 All right. How is everybody? Good. How's standing? All right, had a couple rules of business here real real fast Number one my IQ's purple. So if you have a question talk slowly, okay? Number two there are no other rules. That's really the only big one So quick question with everybody here before we get in introductions and things like that How many of you all are DAV chapter or department Facebook admins? Outstanding how many you all are here because that's what you intend to do Outstanding all right Facebook will be a majority of our discussion But I definitely want to have a good time with Twitter as well again if you got questions just jump in there's there's no No rules in that regard my name as you can see up there is James Killen I've been in the social media sphere basically since Since Facebook started if you will so so I've been around it for a while I've managed quite a few pages DAVs is definitely the largest page that I've managed. I have a tremendous team With me and some of them are here today So if we've got questions that I can't answer I've at least got subject matter experts in the room who can help out as well So ladies if you all don't mind feel free to jump in anytime you'd like So be beyond that a little about myself before we get started I'm a former United States Marine. Oh, we got any devil dogs in here raw. All right Did two tours downrange and I ragged at hurricane Katrina relief operations last time I was in New Orleans It was under several feet of water and we were plucking people off rooftops, which is pretty fun Terrible circumstances though, but Beyond that I joined the United States Air Force well the Kentucky Air National Guard when I got out of the Marine Corps Flipped over to the dark side. I got out of the Marine Corps as a sergeant and I pick up captain next week So so been been working that way. I appreciate that Thank you very much Continue it continue in my service, but I tell you what I've never worked for an organization That I like as much as DAV you all are wonderful I love talking to everybody that grabs me and I feel like I work with my family Actually getting a little choked up talking about it. So anyway, we're gonna go ahead and get started. I'll stop running my mouth a Little bit on the the agenda because I know people like to know that the big thing. This is a really simple PowerPoint slot I did not want to overwhelm you all with this kind of stuff I want us to have a dialogue and have a discussion So I know everybody in here is going to learn more through the crosstalk and In the back and forth and and seeing what challenges you have and that's what we want to address So I don't want to just stand up here like a professor in a college classroom I want you all to talk about the challenges that you have so we can we can address those Ourselves so the big thing what what is the point? Why why do we do social media? Somebody somebody give me the your why somebody give me your why what's your why what you got sir? To build a brand I love it Mass communication is to inform Reaching the younger generation back there in the back It's free. I like that one too and unless you're DAV and you know with the national and then of course Sometimes Facebook makes you pay to play. Yes, sir. It is You're absolutely right. It's the up-and-coming It's outreach and why is outreach important? Membership it all boils down to to membership now. I'll tell you this as well thought leadership All right, how many how many VSOs are there in the big six? Yes, I did that on purpose I promise We've got six major VSOs, right? How many smaller up-and-coming VSOs do we have? Are they are they more nimble? Did they do social media? They they do Wounded Warrior project IVA Team RWB all of these folks You know they said that younger generation and what does DAV need to do in order to make sure that we? Survive we've got to reach that younger generation, right? We've got to reach the folks like like myself You know, we've got to reach the folks like Like everybody in this room. We've got to reach you're all kids We've got to reach some of you some of you look like you've made it past 40 So some you know, you know your kids your grandkids. We got a we got to get those folks How many you all have sons daughters nephews? Friends of friends or whatever who are in the military serving right now a Bunch of it. How many you all want them to be members of DAV? How many you all think they even know what DAV is? Couple of you right if you all looked around if you all seen about half the hands went down They and that that's the thing we want them to know I I didn't know what DAV was until they started picking my grandfather up when he had When he had both of his knees replaced that that was my introduction to DAV. I didn't know DAV existed and I've been in the military for Six almost seven years when when I found that out I didn't know we got a lot of the younger generation that doesn't know about us. So what do we need to do? We need outreach. We need the marketing. We need to build a brand and that's what social media is is for us Now the difficult parts we're gonna get into here in just a second. All right I will tell you any any any person that's in social media right now will tell you that Engagement is the holy grail and engagement is what you're looking for. You're looking for folks To interact with you. All right, so you can't just ignore your social media accounts You can't go in post and then not pay any attention to them. All right, you've you've got to get in there and actively Engage with people now, of course, you don't engage with rabble rousers or anything like that. That's not what I'm talking about You're not you don't want to get into arguments. Anybody ever gotten to an argument with somebody on social media I'm fairly certain that is the definition of an exercise in futility. All right stay away from those things You're you're not gonna change anybody's mind on social media But what you can do is be courteous be respectful and be a brand ambassador for DAV That that's what you can do be a brand ambassador for your chapter for your department and for the national headquarters