Hootsuite tech tutorial.pdf - Google Drive

MANAGING SOCIAL MEDIA WITH HOOTSUITE Streamline Your Social Media Efforts with an Easy-to-use Program Social media have become important tools for providing civic information to the public. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are effective because they allow you to speak to people where they already are, using the habits that people already have in place. Social media also provide an opportunity for government offices to present a personal “face” to the communities they serve. Of course, getting the most out of social media requires careful management and coordination. You need to create a brand for your election office, establish roles for your staff members, implement a content calendar, and so on. Hootsuite can also help.

WHAT IS HOOTSUITE? Hootsuite is a social media management program. It allows you to maintain several social media platforms from a single dashboard, compose posts and schedule them in advance, assess the success of your outreach campaigns, and more. Hootsuite can help make your social media efforts better coordinated and more consistent, ultimately leading to higherquality content and better audience engagement.

SETTING UP YOUR HOOTSUITE ACCOUNT If you’re interested in a social media management tool, you probably already have social media accounts that you want to manage. But if you still need to set up an account, go ahead and do that now, before getting started with Hootsuite. If you’d like guidance, check out our Facebook 101 and Twitter 101 tech tutorials, which provide step-by-step instructions for setting up accounts with these platforms. Once you have social media accounts that you want to use, you’re ready to get started with Hootsuite. Begin by going to the Hootsuite website: hootsuite.com. Once you’re there, go to the top right and click the green Sign Up button. The Sign Up page highlights Hootsuite’s 3 pay plans, but there is also a free option. The free plan allows you to manage a maximum of 3 social profiles, so for most election offices, the free option will suffice. That’s the plan that these instructions focus on. To select it, scroll down and click the green button labeled Get Started—Free. To create an account, you can connect one of your existing social media accounts or create an account by email instead. We recommend the email option. In the bottom of the page,

click the blue Create an account by email button, and then enter your information. For your name, you can enter ________ County Elections or something similar.

Once you sign up, a welcome window will pop up, asking you what you would like to do with Hootsuite. For now, just click the I want to explore on my own link or the X in the top right to exit this message. You’ll be directed to your Hootsuite dashboard. This is where you’ll be able to create posts and view the activities on your social networks.

ADDING YOUR SOCIAL NETWORKS Now that you have a Hootsuite account, you’re ready to add your social networks. Get started by going to the top left of your dashboard page and clicking the grey + Add Social Network button.

A pop-up window will appear, prompting you to connect to one of several social network in a list. Note: to demonstrate, we will connect first to Twitter and then to Facebook. If you want to use Hootsuite to manage different social networks, you may need to adapt these instructions.

electionbuzz.org

Adding Twitter We’re going to start with Twitter. On the left side of the pop-up window, select the Twitter icon. We suggest you deselect the option asking you to follow Hootsuite on Twitter. Then, click the Connect with Twitter button.

At this point Hootsuite will display a page asking you to authorize Hootsuite to use your Twitter account. If you have used Twitter on this device before, the page will be pre-filled with default account info. Make sure this is the correct information for your election office’s Twitter account. If it’s not the information for the account you want to use with Hootsuite, enter in the username and password for the account you want to use. Once you’re ready, go to the middle left of the page and click the blue button labeled Authorize app. Hootsuite will now add Twitter to your dashboard. Adding Facebook Now you’re ready to add another social network. We’re going to add Facebook. The process is largely the same, but go ahead and follow along. From your dashboard, again go to the top left and click the grey + Add Social Network button. On the left side of the pop-up window, select the Facebook icon. Then, click the Connect with Facebook button.

electionbuzz.org

At this point Hootsuite will display a page asking you to authorize Hootsuite to use your Facebook account. If you have used Facebook on this device before, the page will be prefilled with default account info. Make sure the account displayed is the correct account for your election office. If it’s not the right account, close the Hootsuite pop-up window for the time being. Then, open Facebook in another web browser window, log out of the current account and log in to the account you want to use with Hootsuite. Then, return to Hootsuite’s Add Social Network page and click Connect with Facebook again. The account you wish to use should appear here. Once the right account is displayed, enter your Facebook password and, in the bottom right, click the blue Continue button. Hootsuite then prompts you to continue and introduces a three-step process for you to approve Facebook/Hootsuite integration settings. First, Hootsuite lists the Facebook information that it can access and asks for your approval. The default settings should be fine, but if you wish to change them, click the Edit the info you provide link and adjust the settings as you wish. Once you’re ready, in the bottom right, click the blue Okay button. Second, Hootsuite then asks you what privacy settings you would like to use for your posts. Since you’re using Hootsuite for public outreach, you should make sure the privacy setting is set to Public so that everyone can access your materials. Then, in the bottom right, click the blue Okay button.

