People are talking online fifty-seven percent more than they do in real life (Blogging, April 2011, B2B Social Media Guide). Social media sites like Facebook, YouTube, Meetup, and LinkedIn are being utilized at the local, district and international levels to help promote Toastmasters and increase membership. President’s Distinguished Club recognition requires meeting nine out of ten goals including maintaining at least twenty members or obtaining a net growth of five new members.According to Pew Internet, of those using social media sites, ninety-two percent are on Facebook, twenty-nine percent use MySpace, eighteen
percent use LinkedIn and thirteen percent use Twitter. With Facebook in the lead, it can be an extremely effective tool to communicate with fellow Toastmasters. Facebook is estimated to have seven hundred and fifty million users (Techcruch) spending over four and half hours each month on the site (Nielsen). Thousands of Toastmasters use Facebook in their daily lives. More than five hundred and fifty local clubs and some districts have developed Facebook
Business Pages. The number is not surprising considering it takes just a few minutes to establish a page. Simply visit facebook.com/pages/create.php and follow the instructions.
Creating a Facebook Page is the first step. Developing a page for members and prospective
members to truly engage requires more effort. Facebook users who “Like” a page can then see posts from that page within their Facebook wall, keeping them truly connected. Once a page has twenty-five “Likes” a vanity URL (facebook.com/clubname) can be established by visiting
facebook.com/username. Clubs can establish more “Likes” by posting a link on their personal Facebook wall, sending an email to club members and including links on club business cards,
for example. Eagle Toastmasters Club in Wallingford, Connecticut facebook.com/eagletoastmasters) promotes its Facebook Page with a QR-Code on the flyers they post throughout the community. QR-Codes are barcodes that can be scanned by
smart phones which provide user’s direct access to a URL. With mobile Internet browsing expected to exceed desktop browsing by the end of this year and thirty-three percent of
Facebook users updating their statuses via mobile devices (Hubspot); QR-Codes are the next generation of marketing.
ECC Toastmasters Club in Dubai (facebook.com/ecctm) keeps Facebook fresh and interesting by posting regular updates about their member’s progress within the club, “TM Muzammil completed ABL. Congratulations,” for example. Florida City Toastmasters in Homestead (facebook.com/floridacitytoastmasters) listed their 2011-2012 club officers on their Facebook page. Clubs are posting videos of their speakers, pictures with captions from special events, meeting information and so much more.
Meetup.com is another social network used by approximately three hundred and thirty Toastmasters clubs. Meetup.com has seven point two million members in forty-five thousand
cities across the world (meetup.com/about). For one hundred and forty-four dollars, a Toastmaster club can setup an account and gain visibility to hundreds of locals almost instantly. Three days after the Meetup group is created an announcement goes out via email to Meetup members interested in the group’s topics. Daniel Cossack, DTM from The Tustin Wine Tasting Toastmasters in Irvine, California says, “Meetup.com has been indispensable for us.” Daniel’s Toastmasters club started just a year ago and they found immediate success through Meetup. “If you didn’t RSVP via Meetup.com you probably weren’t going to get a seat,” Daniel continued. Penelope Boehm, DTM and Lt. Governor Education and Training of District Forty-Six in New York, NY says, “we get about three visitors a week from Meetup.com.” She credits the success of their club to Meetup.com.
Resources from Meetup.com provide tips to support better results including adding videos, photos and reviews to the Meetup page. Setting a limit to the number of members who can RSVP makes the event appear more exclusive. Administrators can always increase the cap as needed. Many clubs use Meetup.com to announce contest dates and locations, district meetings and even Toastmasters’ International conference. For more tips on creating a Meetup group visit, meetup.com/help.
LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional social network with over one hundred million members and two million company pages (press.linkedin.com). Nearly forty-eight thousands LinkedIn members mention Toastmasters in their online profiles. Many have their local and district level positions highlighted in the experience section of their profiles. Michelle Eggers from Toast of the Town Toastmasters in Seattle, WA uses LinkedIn to connect with her professional network providing information about her local club. “Like me, many of my
business associates are working on improving their public speaking skills. It’s helpful to remind them of the power of Toastmasters,” said Michelle. Michelle is among the more than three thousands LinkedIn members following the Toastmasters International LinkedIn profile.
The association with Toastmasters promotes public awareness to Michelle’s LinkedIn connections; employees, associates and potential employers.
With two billion YouTube videos watched daily and users spending an average of fifteen to twenty-six minutes a day or two point nine billion hours a month (mashable.com); YouTube is a leading social networking site. Searching “Toastmasters” on YouTube will generate more than fifty-five thousand videos including an interview with David Henderson, 2010 Toastmasters World Champion. There are videos on overcoming shyness, improving confidence and hundreds of local club speeches. Creating a YouTube channel is as easy as filling out a short form at YouTube.com and clicking the upload button to add a video. YouTube provides a section for
the video title, description and tags which help optimize the video to show up on search engines. YouTube allows videos as long as fifteen minutes to be uploaded, more than enough time for the
average Toastmasters speech.
Achieving President’s Distinguished recognition takes commitment from the entire club. Marketing though social media sites like Facebook, Meetup, LinkedIn and YouTube amongst others has proven an effective vehicle at increasing club membership.