That's huge. All right, so that's what we want to do now How many you all actively engage on your own Facebook page and the state or nationals Facebook? Twitter and Instagram accounts how many y'all I want to encourage you all to get on there and do that If you've ever looked at the comment section on Facebook a lot of times it's you know It it it can go negative real fast All right, but if you if you look at the likes to dislikes So you pop that little icon that says 686 next to the likes and and stuff like that you click that and you can see usually are like to dislike or like To angry is seven eight ten to one All right, and that's because people like the message But they don't like to engage on social media because they don't want to get into arguments with folks They they don't want to do that, but engagement is key. Those comments are key I got in trouble from Donald Trump one time because of something I did on Facebook. I'm dead serious people look at this stuff And it wasn't I know right exactly. Hey listen, sir. Okay. I got this but but but either way people do listen they do see so if you all go on and interact with your page and be a brain ambassador say You know DAV does it really does great things. Here's a Here's an example of how DAV's helped me or here's and then leave it at that If somebody comments on it if somebody goes back or wants to go back and forth with you You don't have to do that But you leave a positive comment whether it's on your page whether it's on the national or the state page Whatever it is, but at that point you're showing hey one We're not gonna get into the fray in number two DAV really is a great organization and Facebook can can really amplify That message and show you know that we're a group of brothers and sisters Who have served together and who have respect not only for ourselves, but respect for other people respect for the brand? Yes, sir Yes, sir That that does happen now. I know you all are probably ready to answer this question. Aren't you go for it? You know what like I said y'all are gonna learn more from each other than you do for me He said and for those hang on let me well I'm on the wireless mic. So sorry about that because I have to walk around otherwise my brain shuts down Basically, what he's saying is is that he he found the phone numbers of those folks and and texted them Which is helpful because most people do have phones at this point and and you got one too, sir, right? Well, I if I can I'll add to that real quick and that's the the first small bullet up there That's word of mouth now This is the hard part But it is a way to to solve that problem You get the members that you do have active and you ask them to reach out You you only have to reach out to one person only takes a couple minutes Just reach out to one person and tell them about it Tell them how they can access these things or set up I know my my email stay stays live all day All right, so you can set them up an email if they do have a computer And and leave them signed in and that might be the only email they ever get but at least they get your email. Yes, sir That's beautiful That's absolutely beautiful. That's that's another thing if they've got a member of their family who is close to them That can act as a surrogate if you will to pass on that information, but in for information is Word of mouth is really the the quickest way to do it and that's actually what social media does. Yes, sir That's great. I do too. We'll do one more ma'am right here and that Well, and I'll tell you all this there the the the one thing that's going to be tricky over the next few years is that we've got a Small mind you a small but still a significant for our members Gap so we have we have people right now who are in in our older ranks Who didn't grow up with computers who didn't grow up with technology who didn't really adopt it? And we're also moving into an age where absolutely everything is done electronically So unfortunately it does create a gap now the good news is is that gap won't last very long Because our world's getting more and more interconnected by the day I mean, we're literally doubling in technology every year and a half to two years as far as our capability So that that's it's going to close But at the moment we do have a significant challenge with our older veterans or our older members To to get them in touch and and I love the idea of grabbing a surrogate asking them if they've got a grandchild or a Child who will take over that that surrogacy if you will and pass the information on to their veteran and people will do that Yes, sir that that's a great idea as well putting them in putting them in the vans So yes, sir. I like the the with them is definitely a big one What's in it for me? You you do have to you do have to provide value To two folks, you know if you if you want them to read the newsletter Tell them how valuable the newsletter is but do it word of mouth do it face-to-face have somebody that they trust And that that's always helpful. We're gonna move on to in the interest of time. Oh, oh, I heard that Yes, sir. So you back there Ernie? You're you're about three slides ahead of me, but yes Hey, well what it I can't say it I set you up for that one that's right I did like the admiral speech yesterday where he said just don't call me a puddle pirate I was like that that was I was dying in the back. That was hilarious All right, so we are gonna get to that that is a huge one I want to talk to you all about how to build your audiences to Howard How many of you all are having trouble building an audience getting the likes right now? The one thing is if you've got a chapter, especially if you have a small chapter You do have to understand and manage your own expectations if you will that maybe you're not gonna have 7,000 likes All right, so set a reasonable expectation if you've got a hundred members Maybe multiply that by five and and say five five hundred is is my target That's where I want to get to and then set small micro goals on how to get there Fifty is my my first target a hundred is my second target and set up set up your targets like that But don't don't think that