The document discusses how social media and networking can benefit Toastmasters clubs. It begins with two explanatory videos about social networks and media. Various social media platforms are then introduced, including Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and Meetup. The presentation emphasizes creating awareness of the club's brand, engaging people using media, and encouraging members to advocate for the club on their own networks. It provides tips for setting goals and experimenting with different tools to engage members and measure the club's success through social media metrics.

1. Social Media for Club Success Talking Points
Beth MacNeil Stinson, DTM
Slide 1 Cover
Slide 2 Welcome everyone to Using Social Networking for club success. I’d like to first thank our host for
arranging this webinar. Tonight we are going to talk about social networking and social media and how
you can begin to explore how to use them in your Toastmasters clubs.
Slide 3 We are going to start with two movies from Common Craft that explain social networking and
social media. These are short movies that explain in plain language what these two internet phenomena
are and start you thinking about how to apply them to Toastmasters.
Slide 4 From this video, what is the power of social networks? They reveal hidden connections. What are
some social networks you can think of? Social networking sites: Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
Slide 5 The first video showed us what social networks are. By making connections among people
visible, we can leverage those connections to reach a goal. This second video shows how social media
gives people the power to produce video, music, and pictures on the web. It also shows us how fans play
a role in deciding what should be findable and popular, and finally the benefits of social media to
individuals and organizations. If you think of Scoopville as Toastmasters, you can begin to see how you
might use social media to benefit your club.
Slide 6 Before you get started with social networking and media it’s important to have a club website. If
you are using FreeToastHost, you can add links to your social networks easily.
Slide 7 Everything you want to do going forward with social networking depends on this address. Write
down the address and the password.
Slide 8 Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Google docs, Google analytics and WordPress all use gmail to
authenticate against. Once you have a gmail account, you can create and then log in to all these things! I
am going to give you an overview of each of these tools and then we’ll talk about creating a plan or
strategy for your club.
Slide 9 200 free photos you can share on your website. You can create a slideshow and embed that in
your website. Flickr is an example of a social media resource. You can upload photos, collect contacts,
and comment on photos.
Slide 10 Youtube is a social media tool. You can upload videos and share them with other people. People
can subscribe to your YouTube Channel in order to see the videos you upload and also to be notified
when you add new content. You can leave feedback and vote on the quality of videos. How many people
have heard the phrase “the video went viral on YouTube”? Popular content creates its own tipping point
so that more and more people watch. Content then gets picked up in other media like TV and in the
newspaper. TMI has a YouTube channel that you can subscribe to. You club can create its own YouTube
channel using your gmail account.

2. Slide 11 This is what a subscription to the TMI channel looks like on our club YouTube page.
Slide 12 Twitter is a social networking tool. You join the site and share news and information in 140
characters or less with your followers. Twitter works for large organizations that have large networks. As
you can see from our club twitter account, we only have 12 followers. That means every time I post a
tweet, 12 people receive it. It’s not very efficient. It can take while to build a Twitter network. But if you
look at the Toastmasters International network, there are 26,567 followers (as of Sunday). Every time
TMI sends a message over 26,000 people receive it.
Slide 13 But if you look at the Toastmasters International network, there are 26,567 followers (as of
Sunday). Every time TMI sends a message over 26,000 people receive it. That is an efficient way to get
news out to a group. Twitter also works well at events. Groups of people can tweet during the event to
those who cannot attend or are in different sessions. Followers can find and read the tweets based on
how the tweets are constructed.
Once you have a twitter account, you can search twitter for tweets on a subject. Twitter is searchable
because people create hashtags for keywords or topics in their tweets. When there are hashtags in a
tweet, you can search on the keyword and find content. Tweets have lots of cools links and searching on
a topic is often a great way to find the latest news or what people are talking about on particular
subject. During the D36 fall conference for example, the PRO team tweeted using a hashtag of D36
Conference. Follows could find all out tweets searching on this word. It’s also possible to create twitter
feed that displays all the tweets using certain hashtags – like a living poster.
Slide 14 Lots and lots of people have a Facebook page. Facebook is a social network. You connect with
other people by friending them. Facebook can work for small networks and large networks. Facebook is
available for individuals and organizations. There are two ways your club can use FB – by creating a page
or a group. Pages allow Toastmasters clubs to communicate broadly with people who like them. They
are created and managed by official representatives.
Groups provide a closed space for small groups of people to communicate about shared interests.
Anyone can create a group. Which type of FB do you think a club should create? You can type your
answer in chat. This is D36 FB group page.
Slide 15 This is TMI FB page. They needed to get a certain number of people to like their page before it
became public. TMI maintains this page.
Slide 16 Meetup is a social network. Anyone can search the public meetings that are posted. You need
to be a paying member to post your group’s meetings here. D36 sponsors a Meetup account. Individuals
must join the District's Meetup Group named National Capital Area Toastmasters in order to participate.
Club members could accept a leadership role in meetup and assist in the day to day running of the
group. At present, the District is providing free membership.
Slide 17 You need to join and then you can suggest a meetup. You’ll have to get 2 RSVPs before the
meeting is posted.

3. Slide 18 Social networks and social media work across multiple channels to create and sustain brand
awareness. We represent the Toastmasters International brand, but also a District 36 brand and a club
brand. In any marketing campaign, you want to first create awareness.
What is Toastmasters? What is your club? Get people curious.
Next you engage people using social media. What is in it for them? Do your pictures, videos, stories get
people to visit?
Then you get people in the door and close the deal to membership. Continue to engage them by adding
them to FB or Twitter or YouTube. Get them to post content and share links.
Finally use social networks and media to create brand advocates. Have people tell their stories of
success. Get them to blog, post, like, or tweet about your club and Toastmasters.
Slide 19 To do this you have to experiment. In all experiments, what doesn’t work is just as important is
what does work. Experiment with the different tools so you understand how they work. Start slowly and
pick a tool to try after you get a basic understanding of what they can do. You need to become the
expert in your club so you can help others. Get them excited to try social networking.
Slide 20 What are your club goals using social networks and social media? How can you leverage
Toastmasters branding and your club’s brand using social networks and social media? Do you want to
market your club? If so, who are you targeting? Is social networking a good way to contact your target?
Do you want to build membership? What tools are Toastmasters already using? Can you leverage those
using social networks? Do you want to share media with others? What do you hope to gain by sharing?
Do you want to communicate with your members and have them reach out to their social networks?
Creating a plan with your executive council is a great HPL project.
Slide 21 Set some goals and a time frame. Examples are:
All members post on FB. Members post on YouTube then share. Get other clubs and other toastmasters
to watch the movies. Get members to upload photos. Create a hashtag and start tweeting. Have a time
frame so you can understand how long it takes to get established.
Slide 22 You’ll need to engage your club members to get them excited about social networking and
social media. What is in it for them? You can give speeches to present social networking to your club and
get manual credit!
Slide 23 All social media sites have metrics you can see to measure your success against your goals.
Slide 24 The thing about social networking and social media is that it is an ongoing and organic process.
If you are going to jump in, you need to stay active and participate. If you discover that this is not the set
of tools for you to use to market your club, that’s fine! Maybe all you need is to roll up to a larger
network like TMI or D36. If social media just isn’t for you, close you accounts instead of letting them
linger inactive.

4. Slide 25 Here are some resources. Type in “how to” in Google and you’ll get all sorts of media to help
you use social networking.
Slide 26 End slide.