Third, Hootsuite prompts you to approve management permissions. Again, the default settings should be fine, but if you wish to change them, click the Choose what you allow link and adjust the settings as you wish. Once you’re ready, in the bottom right, click the blue Okay button. If your election office has more than one type of account, Hootsuite may prompt you to select which one you want to link to Hootsuite. In the example below, we’ve chosen to share only our County Election Office page and not share the personal profile of our election director, Moore Civic. Choose your desired settings and, in the bottom right, click the blue Add Selected Accounts button.

electionbuzz.org

Once you do, you’ll be directed back to your dashboard. If you want to add additional social networks, you can do so by following the same basic steps as with Twitter and Facebook, although the process varies a bit for each network.

ADDING AND ORGANIZING STREAMS At this point you’ve added your social networks, but your dashboard remains empty. In order to make your dashboard into a control panel for your social media accounts, you need to select streams and organize them in a clear, effective way. Creating tabs The first step to organize your dashboard is to arrange your social networks. You can do that in any number of ways, but one of the simplest is to use tabs. Tabs can help you keep your Hootsuite dashboard neat. For simplicity, we’re going to use 2 tabs – one for Twitter and one for Facebook. Hootsuite already comes with one tab. For this first one, you just need to rename it. In the top left, look for the tab labeled My First Tab, click the text, and you’ll be able to rename the tab.

electionbuzz.org

We’re going to make this first tab the Twitter tab, so just name it “Twitter” and hit the enter key to rename it. Now let’s make a Facebook tab. To create a new tab, find the + sign next to your new Twitter tab and click it.

After you click the + , you’ll be prompted to name your tab. Type “Facebook” and press enter. You now have a tab for managing Twitter and another for Facebook. You can add more tabs if you need to do so. Let’s go ahead and add our streams. Selecting streams A social media stream is a stream of activity or content from a social media account. By selecting streams, you’re selecting which pieces of information from your social networks you want to display and monitor on your dashboard. Hootsuite gives you lots of options. To begin adding streams to your first tab, go to the Add a stream box. Make sure the social network displayed in the box matches your current tab. If it doesn’t, click the drop-down box and select the right network.

Note: when considering which streams you want to display on your dashboard, reflect on electionbuzz.org

your goals. Why are you using social media in your election office? What are you hoping to achieve? If your goal is to build an audience, choose the Followers stream so you can track audience growth. If your goal is engagement, choose Retweets and Mentions. When you hover over a stream icon, it will turn green. Click on a stream that you want to add. Hootsuite will add the stream to your dashboard, and the Add a stream box will shift to the right. Continue adding the streams you want to use. For our example, we’re going to choose 5 Twitter streams to display: Home, Mentions, Retweets, Followers, and My Tweets. At any one time, you can view 3 streams on your dashboard; to view your other streams, scroll horizontally.

Now let’s repeat the process of adding streams for Facebook. Go to your Facebook tab and, in the Add a stream box, switch from your Twitter account to your Facebook account.

electionbuzz.org

You’ll see that the available streams for Facebook are different than for Twitter. But the process of adding them to your dashboard is the same. Consider which streams you’d like to add, and add them to your dashboard. We’re going to add Timeline, Posts to page, and My posts.

Having your tabs and streams set up will allow you to get the most out of Hootsuite by making your dashboard a social media control panel. Now, by going to just one place, you can monitor all of the important pieces of information from your social networks. If you want to make changes at any point, it’s easy to do. Hootsuite is easily customizable. You can delete streams you no longer need, add new streams, add and delete tabs, and add and delete additional social networks. There are also numerous display options. For instance, for each stream, you can choose to show images or text only, and you can alter the width of your streams.