you're gonna have you know a hundred two hundred thousand likes. It's not it's not gonna happen But one of the ways that you do that is especially on Facebook is by going to organizations going to your local news outlets and Commenting on things that they're doing especially if it's relating to veterans as your page Don't don't comment as yourself you can how many you all know how to change? Who you're commenting as as yourself or as as your page? That that's something that that you know you want to get with your your social media folks on how to do I probably I Didn't anticipate talking about that or I would have had a slide to show you but um, but you you change How you comment and comment as your page and then you get that exposure on there And the other thing that you can do is tag those Organizations tag your local media tag your your local charity organizations or or businesses Who who support DAV or support veterans causes in your area? And that that's a way one for you to get exposure and two if you can get them to interact with you It exposes you to more people on social media, which is a good way to increase your likes All right, so so tagging folks is is a great way to do it. Yes, sir Are you are you talking about and just to see if I'm tracking with you Are you talking about all all of the chapters and departments just being the one main page? We're actually in the in the works on that I when I post to the national page right now I also post to six other chapter or department pages at the exact same time Now I've got limited functionality in what I can do with that, but if we grow that I can expand that So right now I'm limited to 50 profiles, but I haven't hit 50 profiles yet So a but once I hit 50 profiles I'm sure Dan how many y'all know Dan Clare the communications director if I hit 50 profiles That man's gonna go through the roof with love All right, and he's gonna say this is amazing because that's one of the things we want to talk about And and what our what our coastie friend in the back What's talking about and that's uniting our voice and we are gonna get to that I want I want to talk about that in a minute, but I do want to talk about building an audience How many you all have built a solid audience for for your specific chapter, sir? Can you talk about how you did it? Six to four hundred six to four hundred is is amazing. That's that's incredible It takes a little while it does it takes a little while we had a hand go up in the back back there Yes, sir. Yeah, so hey For those of you who might not have heard or want to want to write it down and looking for a pen right now I just stuck it underneath the the overview slide if I can is it is it? veterans with an s or just veteran Veterans all right there we go You're absolutely right and and so you've got the dot-com there and you can go to Facebook go to search and do veteran veteran news today Or veterans news today. Yep. All right, so so anyway We we've talked about. Oh, what did I do here? So when we when we talk about Facebook and what we were talking about about speaking with one voice, all right In order to be a thought leader in In anything you have to have a lot of people who agree All right now We all know that especially on social media not everybody agrees on everything But how many of us agreed that the individual employability? Issue that was going on with with the past budget How many of us agreed that that was a bad idea? We did right so on these major issues like this if we could get to a point where we're all Communicating that we're all we're all breaking it down. We've got 1,300 chapters. I would imagine about 650 of them are on Facebook right now, so if we've got 650 chapters that have anywhere from 10 to 1,000 likes if you will we can amplify that voice on top of the the national voice All right, so I have no interest in control in anybody's page in here The only thing that I that I ask is that you consider the the organization and the mission of the organization The mission of your chapters when you're posting and and that's being kind being courteous being respectful and making sure that we're posting You know legitimate news not not something that is just designed to get people to click on it so that the Person on the other end can make money off of the ad the ad revenue. All right, so that that's it That's see that's the only thing I'd ask but one of the big things I know we can do I know that we can do this as an organization We can come together and amplify on stuff like the individual unemployability Cut that was that that was proposed. All right. I know that we can amplify our voice with respect to caregivers Oh, everybody's eyes just went that way. I was like So I know that how many you all think that That that pre 9-11 and post 9-11 caregivers should receive the same benefits Exactly everybody in here those are issues that I know we can come together on and if we can come together and amplify our voice Speak with one boy one voice We we would be the first VSO to be able to to do that to be able to coordinate the chapters the departments and national to amplify our voice on really key Significant issues and I know we can do that and the the key to doing that is Linking our linking us together now. There is a DAV chapter and department admins group Now if you want to email me And I'll do this I'll do this now Whoops went went one two four Easy Just that just made my beautiful lady blush. I apologize for that, but it is PG. Okay. I promise it's PG So anyway email me at J killing at DAV dot org All right and say I want to be added to The chapter and pay or chapter and department admins page and I will add I will send you a link To join that group. Oh Yeah, but then then that's that's what we need to do. Do you have a card with you ma'am? Outstanding, so I'll I'll get together with you later and we'll we'll figure it out Yep Connection and networking you're you're absolutely right Networking word-of-mouth talking to people now. I will tell you that sometimes Sometimes it's it's you know it now. I won't say that Email me and let's get this to let's get this working. Let's get our voices united Let's get