Social Media StrategyNMAC Assessment

National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States

Terrance O. GilbertSubmitted: February 10th, 2012Terrance.o.gilbert@gmail.com

(979) 575-2203Irving, TX

Topic:National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States

• For my assessment topic I choose to develop a social media strategy to engage the National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC) constituents and partners using digital and new media. While the strategy has been out for over a year, many still have questions about where exactly they fit into the strategy or indeed how to effectively implement it into their respected lives, organizations, agencies, or communities. While many make active attempts to be well informed about what’s going on in relation to the Strategy, they might often feel a disconnect in getting information, and understanding it, along with sharing it with the masses.

Education

Key Messages and Objective: (Example)

- Reducing New HIV Infections in your community….• Intensify HIV prevention efforts in communities where HIV is most heavily

concentrated.• Expand targeted efforts to prevent HIV infection using a combination of

effective, evidence-based approaches.• Educate all Americans about the threat of HIV and how to prevent it.

Conduct research on culturally sensitive and politically correct wording, and compile creative messages for NMAC social media strategy.

Using Facebook As The FoundationA large and growing portion of some of the most valuable demographics are spending more of their time and attention on Facebook and less on other channels and media. Not only are college students and teenagers fully engaged in Facebook, but adults, professionals, and people from around the world now constitute a substantial portion of the Facebook user base as well.

With Facebook we now have the option of getting important information out to the masses in a short amount of time. “Facebook is Viral!” With using FB as ground zero to distribute and receive external information it’s a great tool, and asset.

With Facebook we might also consider the option that most other networking sites have applications designed for Facebook, which also makes sharing information easier.

Tools within Facebook• Video Applications- Creating and sharing videos made and posted to sites such as Youtube. Sharing

videos both created by NMAC, and videos that might even locally impact or have major announcements about the implementation of the Strategy could be shared with the masses via Facebook, and appear in timelines.

• Groups are oldest and simplest way to build community around NMAC’s National HIV/AIDS Strategy information on Facebook. By starting a group, we create a central place for constituents partners, and friends to participate in conversations around the Strategy, and happenings. Facebook groups come with boards for posting discussion topics, photos, videos, and links right out of the box. NMAC can also easily send news and updates to our group members as often as you like – messages arrive in their Facebook Inbox.

• Facebook Events is a free application developed by Facebook that anyone can use to promote marketing events, sponsored parties, transactions, or orgizational milestones. When you create an event, it gets a fully-featured page, much like a group, that includes a wall, discussion, photos, videos, and links. You can invite all of your friends to the event; friends you invite will receive a special notification requesting their RSVP. You can also add admins to the event, who can also invite all of their friends. Facebook Events makes it easy to get the word out to hundreds of people, manage your guest list, and build community around your upcoming event that might give more insight into the strategy, and happenings around it!

• Facebook Pages are more customizable than groups. NMAC can add HTML, Flash, or even Facebook applications to your pages to extend their functionality and the depth of experience users can have with the National HIV/Strategy via NMAC. Pages get more prominent “Bumper Stickers” real estate than groups on the profile pages of fans. There is no limitation to the number of fans in a group that we can message. “Fans” who join your group are NOT able to invite their friends to be fans of your Page. Fans must either “Share” your page with their friends, or their friends must observe that they “are a fan” of your Page either via their profile page or News Feed.

• Facebook Notes and Photos- Notes and Photos are two Facebook applications that allow NMAC to share blog posts and pictures with the community. NMAC cam use these features to post specific content about the Strategy. One feature that often goes overlooked within Facebook Notes and Photos is “tagging.” When you publish a note or post a photo, Facebook allows “tagging” that note or photo with the names of friends who are “included” in it. When NMAC “tags” a friend in our photo or note, he/she gets a special notification. However, you don’t have to use “tagging” only to tag people that are actually “included” in the note or photo–you can also use it to selectively choose certain people whose attention NMAC wants to bring to the content we’ve created. When they view your note or photo, they’ll see the other people you tagged in it and that’d encourage both conversation, and sharing.

• Polls offer an easy way for NMAC to quickly conduct research within our targeted audience. Results are streamed in real time to a dashboard that allows the organization to break down results by gender, age geographic location and various other things. Based on targeting preferences, NMAC can get hundreds of responses within an hour.

Sample Uses\Message• NMAC will be in Atlanta with The Evolution Project from AID Atlanta sponsoring a Town Hall with local

elected officials, and CDC Personnel discussing local plans for implementation for the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. For more information visit our page (link to Strategy Community Implementation Toolkit FB Page by NMAC)

• With this particular event, NMCA could use an attractive digital media campaign to enhance users to visit the site to rsvp, sign up for a listserv, and other ways to communicate with us leading up to the event and follow up after the event. During the event we could gather contact and social media information with community stakeholders, then invite them to the Facebook Group, and Page. Also photos and videos could be taken, as well as using local talent to help mobilize and get the proper publicity.

• For resources the FB page would have links to sites surrounding the Strategy, and understanding it.

• http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/onap• http://blog.aids.gov/• http://nmac.org• http://cdc.gov (sites containing information regarding the strategy, and upcoming events)

Mobilizing • With Social Media there are some many sources and sites that might be used to tie into

the NMAC Strategy page. With using the NMAC Website, and the FB page we could then encourage sharing of information, and build a social networking database with information for and from our community. As long as we encourage individuals, and organizations not just to “like” but also “share” everything, that forms ways of evaluation.

Mobilizing• It would also be beneficial to link important stake holders, elected officials, and key players in

the implementation of the strategy. I think by providing constituents with direct links for access it would make them both more comfortable and familiar.

Soliciting\Retaining Feedback• For soliciting feed back on our endeavors, I believe one of the best tools would be online

surveys. Sitting down as a team to compile a list of information, followed by sending it out. I understand the importance of detail, but at the same time it should not be time consuming or too much of an inconvenience for one to fill out in a timely fashion (under 5 minutes). I would use a site such as Survey Money (shown below).