Social Media Best

Practices Handbook
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Table of Contents

Background .... 3

Population Make-Up of Clients Who Sought HIV Testing at The Red .... 3

Facebook. 4

How to Post on Facebook .. 6

Examples of Facebook Posts . 8

Twitter 10

How to Post on Twitter... 12

Examples of Twitter Posts . 13

Health Literacy .. 14

Resources ... 15

Awareness Days . 16

References... 18
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Background
Americans use social media for staying in touch with current friends and family
members, connecting with old friends, connecting with others with shared hobbies or
interests and making new friends (Smith, 2011)
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
for being useful in facilitating direct communication with the public to improve public
health (McNab, 2009)

Population Make-Up of Clients Who Sought HIV Testing at

The Red Project from October 2016 April 2017
Clients were predominantly Male 64.9%
Age Make-Up:
o Agency was the most common source of recruitment in every age group except
clients 18-24
o Self-recruitment was the most common recruitment source among clients age 18-
24
o Internet as a recruitment source was most popular among clients age 18-24
followed by clients age 25-34
Race/Ethnicity Make-Up
o 58.1% white
o 20.6% black/African American,
o 14.2% Hispanic/Latino
o 7.1% other
Clients referred to the Red Project for HIV testing through:
o Agency 35.7%
o Self-recruitment 35.1%
o Internet 8.5%
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Facebook

Most widely used social media platform

79% of Americans use Facebook

Age Makeup
Half of Facebook users are in the 18-34 age group
88% of online adults age 18-29 use Facebook
84% of online adults age 30-39 use Facebook

Use by Ethnicity/Race
78% of users are White
9% of users are Black/African American
9% of users are Latino

What can you do with Facebook?

Schedule posts
Post pictures
Post videos
Create events
Others can message you and you can message other users
Include links and previews to websites
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Facebook Best Practices Tips

1. Posts should be about 250 characters in length

A post that is 250 characters in length is about 3-4 short sentences. Keep it short
so all text shows in the news feed. It is okay to use more characters if needed but
do not make all posts more than 250 characters if you want you followers to read
them. This bullet point is exactly 250 characters in length.
2. Scheduling posts is important!
You should aim to post something to Facebook at least once a day
3. Use Images in addition to text
4. When using a video, it should be no more than 3 minutes in length
Videos can be as long as you want, but to keep the attention of your viewers it
should be 3 minutes or less
5. Tag other Facebook pages in your post
For example Tag Rumors Night Club in your post announcing you will be
testing there
To tag a person or an organization use @ followed by the name of the page
o @RumorsNightclub then click on the page you want to tag
6. Like community partners pages and encourage them to Like the Red Projects page
Send them a message on their Facebook and ask them to like your page
You can also invite others to like your page on the right side of the page
7. Facebook posts can be scheduled directly through Facebook

How to Post on Facebook

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1. Access the Red Projects Facebook Page

2. Click on Publishing Tools

3. Click on Create

4. Type or insert content

To insert a picture from your computer, click the camera icon
To add an emotion to your post, click the smiley face
E.g. Feeling excited!
Tag a location in your post by clicking the bubble and typing in the location
HIV testing locations
Mobile Health Unit locations
To insert a link to a webpage, copy the link and paste in into the text box. If you do
not upload a picture it will generate a preview of the website you are linking to
5. Select the data and time you want your post to appear to the public by clicking on schedule
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6. Posts can be edited

Under publishing tools, select scheduled posts
Click on the post you want to edit
Click on EDIT to edit the text in the text box
Click on the arrow which opens a drop-down menu to reschedule post, publish the
post immediately, or delete post

Examples of Facebook Posts

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Did you know that one of the best ways to

prevent HIV is to know your status?
According to the CDC, 180,000 Americans
age 13 and older don't know their HIV
status. That means almost 1 out of every 7
adults do not know they are living with
HIV.
Getting an HIV test is easier than ever. At
the Red Project we offer free, rapid HIV
testing. Stop in during our testing hours
and have your results in 20 minutes!

Stop by one of our syringe access locations

today to pick up clean needles so you can stay safe this weekend!
12pm - 4:30pm - 401 Hall St. SE
Mobile Health Unit (Silver Van)
3pm - 4:30pm - Fuller Ave and Adams St. (Walgreens parking lot)
5pm - 6:30pm - Corner of Burton and Division
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We are going to be at the Pride Fest again this year!

Come celebrate and support the LGBTQ community this
Saturday! Visit our table to learn more about the services we
offer!
We can't wait to see you there!

Did you know you have 2 options when

receiving an HIV test at the Red Project?
We offer anonymous or confidential HIV
testing. This article from poz.com explains
the difference between the two.
Paste the link and the preview/image will
show up:
https://www.poz.com/article/confidential-
anonymous-hiv-test

We will be testing at Rumors tonight! Take a quick

break from dancing and come get tested!

*Post this to Rumors Facebook Page or tag their

page in this post
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Twitter
24% of internet users use Twitter
A post is called a TWEET

Age Makeup
Largest population of twitter users are 18-29
Second largest population of twitter users are 30-49

Use by Ethnicity/Race
1 in 10 Twitter users is African American
o This is four times the rate for whites
o This is double the rate for Latinos (CDC social media handbook)

What can you do with Twitter?