connected and if you know any Facebook admins that aren't here. Tell them hey email this guy I don't remember what his name is, but he talked too much and too loud and let him know that you want to be on the Chapter and department admins page. Oh, I'll tell you what if you if you want to be added and you've got your card Just bring it up here, and I'll send everybody one big email with the link But don't do it right now though. Yeah, I would never tell you no that that is going to be a Conversation that you'll want to have with your department adjutant if you all want to coordinate that way And I'm perfectly fine with that I know some some chapters and departments don't have quite that much coordination if you do that That's that's absolutely fine. I what what my plan is to do now I don't do it right now simply because we we don't have enough coordination on the the admin page I want a lot more coordination on there But what I'm gonna do is when I have something to post on Facebook I'm gonna drop it in that chapter admins page and let you know what national was putting out today now if you choose To put that on your page you choose to put that on your page That's great. If if I'm an admin on your page, which I'm an admin on about six different pages I'll I'll go ahead and post You know my myself I do that for Danny all or Danny Oliver over at Oklahoma And I do that with several other folks as well between Wisconsin Indiana and California, so It's it's it's something that I don't mind doing especially if maybe you don't have time or you don't have the the acumen You don't have the interest in Facebook or anything like that I don't mind doing that, but what I'm gonna do is drop it in there and then you can choose to use it or not And it no mandate whatsoever. I'm one. I'm not that kind of guy and two I'm not that I Really don't want to do that Yes, sir. Yeah My grandmother used to tell me when I was a kid before I did anything To imagine if she saw it on the front page of the paper the next morning if I would still do it I think Ed Hartman is a good a good barometer as well Because you're absolutely right, but yes, please send it to me and and if we can we will distribute absolutely What's up Ernie? That's that's right. I'm doing Ernie's Right now where we're working on on his page and getting it all set up up there in New Hampshire All right, so but like I said, you know, I just sat down with Ernie. Would it take us about 25 30 minutes? Yeah, it took us about 25 30 minutes We went through and got everything squared away And then we were done and really the the work part only took about 15 minutes, but Ernie and I had a few sidebar conversations too so so anyway Consistency when you're posting on Facebook Consistency is key. So if you're gonna do it Do it try to post every day or or at least post on a consistent schedule Try to set a normal time for when you post now. How many of you all know how to schedule a post on Facebook? in a schedule and a scheduling posts on Facebook is is a good way to set it and And let it go so maybe if you work or you've got other other Issues that you're taking care of or anything like that You can go in there at 11 o'clock at night or go in there at 6 o'clock in the morning or or whatever time It is that that works best for you you set the post up to go at the time that you you selected 11 o'clock 1 o'clock, you know, it did 5 o'clock whatever it is And then let it go and then you get into a ritual or you get into a habit of setting that up and letting it drop at The same time and one of the things Facebook's algorithm likes is for your post to go at the same time Or at least they're around the same area one your audience typically if you if you review your audience and find out You know when when they're online, you know the most or this that and the other thing You can query your audience when's a when's a good time for you to see our post Anything like that and just try to figure out as best you can A good time and then set consistent to to that time And you'll you'll see that your followers see your stuff a little bit more often All right, um and and you can also Hey this if you if your chapter has the budget if your department has the budget if you want to do it On your own and and you know, I don't know how that works All right, I'm not an accountant and I am not telling you anything about treasury or anything like that but Paying to play is a good way to to build your reach as well and you You drop a a couple dollars into uh into a facebook post and and extend your reach by a hundred or You know 200 300 whatever it is just to get a few more people in your area or in the demographic that you're looking for To see your your post and like I said that I am not telling you to do that I'm just saying that it is possible if You'll see all the disclaimers i'm throwing out my degrees in law and public policy too Right boost your post right boost your post Yes, sir I like this man, right and and unless and you're you're absolutely right not disputing whatsoever The the the important thing too is if you've got something local Um and by all means absolutely push it out Or if you've got something that you see um and and too if you're on the page The chapter and department admins page and you see something that that you haven't seen yet And you drop it in there and say hey, I think we should post this you know, I'm I'm perfectly open to that I do want to hit on something that you've just said though and uh, sweetheart. I apologize I'm gonna do it again Nope, haha. Yep. There goes. I knew it was gonna do it here's I wouldn't be able to find it right now There's got to be one around here somewhere. Well, that's odd. I don't know what I did with it Well, I thought I had something That's uh, that's mildly embarrassing. I thought I had one Um, I don't have access to the internet at the moment, but uh, and that's again my fault, but um What we've done what we've set out to do and as a matter of fact, you know what? I got I got to show you all this just so I can drive the point home So I'm gonna I'm gonna go ahead and Set up the internet here real fast and and we'll get this squared away