Follow-us - NEETs as Social Media Managers for SMEs

2020 was the year when everything changed. It paused many people’s progress on family and career goals and it forced countless classes, trainings, and even holiday gatherings, either onto Zoom or ...

The projects’ main objective was to use the existing digital and personal skills of NEETs to inspire, motivate and re-integrate them with innovative training-tools, services and methods to develop their skills as Social Media Managers and connect them to SMEs who need their services. By following this win-win strategy, these vulnerable youth found a future career while becoming positive members of society, and SMEs were able to request and use online content for the digital and financial improvement of the organisation. The main objective was achieved through some specific objectives: 1. Connecting and educating NEETs through a motivational training programme of Social Media 2. upskilling social workers in becoming Social Media Trainers through 3. designing - The Follow-us Platform - where NEETS are contacted by SMEs to create social media content and will, therefore, enable them to gain experience and build their own portfolio, 4. providing SMEs with a tool that functions as a Social Media department, that is often limited or even non-existent. The project was also a good opportunity to foster cooperation within regions as it implemented joint initiatives in regions of Europe that are lagging behind.

For the accomplishment of the Follow-us goals, the partnership carried out a detailed plan of activities to implement distributed in 6 different groups: 1. Activities that define the management framework of the project and guide the partnership through the timeframe of the project: These are Project Activities 1 to Project Activities 6 and were as follows: PA1 -Project Management System, PA2 - Management Plan, PA3 - Evaluation Plan, PA4 - Total Quality Management Plan, PA5 - Project Risk Management Plan and PA6 - Dissemination & Exploitation Plan. 2. Activities that were the building blocks of the dissemination strategy and support the projects' impact by widely informing stakeholders about the activities and the Project Results. These were: PA7 - Dissemination Materials (Logo, Posters, Notepads, Pens), PA8 - Project Website, PA9 - Social Media Presence (FaceBook, Twitter), PA10 - Digital news flashes, PA11 - Digital Flyer, PA12 - End of Project Booklet, PA13 - Tutorial Video. 3. Activities that summarized and reported the projects activities for control and monitoring of the planned successes, these were: PA14 - Partner Meeting Minutes, PA15 - Project Evaluation Reports, PA16 - Dissemination Activity Reports, PA17 - Total Quality Management Reports, PA18 - Interim Report, PA19 - Final Report 4. Activities that made possible the tangible outcomes of the Project Results: The Follow us Training Programme (PR1), The Trainer UpSkill Course (PR2), and The Follow-us Platform (PR3). These included all tasks carried out during the research, design, development, testing and improvement of each project results. 5. Activities to enhance collaboration, face-to-face contact, exchange of practices, transnationality, and better quality of Project Results. These included the 4 Transnational Partner Meeting which took place in the 4 participating countries and other planned online meetings in between. 6. Activities to present, explain, disseminate and give visibility to Project Results: These were the multiplier events in its onsite and virtual form, including the National Workshops and seminars, that were vital for the testing and improvement of the Project Results and the Final Conference, which gave an unique opportunity to present the Follow-us tools to stakeholders that will later make an effective use of them.

The Follow-us project presents 3 interconnected tools that make possible NEETs socio inclusion while achieving the digital transition of European SMEs. These are: a) The Follow-us Training Programme for NEETs, with motivational, innovative and interactive content that engaged youth attention. The training Programme was conducted on-site, as NEETs need support and encouragement from the Follow-us Trainers (Socio-Inclusion workers), but also to had access to computers as , in general, this target group struggles to own a digital device that is not a Smart Phone. It delivered the following outcomes: 1. Providing NEETs with a training programme that supports and encourages them to study and work again by making use of motivational resources of Social Media. 2. Enhancing access to training in digital tools and key competences to NEETs and Socio Inclusion workers. 3. Creating a Community of Practice of vulnerable youth willing to become Community Managers. 4. Providing NEETs with accredited Certificates that companies can trust. 5. Undertaking a mapping of single-point of contact agencies in order to reach more young people and disseminate all Project Results. 6. Targeting support to individuals most in need. 7. Providing career guidance to NEETs. 8. Involving NEETs in the design of the Training Programme. 9. Involving Socio Inclusion workers in the design of the Syllabus. b)The Trainer UpSkill Course, that trains and educates Socio Inclusion workers in a new and effective manner to become knowledgeable and successful trainers of the Follow-us Training programme for NEETs. This resulted in the following outcomes: 1. Enabling Socio Inclusion workers to become Social Media trainers. 2. Supporting Socio Inclusion centres with 3 interconnected tools for their users integration. 3. Build a closer relation between NEETs and the Follow-us trainers, as they were the main point of contact from the outreach till the integration phase. - The Follow-us Platform, a Web and Mobile Platform, that allows, on the one hand, SMEs to request free social media services in form of one-off jobs, and on the other hand, young people to offer these services by applying what they have learned in 'The Follow-us Programme for NEETs', with the objective to obtain a Community Manager certificate after successfully completing 10 one-off jobs. The Follow-us Platform: 1. Provides SMEs with a tool that functions as a Social Media department by enabling the selection of young people offering their digital services. 2. Ensures sustainability of the Project Results by constantly updating Network/Partnership based initiatives with new actors. 3. Promotes the use of digital tools in youth education and its potential benefits for SMEs in productivity and competitiveness. The project also produced intangible results which were: 1. Fostered cooperation between the education sector, Socio Inclusion centres, young people and SMEs. 2. Built the trust of NEETs and engaged them with the community. 3. Reduced the unemployment rates of NEETs in the EU. 4. Increased the use of digital tools by SMEs. 5. Changed the minds of SMEs owners on Social Media as, in most of the cases, they were not aware of the importance of using them. 6. Created a Community of Practice to spread the word among vulnerable youth to enrol into the course and to see the possibilities of using Social Media to exit Marginalisation (promoting the peer to peer support).