AIESEC Online Communications Guide

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aIESEC INTERNATIONAL

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ONLINE GUIDE FOR BRAND positioning

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What is in here?

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Introduction Connecting Online channels with AIESEC Brand Why to use Social Media Tips for building and Managing Facebook, Twitter and your National Website How to measure

INTRODUCTION 2015 Vision: “Our growing physical and virtual reach makes us the most credible and diverse youth voice.�

In this scenario we need to work with our virtual channels in an aligned way to make AIESEC brand more recognized and present in all important virtual channels.

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CONNECTING ONLINE CHANNELS WITH AIESEC BRAND Online channels is the easiest way to get in touch with AIESEC´s target audiences!

It is very important to keep in mind that the way are you interacting with them on these channels should be aligned with our essence, progress and desired reputation.

Make sure that you are not just talking about our opportunities of leadership and exchange.

They need to know WHY AIESEC exists and then how we create impact and WHAT we actually do to make this happen!

(Why-how-what) How does this translate to actual content?

Talk about issues that align with what AIESEC envisions for society.

Share insights that we acquire through our experiences. Etc. Showcase stories and experiences of people who interact with AIESEC and experience our programmes.

Social media is a channel to influence, educate and inspire people!

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WHY WORK WITH ONLINE CHANNELS?

< Presence in Online Channels

< ELD customers and promoters

< Brand Positiong

The objective of working with social medias is very simple: Use them the right way in order to build your brand/ desired reputation and create more customers and promoters of AIESEC.

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Which tools to use: ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Facebook fan page* Website* Twitter* You tube Apps for mobiles Email marketing Blogs Pinterest Linked in Adds!

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FACEBOOK fan page: Why to use: With one billion users, Facebook is the world´s largest social media platform. Majority of young people (our target customers and promoters) are on Facebook. This platform is a great opportunity for AIESEC to connect with the world!

If you don´t have a Facebook fan page, it´s time to create one! If you already have one, this will help you to improve your page.

How to use: ! Watch your language! Understand that Facebook fan pages are external pages. So don´t just use abbreviations, AIESEC words and internal elements. (If you wish to use it for internal communications for your LC, you are better off using Facebook private groups which allows restrictions on who can view and see).

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Ongoing Content: If you have a page, you need to keep it updated every day! 3 to 5 posts in a day is a good number! But pay attention: Be careful not to spam your fans and send out posts too

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Get Visual and interactive: Facebook is a very visual platform. So use images or videos to get people engaged and interested. Besides that, is very important you create interactive opportunities through your posts. Ask questions and get your fans to interact with the AIESEC brand.

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Inspire and build interest: Motivational pictures and thought provoking insights usually have a lot of shares, likes and comments. Try to align these with the messages and insights we acquire in AIESEC. You can also share content related to topics AIESEC has background in ex. travel, internships, leadership, carrier, youth etc.

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Showcasing: Showcasing is a good way to attract customers, without directly making a marketing promotion. Share AIESEC stories on your fan page!

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Call to action (CTA) Probably the MOST important rule in managing online channels is to ensure there is a call to action.

CTA for your page: Ensure your (1)“about” information and (2) cover and profile photos contain links that drive traffic to your main websites.

You can also take advantage of facebook’s customizable page tabs right below the cover photo. Here you can provide direct links to external pages. (See AIESEC’s global Facebook page as an example: www.facebook/aiesecglobal ) CTA for posts: Several times a week, create posts that direct people to your website and to online sign ups. This will avoid you running social media for social media´s sake.

Always have directive pages that drive people to convert to customers.

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Important tips: !

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On creating new pages: Avoid creating Facebook pages for every type of event or project. Create sub pages in your main page and then you will be able to capitalize on the added traffic to your page and be able to keep the fan base there instead of having different fan bases on different pages. You will also be able to drive traffic to the sub-pages directly from your main fan page as well.

On languages used: If majority of young people in your understand and speak in English, so you are encouraged to use English on your page.