because you all have got to see this I think it's really really cool and let's uh I'm just gonna drop up up there. Do you all see that right there? So we we've started an initiative to set up facebook profile pictures that all look very similar All right, and what we what we've also done. So you've got bedford indiana That's that's chapter two in indiana there, you know That was our pilot profile picture right there, right? And basically what what we what we do is set it up for however Your your chapter is is set up city-wise. All right, um, whether it's like we just did baron county in wisconsin Um, we're we're gonna do uh this the state of new hampshire here very shortly. Um, and and we we did Missouri as well Kim my apologies ma'am for the delay in that that was that was uh convention and my fault big time Uh, but but anyway, we set these these pictures up like this So there's consistency across the the brand platform, which I really like I nailed that sir But the the other thing that we do If this is consistent and then you set your cover page up to just a group of you or or whatever you think is Is is is worthy that way for for your page. You've at least got consistency across the brand In in some way shape or form and then what what we did as well because how many of you all have your your page set up Some of them say department some of them say dav some of them say disabled american veterans Some of them say chapter 19 Disabled american veterans some of them they have all kinds of different names And and what i've started doing Like with with chapter two in indiana. I did dav indiana two And then the at symbols dav indiana two And then there's there's consistency there So when folks are looking for you they go to the search function in facebook they type in dav And a bunch of dav pages start popping up and those those dav pages as you come through Well, i'm looking for dav indiana right now dav indiana pops up and you've get you've got a couple more and at that point you can find chapter two chapter 19 chapter 35 You can see all those and and it brings it brings things up because how many of you all have ever searched for a facebook page You know for for a dav facebook page It is sometimes it's difficult. It's even difficult for me sometimes I just go to google and see if I can find it that way Because I can't find it in facebook because we're we're I don't want to say this as a negative because it's not a negative. It's it's it's a progression We're disjointed if you will with how we've set up our pages And that's because a lot of us started setting up pages in 2008 2009 2010 and now facebook is evolving As a medium and that means we have to evolve as well as an organization And that means Evolving in in the way that we have our profile set up now as well And I think again when it comes to uniting that's a great way for us to unite as well Is to start pulling these these profile pictures and getting them squared away. They only take a few minutes to do Now they only take a few minutes to do now kim Yes, sir When you do the search and you type in dav They'll start to populate in the search Function and then you know the next word would be indiana or missouri, you know or or texas Right it well it it would be But like I said, so if you typed in t you'd probably get tennessee and and texas, you know that that pop up So it would do it like that. It just depends on your internet speed how how how fast you type versus how fast it it searches So but but it will populate automatically So so anyway, I will I'll take this down now that you all now that you all have seen it and Sorry angel. I apologize Those are her feet. Sorry So so anyway, so we're when we're talking about Connecting with each other that that's a that's a big one when we're talking about speaking with one voice when we're talking about uniting As as a team if you will So that we can speak with one voice we can create we already have a really powerful voice We can be more powerful And it's entirely up to us To come together as as an organization to come together as a group And I think I ran some people off right back there in the middle That's how that's not good All right, so twitter how many you all have how many y'all are tweeters you got any tweeters in here? Yes, sir Yes, sir, really it To be perfectly honest with you. I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference Sarah, do you do you think it makes a whole lot of difference? Sarah is my subject matter expert Um, so and it it really doesn't it basically it's how people go through your page and what they see first You can go through and adjust it, but if you don't it's really not that it's it's not going to make any any real difference Um in in how they do it how they see it uh and what what they see It's just basically bulls down to what they see first Um and and how the page is organized, but um most people in here unless you've got a significant or high degree of Attention to detail aren't going to notice the difference between too many of the templates So so I would say it's really not that big of a deal and and you won't be punished for For for not setting it up the right way. I don't think facebook is paying too much attention to that at the moment They just rolled it out to make it easier for nonprofits to Especially on the donate buttons and things like that or to get information But it's it's not that not that big of a deal Don't donate button We uh, we're in active discussions on the donate button. Um, I want to call it I almost called it a donut button do us Yeah, yeah, right right now. Oh, yeah, as far as the chapters go and how that works. I think there there's some significant Um, you know tax implications and things like that We're looking to to to see if we can do it at a at a national level Um, but like you said, there's a there's a lot Uh that goes on to there one we're a 501 c4 not a 501 c3 You know the charitable trust is the charitable trust has a few thousand likes we have 1.46 million so uh, so there there's just There's a lot of discussion in that we hope to one day be able to do that And I think we're getting closer but and then hopefully once that