Winter 2011

Social media can be an amazing tool for leadership and change-making in our rural communities and organizations. Social media provides the opportunity to connect with numerous people in real time from anywhere in the world. To give you an idea of the power of social media, here are some statistics that outline social media usage across the globe.

• There are over 120,000 new blogs created each day.
• Over 346 million people read blogs.
• 6 of the top 10 websites are social (YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia, MySpace, Blogger, Craigslist)
• Facebook has 385 million users.
• Facebook beats Google in referred traffic.
• There are over 1 billion views on YouTube each day.

These innovative tools are exceptional for leadership and driving social change because it makes communication simple, efficient, instantaneous, and it also expands reach. Imagine the potential for connection! There are numerous examples of social media helping individuals and organizations become leaders in their community, and around the world. Continue reading for interesting stories of how social media has been used as a leadership tool – both locally and beyond – and some resources to get you started.

Alicia Evans
Project Manager - Steps to Leadership

Fresh Off the Presses

The Steps to Leadership Speakers' Network

Rural and agricultural organizations in Ontario can now access a directory of high-quality speakers and facilitators available to speak on various leadership topics for local or provincial events, workshops or conferences. Funding up to $1000 is also available to cover most of the costs associated with hiring one of our speakers. Details are available at http://www.stepstoleadership.ca/speakers-bureau/.

Are you an experienced speaker or facilitator interested in sharing your expertise with rural and agricultural communities and organizations in Ontario? Consider joining the Network.

Proposals are accepted on an ongoing basis for speakers and facilitators who are interested in joining the Steps to Leadership Speakers’ Network directory. Please contact Alicia at aevans@ruralontarioinstitute.ca for more information.

Linked to Leadership - Social Media

Social Media Success Stories

Darius Goes West

This is the amazing story of Darius Weems; a 15 year old boy diagnosed with ducenne muscular dystrophy. Darius left his home town for the first time in his life to travel across the country to get his wheel chair spruced up by MTV’s Pimp my Ride. Darius and 11 of his friends filmed the entire journey and it has taken off and become a movement to raise awareness and funds for ducenne muscular dystrophy. Learn about Darius’ story > 

To Mama With Love 

This project was a social media fundraising initiative to help Mama Lucy, a social change agent, in her mission to educate children in Tanzania. In just over a week, with a staff of only two people, this social media initiative raised over $17,000. Check out To Mama with Love > 

Ontario Farmers

Individuals in Ontario Agriculture are hopping on the social media band wagon and many have been quite successful! Social media helps farmers connect with consumers, and connect with one another. Information sharing on social media has become a very valuable tool for Ontario Farmers. Have a look at Tweeting Farmers Bridge Gap Between Farm, Table >  by CBC news for a better idea of how social media is assisting rural leaders.

Social Media 101

As demonstrated by the social media success stories, social media clearly has a great deal of potential for leadership. The question then remains, how does one get started with social media, and what is the best tool to use?

There are hundreds of social media platforms out there to use. Each platform performs a specific function and is often segmented across topics or interests. To help you get started, we’ve compiled some basic information for the four most popular tools: Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and YouTube.  

Twitter

Twitter is a social networking tool that allows users to share 140 character “updates”. Twitter is a great tool to connect with users online to share and receive a breadth of information including helpful resources, useful conversations, fun facts, and more. The following article provides step-by-step instructions for starting a twitter account and covers some twitter basics. Twitter 101 >

Rural operations are utilizing social media to become leaders in their field. To see exactly how one farmer is using Twitter for business leadership have a look at the twitter feed for Andrew Campbell. >

Facebook

Facebook is an online tool for social connection. Facebook is a great tool for connecting with friends, family, and colleagues. Anyone can sign up for Facebook and interact with the people they know in a trusted environment. The following resource provides a good Facebook overview. Facebook 101 > 

Facebook can be an amazing tool for rural leadership. This platform can be used to connect numerous individuals with a leadership mission by bringing personality to leadership initiatives. Because users are able to upload photos, videos, pod casts, written content, and more, it’s a great opportunity to really display what motivates your mission, who is affected by it, what your mission brings to the table, etc. Me to We is an example of an organization that is doing a great job bringing life to their mission with Facebook.  Me to We Facebook page >

