CPD Forum
CPD Forum
Social Media
Has anyone set up a CLD facebook, twitter or instagram page as a form of engagement to publicise groups/courses and other items of interest?
Hi Catriona
We have a Facebook page for Working4U Adult Learning. It's administrated by my colleague Laura Anderson.
This is the page:
https://www.facebook.com/Working-4-U-Adult-Learning-125201524482897/?fref=ts
I'll pass your email on to Laura, she set the page up in consultation with our IT and communications sections
Cheers
Jane
Hi Catriona,
we have a Facebook and Twitter account setup for the youth participation project in Scottish Borders Council. We use it to advertise projects, communicate with young people, parents and professionals and also as a group work tool. Due to the rural nature of the Scottish Borders bringing young people together is very expensive, so we use closed and secret groups as a way of planning and communicating in between sessions. It was setup with assistance from our IT and Coms teams but even still should come with a health warning. We've definitely had our ups and downs with Facebook.
hi Ceri
thanks for the info. What are the health warrnings!? What is the difference between a closed group and a secret group? We have a facebook page that we set up about 3/4 years ago and currently looking to see how we can engage better and get tips about what we put on our page. We are always looking for new ideas. I shall have a look at your page and 'like it'. Ours is https://www.facebook.com/discoverlearningdundee
We also have a twitter page https://twitter.com/DLDundee
We are finding that this isn't as popular as our facebook page.
Hello,
oh where to start. we've had some lessons to learn along the way.
Admins for the page: make sure you have 2 or more admins linked to the page you are setting up
Profiles used to set page up: if you are starting from scratch and creating some work Facebook profiles to manage the page make sure you update them regularly and that they don't look like a work profile. Facebook wants people to use their personal Facebook profiles to manage pages and groups but as CLD worker we know this is not good idea. if Facebook suspect your profile is a work one they will close your account without any warning (this happened to us a couple of months ago). this is just one of the reasons why it's crucial to have 2 admins on your page so that if one of you loses their account there is still another profile linked to manage your page.
Monitoring time: make sure that on your page you state the times that the page is monitored between. This is both for the public to know when you might reply to messages but also to prevent staff logging in to check the page at weekends. Try not to download the app to your mobile because unless disciplined you will have to fight the urge to check your Facebook and Twitter accounts when you are not at work.
Closed and secret groups: The main difference is that closed groups can be found by typing the name of the group into the Facebook search bar and people are able to request access to the group, where as secret groups are invitation only. Again for the same reason as above make sure there are 2 admins on the groups you setup.
Twitter vs Facebook: we have more followers on Twitter than Facebook simply because we've found it's easier for us to go out and follow other people on twitter and they generally follow us back. you can link your twitter and Facebook so that if you post to twitter this will automatically post to Facebook and vice versa but I would try it out and see if it suits you first.
Increasing Engagement: Photos and videos get more views, shares and likes than simple text posts. For Twitter find an organisation similar to your and go through who they are following and choose who you wold also like to follow. This is a quick and easy way to increase your followers. Use your accounts regularly and have a plan for what you want to tweet and post to Facebook. If you download an app like hootsuite you could do the planning on a Monday and schedule your tweets and Facebook posts for the rest of the week so that it doesn't feel like you have to allocate time everyday to come up with posts. Also make sure you add your facebook and twitter accounts to any marketing materials you have.
Hope this isn't too much information and is helpful to you. Happy to answer any more questions you might have.
Hi all,
You might find the resources on the Digitally Agile CLD website www.digitallyagilecld.org and the Digitally Agile National Principles of use when planning using social media in your CLD.
The resources include a range of guidance and policy documents, research and initiatives as well as case studies.
Best wishes,
Liz
Catriona
We are just about to look at Facebook other social media as promotional/networking tools - I already use it with groups (closed and secret) and as a networking tool for workers in the area I work with. Our Adult Learning and Youth Services in Stirling have pages already.
Pauline
Thanks Pauline for sharing your pages. I shall have a look at them and 'like' them. It's good to get ideas from other local authorities. Our page is https://www.facebook.com/discoverlearningdundee/
Catriona,
Stirling's Adult Learning Team has both a Facebook and Twitter account. Any of the main staff team can post to either account.
Facebook - Adult Learning in Stirling
twitter @ StirAdult
Hope that helps
Ruth
Thanks Ruth for sharing your pages. Will explore and 'like them'. Will help us to get ideas for our own pages. Here is our links https://www.facebook.com/discoverlearningdundee
Hi Catriona, within Adult Learning & Literacies, Renfrewshire Council, we have the RC website which purely states the courses available and a pdf has been uploaded, and twitter etc. We don't really have the resources to encourage active engagement or discussions effectively within our service, due to staff or time implications. We have various restrictions as to when or where we can use social media within venues etc, also worker's and public pc's have different restrictions. In the past we have used Yahoo groups.com (quite some time ago!) and it worked great within Adult Literacies and was very participative, however, we did have a member of staff who took on the role of managing it.
hi Susan
thank you for your info. Its great to see what Renfrew is up to. This is Dundee City Council Adult Learning facebook page https://www.facebook.com/discoverlearningdundee
Hi Cationa ...
We use Facebook quite a lot in South Lanarkshire - I'll post links here and explain who does what.
Aln Camglen CLHSP
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008975987462
This page was created by myself and my colleague Greta Fordyce - we are the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Workers for the Cambuslang and Rutherglen area.
Cambuslang Rutherglen Area - Community Learning and Home School Partnership
https://www.facebook.com/groups/121904991322591/
This page represents the service I work for - it encompasses Community Learning, ALN, Home School Partnership and other colleagues including Early Years Workers and Attendance Officers, so it's a bit like a one-stop shop.
CLHSP is divided into four localities in South Lanarkshire, so you'll also find pages for East Kilbride, Hamilton and the Larkhall area. I'm putting their links here too:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/330884890272486/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/301202649979296/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/EK.CLHSP/
I'm going to echo the caveats about using Facebook. It's a great way of reaching out and engaging with people but it definitely takes time, effort and vigilance to make it work. Greta and I are both admins for our page and we only "friend" people we know, and their friends. We've had to block a couple of people because they had posted inappropriate stuff, and we sent them a private message to tell them why. Our main group page has had the same issue, so my senior monitors that page as she is one of its admins and does the same thing.
We set up Facebook accounts for work so that we never post as ourselves, only Aln Camglen CLHSP. I'd like to use Twitter to reach more learners and that's a conversation which is ongoing within the service.
Hope this helps!
Julia :-)
Thanks Julia for all this information. The response to this subject is great and its great getting info from round the country. Locality facebook pages was mentioned recently at our communications meeting - this is where a number of CLD workers come together to discuss our social media pages and other forms of commnication such as our newsletter. I will spend time looking at all the facebook pages you have provided and share this with my colleagues. I agree social media can have its downside. We produced guidelines and luckily we haven't had to deal with inappropriate responses (so far!)
In Midlothian we have just started a social media presence. We have a number of admins within the team and post from a generic account rather than as individuals however we identify ourselves when messaging people. We avoided going down the route of lots of separate groups for social media. Our Adults and Families page is the better developed bit as a couple of us are keen users of social media and digital technology generally.
We also have a twitter feed and a word press blog. The blog needs a bit more focus and some regular contributions. We have a number of partners in the local area that are now sharing and liking our events and posts and this is helping with the reach of the posts.
If you want to have a look, then check us out here:
https://www.facebook.com/LLEMidlothian/
https://twitter.com/LLEadult_family
Thanks
Richard