New Resource Helps Coalitions Utilize Social Media

Is your coalition looking for new ways to incorporate social media strategies into its communication plan? Are you having trouble identifying the importance of tweets, tags and texts? If so, CADCA's National Coalition Institute is proud to help you navigate the digital divide through its new web-based primer, "Social Media For Coalitions."

The new Social Media primer helps coalitions develop and improve their social media presence through a diverse combination of text, source links and video clips. Using this multimedia resource, coalitions can learn all the “ins and outs” of a variety of social media tools and map out a comprehensive media plan from assessment through evaluation.

Sue Stine, Senior Manager of Dissemination and Coalition Relations for the CADCA Institute, and a team of communication and social media specialist began planning for the resource in early 2010 after developing a series of social media (SoMe) webinars. While the webinar series provided coalitions with valuable training opportunities, they identified a need for a bigger resource.

LaDonna Coy, Media Consultant and Prevention Specialist; Tom Workman, Ph.D. of Baylor College of Medicine; and Jason Verhoosky, Youth Program Coordinator for the DanversCARES Coalition in Danvers, MA, round out the team who built the new social media primer on a wiki platform. Wiki websites allow users to not only read information, but also interact and add content to the resource. By using this dynamic format, the primer authors can continually update the resource to follow the ebb and flow of social media evolution. This platform also allows site users to leave comments on each page to ask questions, suggest new topics or share their coalition’s stories and experiences.

“The interactivity of the wiki really brings out the purpose of social media engagement,” Stine says. “The primer is more than just another publication for coalition members to use; it is a way to weave together different experiences to tell the larger story of community coalitions.”

The visual layout of the primer allows users to interact with the site according to their particular learning style. Visitors can follow the resource in a linear path by following each section in the table of contents straight from assessment to metrics and measures. Those searching for information on specific subjects or tools can follow the interactive site icons to pick and choose what they want to get out of the primer.

Currently, the majority of the prevention and community coalition field are “digital immigrants” not accustomed to the new climate of virtual interaction. According to Stine, the primer helps fill in these knowledge gaps to help coalition members gain a better understanding of social media’s positive contributions to prevention work.

“The goal of the primer is to create a more user-friendly way of understanding social media than just going in and figuring out Facebook,” Stine says. “It can help make those in our field more comfortable with social media and the current tools available to them as they adapt and reach out to a younger generation.”

View and interact with “Social Media for Coalitions.”

For more information about the primer and how your coalition can incorporate social media strategies into your communication plan, contact Sue Stine at 800-54-CADCA, Ext. 260 or sstine@cadca.org.