happens once that happens We can figure out how to roll that out, you know with the departments and chapters I can't guarantee that I can't promise that I'm just saying it's definitely on the table And it's something every one of us are concerned about and want to see happen as we I'm sorry A beignet button. Yeah, we call it a bin. Yeah, what is with that that powdered donut that everybody keeps eating around here, right? Looking you're looking at people and you're like you got something like right here all over your face Did you fall into it? Yeah, right? I heard that a cafe a cafe du monde too. That's uh, that's obviously obviously a good place around here Oh as as far as you're like you're operating hours Oh open open make it open Hey, it may make anybody be able to see it make it make it open or unless you're talking about the page admins And that's closed Yeah, I mean they they No, if if you've got a group if you've got if you've got your facebook setup as a group I would encourage you to set it up as a page Um instead of as a group That that way at that point you can you can start engaging more unless you don't want to And that that's that's fine. So if you do have a group and you've got to set up like that. Yeah, absolutely close it I I was thinking I was thinking page. I apologize But yeah as as a page Let people comment on your page We don't we don't restrict anything On the the main page you can go write whatever you want Provided it's not uh, you know, it's it's not vulgar or you know distasteful or you know Racist or sexist or you know anything like that. Of course at that point. I'm gonna pull it down But uh, but for the most part, you know, I let people speak They're they're mind on our page. I I want to know what they're thinking I want to know what they're talking about sometimes it's completely incoherent But sometimes they make good points, you know, and it's one of those things that you send up a chain Say, you know what I'm gonna forward that to this person. I'm gonna forward that to this person And and let them see I'll forward stuff over to the the national service and legislative headquarters to our senior nsos and say You know, hey wolf man, you know, can you take a look at this because I think it's something that you'd a like to know and b you might want to comment on And steve wolf will go go through and and comment on the the page or talk to the person Who's on there? It's a great way to figure out what people are thinking. Yes, sir Are you you talking about your page? I would set it up as just a regular Page and and you can go in and click create page and do it like that now if you create a group That's that's different. That's like it's like creating a private discussion board But I would encourage you to set it up as a page not a private discussion board That way you leave it open and and as many people like if you've got a news organization that wants to see what you're doing Or maybe they caught wind of what it is they can go there They can't go into a group and see what you're talking about But they can go to your page and see what you're talking about Yes, sir I can I can talk about this all day, but we we're definitely gonna have to jump. Yes, sir That is That is an additional screening tool that facebook has rolled out Where you can you can ask certain qualifying questions if you will For people to join to join your group, but again, that's that's just facebook putting another putting a speed bump there Yeah, to to slow them down, but if you've got somebody that's clever and wants to join your group, you know, they They they can they can figure it out All right. So, uh, so twitter, um, how many people in here have ever flown united airlines? All right, how many people have ever had a problem with united airlines? How many people have ever tweeted at united airlines? How many of you all that tweeted got a response from united airlines? Within 10 minutes Twitter especially for communicating between organizations is a very very powerful tool. All right a very powerful tool How many of you all uh, who have twitter accounts have ever tweeted at secretary shulkin? You've done it. I know the person who manages secretary shulkin's page She hears you. I know she does. All right. Um, it you get people's ear with twitter All right twitter is a very powerful communication tool. All right, no worries Um, a very powerful communication tool and I encourage you to set it up I encourage you to go in there and learn twitter Learn how to tag people learn what hashtags are all about and we're going to talk about them here in just a second but um Learn how to build an audience and we have uh, I don't think jim or al are in here. Are they I haven't seen either one Um, uh, jim pro kernier and al labelle are two of the most prolific tweeters you will ever meet I love saying tweeters. I'm sorry. I just can't help it. Uh, it's a guilty pleasure of mine But but either way you can learn from them. That's the uh, department of wisconsin legislative director and uh, Jim has two pages that he manages. That's chapter 10 in virginia and he also has his own dav jim page, but Oh, but you can learn a lot from from just watching them, uh, as well But go in and and and set up your twitter accounts or And we can amplify again. We can amplify our voice there. All right, you can tag dav hq Anytime you want to and say hey, you know, this is important or or you know I put push this out tag us so that people in your local area know what dav is Um, you can start to use hashtags. How many people who in here knows the hashtag for this year's convention? A couple of you dav 96 the right a 96 convention one of the things with hashtags You kind of want to keep them small or keep the promise one just a little bit too Uh, a little bit too long as far as it goes and we're working on on, uh, You know working on trying to find another one, but either way, um If you if you go in to twitter and search the hashtag dav 96 You can see everything that's been tweeted about our national convention Um, you can watch videos. You can see what other people are talking about Rachel Fredrickson, uh from from new york is she she's not