Blogs

“A blog is a type of website that is usually arranged in chronological order from the most recent ‘post’ (or entry) at the top of the main page to the older entries towards the bottom."(Problogger, 2011) Blog’s provide an area to express personal opinions and share information. The following website is a great resource for beginning bloggers. It answers many question blogging newbies may have including why start a blog, how to start a blog, and blogging techniques. Blogging 101 >

The great thing about blogs is they can tell the whole story. Unlike Twitter and Facebook, Blogs do not have short character restrictions. This aspect makes them extremely valuable for leadership and communication. Youth Challenge International (YCI) is a youth leadership organization that does an amazing job with their blog. YCI uses their blog to connect users with their work. 

YouTube

YouTube is a video sharing website where users can upload, share, and view videos from other users. You can utilize YouTube for learning, entertainment, promotion and connection purposes, just to name a few. The following slideshow provides some YouTube basics. YouTube 101 >

Videos are a great medium to use for communication. Videos provide a personalized and entertaining method to connect with the audience. Coupling written communication tools with verbal and visual communication tools creates a well rounded communications strategy. Ashoka’s YouTube Channel > is a great example of a leadership organization effetively uses YouTube.

Social Media Etiquette

Jumping into the social media realm can be intimidating! There are so many widgets, buttons and options that it can be quite overwhelming to understand how to best conduct yourself online to support your rural leadership mission. The following article outlines some great tips for social media etiquette. Social media etiquette 101 > 

Leadership Spotlight - Andrew Campbell

The name Andrew Campbell is pretty much synonymous with social media and Ontario Agriculture. This social media guru is actively involved in both the agriculture and social media community and he’s become a social media leader for Ontario Agriculture. Andrew has a dairy and cash crop operation in Middlesex County, he is the Sen$e Program Coordinator for 4-H Ontario, and he also manages his own social media consulting business, Fresh Air Media. Andrew is recognized for his innovative social media initiatives, which connect the general public to his farm to give them a sense of where their food comes from. Andrew is passionate about agriculture, technology and social media, and he is proof of the power of social media for rural leadership development.

Andrew’s Thoughts on Using Social Media for Communication

This qualified social media expert believes there is a lot of opportunity for rural communities to utilize social media for communication. “In rural communities one of the advantages, and disadvantages, is that there is a lot of distance between neighbors; this makes communication more difficult,” Andrew explains. “Social media allows you to instantly communicate with the people around you no matter what the physical distance between you is.”

Rural communities can utilize social media to keep in touch with friends, family, and colleagues, and they can also use social media for education purposes. Andrew notes that social media has amazing potential for information sharing. Social media platforms can be used for personal development and as a collective learning tool. These advantages are amplified in rural communities because of the increased difficulty for communication. “Social media connects us with people across the province and world. The speed at which we can connect makes the amount of information we can obtain exponential,” says Andrew.

As a rural resident himself, Andrew’s had a great deal of success with his own social media initiatives, providing validity for these innovative tools. “Social media has provided me with some really great opportunities to connect with people who share similar interests. The amount of information I have been able to learn from others online is enormous!” Andrew exclaims.

Andrew’s acquired new clients for his consulting business solely through social media communication. He’s also been able to educate the public about his dairy and cash crop operation, and learn tips and techniques for farming from fellow social media users.

Andrew’s Advice for Social Media Beginners

Social media tools obviously provide a lot of potential for communication in rural communities. While all this sounds great, getting started with social media can be intimidating. There are many tools available, and picking which tools to use will be dependent on individual goals. For social media newbies, Andrew suggests starting off with Twitter and Facebook. These are two of the more mainstream and user-friendly social media platforms which will allow users to dip their toes in the social media pool.

Andrew also has a couple pointers to allow each individual to get the most out of social media. “When using social media tools, be yourself and share things you find interesting. Reveal what your passionate about and people can decide for themselves if it lines up with what they like or not.” Sounds like some wise words from a seasoned social media pro.

Why not give social media a try. Hop onto some social media websites and see where they take you. If you need some help getting started, please refer to the Linked to Leadership segment of this newsletter for a beginners guide to the most popular platforms. In the words of Andrew Campbell, “give it a chance and do what you would like to do with it.”

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