On naming your page: Avoid creating general pages that are too general and could be confused with global pages (Ex. AIESEC Exchange Programmes). This creates confusion when people from other countries/ territories visit your page for information). Indicate which country/ territory you are from (ex. AIESEC Egypt) To make your AIESEC Facebook Fan Page have ´AIESEC ín all capital letters instead of Aiesec´.

How do you do this? Create your fan page first and it will make your page with the name as Aiesec. Go into edit and settings and you can change the name from Aiesec to AIESEC and it will work. (But pay attention: you will need to make sure you do this when you are creating your page or have under 100 fans due to facebook pages policies).

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Some nice examples:

Translation: Gastronomic tour by some countries flags. Which flavor have you ever tasted?

Interactive post, talk about culture, travel in a creative way.

AIESEC in Brazil fan page: www.facebook.com/AIESECinBrazil

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Motivational and interactive post.

AIESEC Egypt fan page: www.facebook.com/aiesecegypt

Storytelling and interactive post.

AIESEC International fan page: www.facebook.com/aiesecglobal

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Website Why to use: The website is the main virtual channel for your public to interact with the AIESEC brand. Besides that, your website is the main channel for you to promote AIESEC services, sell AIESEC products, present a professional image and educate new markets.

Keeping it updated is very important.

How to use it: • Target Audiences: Your website has 3 main targets: Students, Partners and Alumni. But pay attention: Your primary audience are the students! If you have them, you´ll attract partners and alumni to the organization. So your website should be focused on this target. ! Content for Marketing: o Have the information presented in a clear way. Organise the content considering your primary audience: What do they need to know? What are they looking for in your site? o Use the website to promote ELD programs, When a student accesses your site, he/she needs to know the important information on AIESEC programs: What are the programs? What are the benefits? What are the requirements? etc ! Content for Organisation Reputation Building: Don´t forget that the website is the channel to promote AIESEC institutionally. You need to have there: What is AIESEC, History, Mission, Values, and updates on current events. ! Language: Don´t use AIESEC terms in the website. ! Traffic Optimisation: Drive your social media traffic to your website and vice-versa. ! Call to Action: Always make sure that your Call-to-action (ex. Sign up button) is conveniently visible on EVERY page.

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Here´s a sample!

AIESEC UK Website: http://www.aiesec.co.uk/

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Twitter: Why to use: Every day, millions of people use Twitter to create, discover and share ideas with others. Organisations are turning to Twitter as an effective way to build connections with their customers. This tool is a great way to connect with your target audiences, to gain insight on what people think about your brand and to promote AIESEC programmes.

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Facebook and Twitter are not the same thing! First of all, you probably have different audiences on both platforms. Facebook allows you to like and comment on posts easily. So if you have something to say that people most likely won’t make the effort to tweet back about, but would click ´like´, use Facebook and not Twitter. But Twitter makes it easier for people to retweet valuable content. You can search the trending content on Twitter to have an understanding on what is shareable content.

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Topics: Share and tweet around leadership, youth, global issues, management to drive conversations on twitter.

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Language: Don´t use AIESEC words or acronyms

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Tips to build traffic and create content: o Hold twitter interviews with local influencers. o Try to use hashtags ,RTs and mentions. Use #AIESEC smartly. o Promote Facebook and Youtube content. o Promote Partners in a smart way aligning them to the organization goals

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o Tweet often, at least 3 per day. (The lifespan of tweets on twitter, is less than that of Facebook Posts! Some pages post up to 10-15 tweets per day!) o Reply to mentioned Tweets o Retweet relevant AIESEC/Non-AIESEC Tweets !

Page Basics: o Keep your profile information updated with website links and general AIESEC Information o Put a sober AIESEC related background

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Call to action: Ensure you have links on your page and posts that direct people to your website or to online sign ups. This will avoid you running social media for social media´s sake. Always have directive pages that drive people to convert to customers.

ONLINE PRESENCE MEASUREMENT

The IMAGE BELOW LISTS POSSIBLE KPI’s and the TRAFFIC Flow of online measurements...

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THIS IMAGE explains how you can plan and track the contribution of your online channels towards achieving ELD Measures of success!

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This Document is an output of the Brand Experience Summit of AIESEC International held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, on 13th-16th of November, 2012.

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