It's almost January, which means it's nearly AYSO EXPO season!
If you haven't heard the news, AYSO Section Meetings have been revamped and revitalized; hence the new name. And this year, I'm happy to report that a social media course will be at every single EXPO location!
Also, for the more seasoned social media people out there, I've been working on an advanced social media course that I will personally be teaching at select locations (as of now, it's Section 6 and the big EXPO in Las Vegas) so if you've taken my webinar before, this advanced course would be the perfect next step for you.
Learn more about AYSO EXPO and register for yours here.
See you there!
Next week, I'll be hosting the webinar "Social Media 101: Using Facebook and Twitter to Increase Registration." If you haven't already taken this webinar, it's a great way to become more familiar with these social media and learn how they can help your Region succeed.
If you have already taken this webinar, now is a great time to re-take it! With all the recent changes to Facebook and Twitter, the webinar is revamped with a lot of new info and best practices (not to mention exclusive details on all of the new Facebook features).
It's happening Wednesday, Oct. 16, at 6:00 p.m., PT. Join me! Sign up here.
Twitter hashtags are one of the major reasons the social media platform has experienced so much success. If you've been reading this blog regularly, you may have seen my post on how Twitter hashtags work.
In a nutshell,hashtags are Twitter’s way of making their user-generated content searchable and conversational. If you want your tweet to be discovered by others tweeting about similar things, all you have to do is add a hashtag.
Well, Facebook felt a little left out of the hashtag fun and has recently announced that they have added hashtag capability!
Twitter is fun – but I realize that not everyone has time to sit at their computers or fiddle with phones to send out tweets periodically throughout the day.
If you handle your Region’s Twitter feed and find yourself forgetting or not having time to tweet, here’s a simple solution: schedule your tweets ahead of time! Buffer is a free and easy-to-use app that will save and send your tweets whenever you want.
Once you build a sizable and engaged social media audience (for a typical-sized Region, I would say this is about 300 Facebook and/or Twitter followers), your online presence can be a useful asset to your Region’s local sponsors.
Whether you’re trying to please your current sponsors, or looking to bag a few new ones, here are a few ways to use social media to promote your Region’s sponsors (or potential sponsors).
People on Twitter are always talking – about their weekend plans, their favorite teams, even what they ate for dinner. If you’re ever curious as to what the “Twitter-verse” is saying about AYSO, there are ways to find out.
The first step is going to the “#Discover” section and typing in AYSO in the search box. These will give you the top results of people using #AYSO in their tweets. After a quick browse, click “All” too see all of the unfiltered, unranked responses.
Note: If you’ve promoted a custom hashtag in your Region, i.e., #AYSORegion22, try using that as your search term instead.
As you know, AYSO turns 50 next year, and the National Office is busily getting ready for the celebration and all its festivities.
Have you started thinking of ways to modify your Region's website and social media presence on our Golden Anniversary? Here a couple easy ideas:
For many of you out there, you’re in the middle of registration for the upcoming season. Here are two easy ways to spread the word about your registration events through social media:
Send a tweet and “mention” your local press. For example: “AYSO Region 22 in Lakewood, Fla., has a registration event this Sat! www.bitlylink.com [for more info] @LakewoodDaily @FlaPress”
I often see local newspapers and other press tweeting about AYSO events. If this isn’t happening for you, find these publications on Twitter and mention their handles in your tweets! Hopefully, they’ll RT to their followers and help bring more families to your registration event.
What’s the last television show you watched? Did you happen to notice a hashtag at the bottom of your screen?
For all of the non-Twitter users, hashtags "#" in front of a word or words (example: #awesome) and are Twitter’s way of making their user-generated content searchable and conversational. If you want your tweet to be discovered by others tweeting about similar things, simply add a hashtag! For example, one of your Region’s parents is on the sidelines watching their daughter play and tweets the following:
“Love watching my little girl play soccer. She scored a goal this morning! #AYSO #Region54 #GOAL”
To find this tweet, go to the “#Discover” section of your Twitter account. Search for either #AYSO or a hashtag that includes your Region number. If it doesn’t show up in the top results, click “All” and it will appear there.
Widgets are becoming more and more popular as a means to import information from other sites and display it on your own. Most of them are fairly simple to add to your website (usually a JavaScript or an iFrame) and they can give your website added value and help increase traffic. Did I mention most of them are FREE?
Some popular uses of widgets include:
Facebook Widget
These widgets let you add a small feed of your Facebook timeline to your website. It helps to let people know that you also have a presence on Facebook and that your Region’s volunteers and parents are engaging there as well. The Facebook Activity widget can be found here.
Twitter Widget
Similar to the Facebook widget, this app allows you to display your Twitter feed on your website. It will let people see some of your tweets and prompts them to connect with you on Twitter for more info. Here’s a popular Twitter widget you can add to your homepage.
Did you know Safe Haven has an Online and Social Media Policy? It covers everything from Facebook and Twitter use to email communication. Here are two important highlights from the policy:
Never post team rosters with names, jersey numbers and/or contact info. While some families may think this is useful, it is very dangerous to have this information posted in a public place (Region website, social media page). If that information lands in the wrong hands, they will have access to important details about minor children – allowing them to attempt to contact that child if they so choose.
For the webmasters out there that also handle your Regions' social media initiatives, I’m presenting a webinar tonight that may have some valuable information for you.
Social Media 101: Using Facebook and Twitter to Increase Registration is a webinar focused on how to take advantage of these social media tools and all of the features they offer. I’ll go in depth with Facebook especially, explaining how to use/analyze Facebook Insights (metrics), how to properly adjust your admin and moderator settings and much more.
The webinar is tonight, 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m., PT.
I hope you can join me! Learn more about the webinar and register here.
