In February 2010 we launched our Facebook and Twitter pages, and in April of last year we launched our Faces of COPD blog. Our mission was to create pages to serve as a platform where individuals with COPD could communicate in an online forum.
As of this fall, our Facebook Causes page has well over 7,000 members, our Facebook fan page has over 2,000 “Likes” and our Twitter page has over 2,000 followers—and we continue to grow. These are great accomplishments for the community because it has allowed individuals to connect to our organization and the greater COPD community. We offer a platform where individuals can pose questions, offer support to others and share their experiences and information.
Due to our social media outreach, we’ve been able to increase the number of advocates who utilize Operation 435 to reach out to their local representatives. We’ve also been able to reach individuals through Facebook, Twitter, and our blog with information to take to their doctor. Through Twitter, we’ve been able to establish relationships with individuals in other organizations as well as individuals who have COPD or have a loved one with COPD, to write guest blog posts about their experiences.
Many individuals have opened up and shared their stories—exemplifying what our social media strategy is all about—creating an open online community that welcomes everyone.
To access our Facebook fan page, visit: www.facebook.com. If you click the “Like” button at the top of our page, you will be able to access all of our content. You will first see our “Wall” where you can post questions, stories, photos—anything you want related to COPD. We respond to as many of these messages as we can. To access our Facebook Causes page, visit: www.causes.com. On our page, you will see a big green button that says “Join Cause.” Once you do this, you will have access to our page, and can post stories related to COPD.
To follow us on Twitter, you simply have to set up your own account through www.twitter.com. Once you have this, look for us under @COPDFoundation, and click the green “Follow” button. A?er you do this, all of our Tweets will post to your newsfeed, so you can keep up-to-date with Foundation news.
Our Faces of COPD blog can be accessed at: www.blog.copdfoundation.org. Once you go to this link, you can search articles by month, or topic, as listed on the right-hand side of your screen. If you are looking for a particular story, type your keywords (i.e. smoking cessation, pulmonary rehab, etc.) into the “Search” bar at the top right hand corner, and all the blogs with those keywords will pop up. We blog 2-3 times a week, and cover stories from what’s going on in the news with COPD to profiles of individuals with COPD. If you ever have ideas for this blog, please send an email to Katelyn Harding at kharding@copdfoundation.org. If you have further questions about any of these social media platforms, please call our C.O.P.D. Information Line at (866) 316-2673 and they will be able to guide you.
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