Post pictures
Post videos
Use hashtags
Include links to websites
Others can message you and you can message other users
 Best Practices Tips

1. Tweets can be no more than 140 characters in length

A post that is 140 characters in length can be about 1 to 2 sentences. Keep it short
so all text shows in the news feed. This bullet point is exactly 140 characters in
length.
2. Consistent posts are important!
You should aim to post something to Twitter at least once a day but should aim for
more than once a day
3. Use images in addition to text
4. When using a video, it should be no more than 3 minutes in length
5. Tag other Twitter pages in your post
For example Tag Rumors Night Club in your post announcing you will be
testing there
Use the @ sign followed by the username of the page you want to tag in your
tweet
o @twitterpage
6. Use hashtags
#redproject
#thisisred
#Worldaidsday
7. Follow community partners pages and encourage them to Follow the Red Projects
page

Important to know!
 Tweets cannot be scheduled through twitter. You must use a social media manager
website to schedule tweets
Hootsuite.com
Bufferapp.com
Tweetdeck.com

How to Post on Twitter

1. Access the Red Project Twitter page

2. Click on Tweet
3. Type or insert content

To insert a picture from your computer, click the camera icon

Tag a location in your post by clicking the bubble and typing in the location
o HIV testing locations
o Mobile Health Unit locations
To insert a GIF, click the GIF box
To insert a poll your users can take, click the sideways bars
To insert a link to a webpage, copy the link and paste in into the text box.
4. Click Tweet to post content

Example of Twitter Posts

Did you know that 1 in 8 people with HIV

dont know they have it? This is why it is so
important to get an HIV test regularly. Visit
the Red Project to get tested! #gettest

Come celebrate #nationalHIVtestingday with us!

Visit us on June 27th for a FREE HIV test and have
your results in 30 minutes!
 Health Literacy

Health Literacy is the degree to which an individual has the capacity to obtain, communicate,
process, and understand basic health information and services to make appropriate health
decisions.
Women more likely to have better health literacy
White and Asian/Pacific Islander adults have higher average health literacy than black,
Hispanic, and other racial ethnic groups
Adults 65 and older have the lowest health literacy
Health literacy improves as education level increases
Living in poverty is associated with lower health literacy

Tips to be Reader Friendly

(Adapted from the U.S. National Library of Medicine)

Write at an 7th-8th grade reading level

Use words that are 3 syllables or less
Avoid complex words
o Use doctor instead of physician
o Use pills instead of medication
Sentences should be no more than 10 to 15 words long
Use stories and examples
Include specific actions you want reader to take
 o Take your pills every morning with breakfast

Resources

CDC social media toolkit -

https://www.cdc.gov/socialmedia/tools/guidelines/pdf/socialmediatoolkit_bm.pdf
o Contains information about who uses social media platforms and basic information
about the platforms
CDC public health media library https://tools.cdc.gov/medialibrary/index.aspx#/results
o A resource to find pictures, videos, infographics related to public health topics
Canva.com design pictures and graphics to use for social media
o Graphic design site that allows you to make visual media such as posters, flyers,
images for Facebook, etc.
Hootsuite.com
o Schedule Facebook and Twitter posts
 Awareness Days

January
Last week of January National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week

February
February 7th National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

Week of February 14th Condom Week

March
March 10th National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

March 20th National Native American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

April
Alcohol Awareness Month

National Minority Health Month

STI Awareness Month

First full week of April National Public Health Week

April 6th National Alcohol Screening Day

 April 10th National Youth HIV and AIDS Awareness Day

May
Hepatitis Awareness Month

May 12 18 National Womens Health Week

Begins on Mothers Day National Alcohol- and Other Drug-Related Birth Defects
Awareness Week

May 18th HIV Vaccine Awareness Day

May 19th National Asian and Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

May 31st World No Tobacco Day

June
Mens Health Month

June 12 18 Mens Health Week

June 27th National HIV Testing Day

July
July 28th World Hepatitis Day

August
 N/A

September
Sexual Health Awareness Month

National Recovery Month

September 18 National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day

October
Health Literacy Month

October 15th National Latino AIDS awareness Day

November
Third Thursday of November Great American Smokeout

December
December 1st World AIDS Day

References
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2011). The health communicators social media
toolkit. Retrieved from
https://www.cdc.gov/socialmedia/tools/guidelines/pdf/socialmediatoolkit_bm.pdf
Greenwood, S., Perrin, A., & Maeve, D. (2016). Social media update 2016. Pew Research
Center. Retrieved from http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-
content/uploads/sites/14/2016/11/10132827/PI_2016.11.11_Social-Media-
Update_FINAL.pdf
Kutner, M., Greenberg, E., Jin, Y., and Paulsen, C. (2006). The Health Literacy of Americas
Adults: Results From the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy. U.S. Department
of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved from
https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006483
McNab, C. (2009). What social media offers to health professionals and citizens? Bull World
Health Organ. 87(8).
Smith, A. (2011). Why Americans use social media. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from
http://www.pewinternet.org/2011/11/15/why-americans-use-social-media/
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2017). National health observances: 2017 at a
glance. Retrieved from https://healthfinder.gov/NHO/nhoyear.aspx?year=2017
U.S. National Library of Medicine (2017). How to write easy-to-read health materials. U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved from Medlineplus.gov/etr.html