughout the day. Here are our

14 | P a g e - R e c o m m e n d a t i o n s

Beautiful Social : Social Media Report & Analysis The Tesfa Foundation recommendations for Twitter updates since the Tesfa Foundations Twitter is relatively new page: o Weeks 1-4: 5-6 Tweets per day (not including Re-Tweets) about current events or happenings at Tesfa. Instagram is a great way to link photos to Tweets. Re-tweet any Tweets that Tesfa followers would support or find interestingthis includes other non-profits as well as regular followers who mention Tesfa in their Tweets. o Weeks 4 and on: Tweet at least 10 times a day to become a reliable source and a consistent source on Twitter o Consistently Tweet @ other organizations: A great way to show support to other non-profits is to tweet @ them which will link Tesfas followers to the other non-profits page. Hopefully, this will lead other non-profits to either Re-Tweet Tesfa or tweet back. o Tweet @ followers: Two sided communication is key for a good Twitter account. When followers tweet @Tesfa they will appreciate a response back to them and this will encourage their continued following and donations. This is a sure way to show support of donators and make them feel appreciated. Example tweet: @nancysmith just donated to #TheTesfaFoundation. Learn more about this great cause at http://tesfa.org ! o Hash-tags: Hash tagging causes and organizations is a good way to help trend topics that are relevant and important to Tesfa. Example: #Ethiopia or #Tesfa.

Blog
STEADY UPDATES- The biggest downfall of a blog is when there is infrequency in the amount of updates. Because the blog has existed for many years but has only had a few posts, people are unlikely to follow. If there was a consistent amount of updates, like once a week or three times a month, we feel that Tesfa would be able to gain more followers on the blog which could in turn lead to likes or follows on Facebook or Twitter. The blog is a great way for people to read more in-depth stories that were advertised in quick Tweets or Facebook posts. BACKGROUND- The current blog is not very visually appealing and it would be a good idea to have a blog theme that matches all other social media outlets. This means a background that is used for both Twitter and Blogger could had more coherency between the different sites. LINKS TO BLOG- Currently, the only way to find the Tesfa blog is through the website. Linking to Blogger on both Facebook and Twitter will allow more people to know about the blog and be more likely to follow it. Another way to gain more followers is to follow other blogs on the Blogroll.

15 | P a g e - R e c o m m e n d a t i o n s

Beautiful Social : Social Media Report & Analysis The Tesfa Foundation

Kickstarter.com
This is a site which funds creative endeavors. We feel that this could be something your organization might explore. It is considered a creative funding platform. How it works: o Define your Project o Set a monetary Goal and deadline for donation completion o Make a short video explaining your project and why it should be funded through Kickstarter.com o Build a Promotional Network o Meet Donation goal and complete project Kickstarter.com has been featured in CNN, NY Times, NPR, Wired, and Good.com as a great resource for gaining more followers, donations and press.

16 | P a g e - R e c o m m e n d a t i o n s

Beautiful Social : Social Media Report & Analysis The Tesfa Foundation

Appendix A

17 | P a g e - A p p e n d i x A

Beautiful Social : Social Media Report & Analysis The Tesfa Foundation

Appendix B

18 | P a g e - A p p e n d i x B