Area Team Webpages, Social Media Profiles, and Community Support

Objectives of an AFS Team Webpage

To promote local events and news, provide information about scholarships regionally available, and serve as a resource for local volunteers and host families (in accordance with AFS media policy guidelines). Team pages are housed on afsusa.org and can be found here at afsusa.org/team.

Webpage Tips

1. Does your page cover all the basics, so that a new visitor could understand what your area team does, and its relation to AFS-USA? If not, here is some basic info you could incorporate:
   • About AFS (history and up-to-date statistics)
   • About your Area Team
   • Discover More (with links to other afsusa.org website pages)
   • Links to your team's or AFS-USA Social Media pages
     
     
2. Check that all links are working and direct site visitors to the right place; here are some important links to include:
   • afsusa.org/study-abroad
   • afsusa.org/host
   • afsusa.org/volunteer
   • afsusa.org/educators
     
     
3. If the content is not evergreen, make sure you send edits to marketing@afsusa.org.
   • If a google calendar is embedded, make sure you are updating the calendar and notifying marketing staff if changes are made.
     
     
4. Flickr albums on your team page highlight photos you've sent to us.
   • To add photos, email them to marketing@afsusa.org and make sure to indicate they are for your team's page. Please make sure you have permission to use them.
   • There are pre-approved images on the AFS Flickr page for your use: flickr.com/photos/afsusa
     
     
5. Make sure links to AFS- USA Social Media pages are accurate and functioning:
   
   • Facebook (you can also link to your Area Team’s Facebook page if you have one, as long as the content is appropriate for public sharing)
   • Instagram
   • Twitter
   • LinkedIn
   • YouTube Channel

*Helpful Hint: Assign a “Webmaster” or someone in your Area Team dedicated to maintaining your Area Team Webpage. Need help locating your Area Team page? Contact marketing@afsusa.org.

Area Team Social Media Support

Connecting with other Area Team volunteers can be beneficial for many reasons. AFS-USA has established a Workplace group specifically for volunteers who are managing social media and marketing-related tasks to collaborate, ask questions, and draw inspiration from each other. AFS-USA marketing staff moderates this group to provide marketing tips and be directly available for questions.

If you are a volunteer who manages social media profiles or works on other marketing/communications-related tasks, please request to join our AFS-USA Social Media & Marketing Workplace group to stay connected and find support.

Volunteers Managing Social Media Accounts

Most Area Teams have one or two volunteers who manage their social media accounts. However, some teams may have inactive social media profiles due to a smaller volunteer base or previous social media managers leaving the team. Many of our Area Teams already have an engaging social media presence that helps to promote AFS and keep their community connected.

Please contact us at marketing@afsusa.org if you create a new social media account for your team.