Once you have your dashboard in place, you’re ready to start using Hootsuite to send messages.

electionbuzz.org

SENDING A MESSAGE One of the best things about Hootsuite is that it allows you to send messages through your social networks quickly and easily. Choosing your social profiles and drafting your message Once you’re at your dashboard, begin sending a message by scrolling up to the top of the page and clicking in the Compose message box. When you do, it will expand, allowing you to draft your message. The first step is to choose which social networks you want to use to send your message. Keep in mind that although you’re using Hootsuite to create the message, it’s going to end up looking like you sent it directly from your Twitter or Facebook (or other network) account. By default, no accounts are selected. To select them, click on their names the left half of the Compose message box. When they’re selected, they’ll be highlighted in blue. We’re choosing to send a message through both Twitter and Facebook.

Note: If you want to always send your messages to the same network(s), click the pushpin icon beside the network, and it will be selected by default whenever you compose a new message. Once your social networks are selected, you’re ready to draft your message. Begin typing in the box on the right side of the Compose message window. When you do, you’ll notice that the numbers below the box will change. This character countdown indicates the number of characters you have left in your message.

When your message is ready, if you want to send it now, go to the bottom right corner of the Compose message box and click the black Send Now button. Note: Are you including images with your posts? Currently (June 2016), Hootsuite doesn’t allow you to add alternative text (alt text) to images. Alt text is a description of an image, and by providing it, you add meaningful context for everyone in your audience. If you add an image to a Tweet or Facebook post using Hootsuite, we encourage you to describe it in the text of your Tweet or post. Because Tweets are limited to 140 characters, you may consider electionbuzz.org

using the Twitter app to publish Tweets with images. Twitter does allow you to add alt text to images. Learn more about making images accessible on Twitter at the Twitter Help Center: https://support.twitter.com/articles/20174660. Scheduling a message If, instead of sending a message immediately, you want to schedule it to be sent at a later time, Hootsuite makes that process easy. Draft a message using the directions above, but instead of clicking the Send Now button, click on the calendar icon. The window will expand to reveal a calendar and fields for entering in the date and time of day you’d like to send your message. Make your selections and then, in the bottom right, click the black Schedule button. You’ll see a confirmation message reading “Message scheduled.” Adding and shrinking links Hootsuite allows you to not only add links to your message, but shrink them, as well. Shrinking or shortening links can be helpful when you have a limited amount of space, like with Twitter’s 140-character limit. Draft a message using the directions above, and then copy the link that you want to include in the message. Returning to your message, paste the link into the Add a link box below your message.

Then, beside the box, click the Shrink button. Hootsuite will shorten the link you entered and add it to your message. The shortened link will appear as “Ow.ly/….” Once you link is added, check your character count to make sure you’re still within limits. Then, send or schedule your message as normal. Another benefit of using shortened links in Hootsuite is the ability to track how your audience interacts with your links. To view total clicks per day, clicks by region, and the most popular clicks on your shortened Twitter links, go to left menu and click Analytics. Select Ow.ly Click Summary. Finally, select your report owner and Twitter profile then click Create Report.

NEXT STEPS Explore additional Hootsuite features Although we’ve looked at some of the basics of using Hootsuite, it has a number of additional features that you might find helpful. The Hootsuite blog is a good resource for learning about the platform’s features and getting exposed to tips and tricks for effective social media electionbuzz.org

outreach: https://blog.hootsuite.com/. Adding another social network Hootsuite’s purpose is to make social media management easier. You might find it so much easier that you’ll want to experiment with a new social network. If you do, integrating it into Hootsuite will take just a few steps. Considering the pay plans Hootsuite’s free plan has a number of valuable features, but the pay plans have enhanced options that you might decide are well worth the cost. The biggest difference between the plans is the number of social networks you can manage. The 3-network limit in the free option will probably be plenty for an election office, but some government offices may want to manage more than 3. One feature included in Hootsuite’s pay plans that might be especially useful for election officials is Suggestions. Based on keywords that you provide, Hootsuite will show you suggested content that you can use in your own outreach efforts. Suggestions might make it easier for you to reach content goals like sending 5 tweets a day. Also worthwhile is Hootsuite’s analytics platform, which allows you to produce nice-looking reports showing how your social networks and your outreach campaigns are performing. To read more about the features included in each plan, check out Hootsuite’s plan comparison page: https://hootsuite.com/plans.

electionbuzz.org