in here at the moment either Yeah, all all the social media gurus are gone right now. They're not here I'm gonna get on them about that because jim was real helpful last year. Yes, sir Well It's uh right now for for our twitter account. Um, the the main one we've got what one two three Four five. We've got five five people who who are generally pretty active Hey, yeah you Yeah, you you've got to have you've got to have uh The the username and password basically to to go in and and do it that that's true And sarah you were talking about credentials, right? Yeah, the the username and password for our dav hq account is not just joke Sarah's like no, no But but either way that that's it as long as you've got the username and password you can download it on your phone Sending tweets is really really easy. Um, you are limited in in characters And we can i'm not going to get into why that is because you know Everybody's eyeballs in here a glass a glass over and we'll just shut down Oh, yes, I know you can link to your instagram, but you can link to twitter too I did not know that Yes, sir Right, so so if you if you don't have if you don't have the time if you will because I I use a social media management software called Sprout social, um, so forgive me because I really I I didn't know that we had gotten to that I know you can link instagram, but I didn't know we could do twitter, which is really cool, but um Twitter and facebook are The way that you communicate with folks are are very different and so is instagram instagram is just a little different as well The the power of twitter Is really in who hears your message? Who you're tagging and what you're hashtagging? So every time we say the word veteran in on our twitter page. It's hashtag Or at least we try to do every time we say the word veteran We hashtag it every time we We do something with the department of veterans affairs instead of saying va it increases our our character count But instead of saying va we we do at d e p t vet affairs And and that that's that's so we're talking directly to va We're talking directly to secretary shulkin We do va chair and talk directly to the the senate and the house We we we do those so that we can talk to and get our message out to these these social media managers who can then turn around and say This looks important. Let me tell the big guy or the big gal What's what's going on? What's what's dav thinking on this side? You can do the same thing From a national side, but you can also do it With your local media, you know if you've got a fundraiser going on and you tag Wdrb or whoever the the local media affiliate is in your area and say hey We've got this really cool thing that we're getting ready to do for homeless veterans or we're getting ready to do for You know injured veterans or we're getting ready to do for whoever however you set it up Um, I how many people in here know news reporters anybody know any? They always always looking for a story Especially a local story and if you got a local story about veterans That's a good thing and that's a great way for you to to get through those gatekeepers at At media houses and things like that and go directly to That local reporter and tell them hey listen. This is what we're doing. Uh, we engage with uh with Nikki, uh, it's wintling right wet nicky wintling With stars and stripes all the time we engage with task and purpose all the time where we've created Um, we've created partnerships if you will Just right there on twitter where if we share it and we tag they turn around and share it too Um, and and we've developed those just from tagging and interacting with them on a consistent basis And one of the really cool things that you can go on and do is say thank you Say hey, thank you for running this story. I thought it was really great or hey I I read your story on such and such it's really great and you start creating that that dialogue with with that reporter with that that You know business person or whoever it is Um, and then you're developing that relationship and you're building your brand You're getting yourself out there in front of folks who you probably would have a more difficult time getting out in front of Without twitter, uh, and and that's because especially businesses, especially on the commercial side They're paying attention to twitter Um, and they have to because twitter is a really easy way For people to figure out whether you're you're active in customer service or you're not And and again businesses, especially for profit businesses or news outlets and things like that They need to stay um, and they've got dedicated people for that. Yes, sir You all are all ahead of me Everybody's ahead of me Actually, it's now in in my office I have a big whiteboard and it's it's got my projects the things that i'm trying to get Accomplished, all right a volunteer for veterans is one that that i'm i work on literally every single day right now I also have on their social media management course That i am working on putting together and i i will actually start sometime in early august putting that together For you all how to use facebook how to use twitter how to how to build your audience how to start We're videoing this right now so that we can get this up on youtube And you can send it to to folks if they have the wherewithal to spend an hour and 15 minutes watching me run my mouth That's now i'm not guaranteeing you that they have that much willpower or stamina But if they do they they can always see that but yes, we we are we are working on that That's a a significant goal of mine That i am trying really really hard To to reach and and hopefully somewhere around august september might have a little help in putting that together as well and then we'll Maybe we'll tap cross be and see if they can help us out as well YouTube is a great way to learn It's it's you you get on there and type in twitter for dummies and i guarantee you there's there's something up there as Matter of fact, i do it right now, but we're we're running out of time So We've talked about all that we talked about hashtag and we talked about okay, actually i think we're good Any does anybody