Volunteer Victoria was delighted and grateful to be chosen as the Charity of Choice at Social Media Camp last week. (Thanks Social Media Camp!) If you have never heard of this annual gathering, it is an amazing opportunity to learn about the latest trends and tools to manage and use social media – and to meet 500+ representatives from all types and sizes of organizations across western Canada and beyond.
Social Media Camp may not seem like an intuitive go-to destination for anyone who still uses a flip phone or gets messages from Twitter asking,”Are you still out there?” because you have used your account so infrequently. It may even be intimidating to think about spending days with people – never mind 500+ people- who talk, live, and breath everything social media. And, it is difficult to accept that in the fast moving evolution of social media, some of the systems and tools we have only just come to use and love may already be considered dinosaurs.
All this being said, let’s not focus on why we may be afraid to live in a social media world, and let’s review why a little vacation to a social media destination can be so invigorating. This are just a few of the things we learned at #SMC2015:
– Content remains king. Before you get bogged down on which version of what tool you need to start or build your social media following, focus on building rich and relevant content on a regular basis and offer it freely to others to use and distribute
– No one shares boring messages even if they are only 140 character long
– Humanize the content. If you can make it fun and egaging
– People connect to information through social media – brand loyalty is still built through quality interactions and trust is only earned and kept when we deliver on our promises
– The majority of people today learn about and make value decisions about an organization/product online – long before they ever meet face to face or send an e-mail
– There are a small number of people who need to know exactly how the technology works – don’t let a lack of understanding of new social media tools be the barrier to offering a great online experience
While media plays an essential role in how all organizations attract and inform our clients, donors, volunteers and champions, we cannot forget that most of the work is still social – without meaningful relationship nothing builds and lasts.
And, one last thing, Agenda Office furnishings made Volunteer Victoria the coolest booth at Social Media Camp this year! Thanks to the loan of an amazing height adjustable desk we were able to wow people with our message and our technology.