have any questions high level overview of of why it's important to have a twitter account because that's really What i want to talk about i didn't want to get into the meat and potatoes Too much of twitter i wanted to talk about the power of twitter and why we should be using it and why it's important For for us, you know as far as unifying and speaking with one voice Why twitter is is is so necessary? instant absolutely instant trust me This thing doesn't shut up ever right now it's on do not disturb. I've basically turned it off right now i'll tell you when When speaker ryan tagged us about the healthcare bill and used a photo that Was about caregivers And and used it for the healthcare thing they tagged us and that phone didn't shut up for a day It actually killed the phone Um, it it ran the battery down in about three hours. It's just The whole time So so anyway twitter is Very powerful and don't think that speaker ryan's people did not read every single tweet They I know they read them. Um, so instagram instagram is is You know, it's it's one of those things that from a chapter side I'm not sure if you want to get into or not unless you just love instagram But sharing pictures, especially if you're having fun It's a it's a great way to do it. All right. Um, if you if you've got a In event scheduled or or something along those lines and and you want to tag again You can tag local news. You can tag local reporters. You can tag businesses And things of that nature in those As a matter of fact, angel, you just took a picture of jackson square, right and marriott requested to use it so she took a picture of jackson square and and She hashtagged and marriott found it and asked if they could use the picture And and so it's instagram again is another one of those that's a powerful tool and you can see What people are doing anybody in here have an instagram account? All right, so anybody here use it for their chapter stuff Nobody right look around there. They're not a hand went up Nothing, all right, so instagram is and and I know sarah's probably rolling her eyes right now and tiara would definitely be rolling her eyes right now Um, instagram is a powerful tool and it is underutilized We just went through and developed a new instagram strategy that that we're we're going to be implementing Right after national convention and I encourage you all as well To at least consider going in and building an instagram account Because you you have the another way to go live. You have a way to share stories We posted a story board if you will of of dav riley commander riley and and what Him and evan have to go through every day just to get him ready For for the day and how how she helps him, which was It's a really powerful Really powerful way to show people what life, you know life in the day of a caregiver or life in the day of Of an amputee and what all they have to go through and twitter's of or instagram's a very powerful tool. Yes, sir Uh, there there's there's not a call. It's it's they're both free now You can you can boost post and try to try to reach more, but it's it's not required or necessary Um, you know for for everybody interesting Everybody does facebook now I know everybody here is like no they don't Right and and that that's the thing if you if you put it on your chapter page and then share it to your personal page I I like doing that all the time and I will tell you my mother shares Absolutely everything that I post on dav Everything i'm like thanks mom. I love you too. Thanks mom. I love you too You know it does she she shares and that's another thing when it comes to family You know family's a great way to to amplify the voice So if you're if you're just starting a page if you can go in and and get just get your family to Like the page and ask them for the first few if you wouldn't mind just sharing If you wouldn't mind just sharing and kicking this out to to folks And that that's a good way to boost it and get people knowing because one of the things We got a lot of people in dav who know about dav But it's great when people who don't know about dav and aren't dav members learn about dav kim. Did you yes? Yes, set them up Well instagram you want to set up as a business page? Um and facebook you want to set up as a business page, but I don't think twitter matters. Yeah twitter Yours for twitter. Yes, sir. It does now your your facebook page You can either set up a dummy page and set it up that way or you can set it up I I run dav's page through my own personal page. Um, I'm very careful Of course, I don't I'm pretty benign on social media anyway Just because I'm you know in the military and uh, I You know run a major nonprofit social media page So I'm I'm pretty benign on on mine anyway But uh, but yeah, if you're if you're nervous about something like that you can always just set up a dummy account and uh, and and run it through Run it run it through a separate account I have two accounts because when I started working on d or va's facebook page My my boss at the time required That we set up a dummy account In order to to to run that page. She wouldn't let us run it through our normal page. Yes, sir Put put it on your chapter page and then share it to your personal page from the chapter So so go go click share and it'll it'll give you a little dialogue box And it'll say share two right up here in the top left hand corner Just pick that drop down and say share to my personal page Um and then at that point you can set up whatever copy That's the last thing I'll say because we got about two minutes and god bless you all for being able to sit through this whole thing Thank you very much, uh for those people that did but, uh, Real real quick real quick last last thing that I'll say is don't Don't share something without sharing at least an opinion. What do you think? This is what we think don't just share the link and drop it because people ignore that They want to see what you think so so say something Um, just say something like what do you think or this is where dav stands or you know Something along those lines. Thank you very much. All right. That's it. I appreciate you all. Thank you very much