Introduction to Social Media Tools / Forum One Communications

Introduction to Social Media ToolsJuly 2009Bill Johnston – Forum One Networks

Today’s Topics
Social Media Strategy
Online Presence Framework
Social Media Tools Overview
Blogs / Microblogging (a.k.a Twitter)
Social Networks
Photo & Video Sharing
Social Bookmarking
Podcasting
Wikis & Social Documents

‘If you don't know where you are going,any road will get you there.'
Common Objections:
Time required
Audience
Effectiveness
Loss of message control
Relevance
Solution = Strategy (Focus)
Key Strategy Components:
Org’s communication goals
Audience’s needs & preferences
Presence framework
Policies
Start By Listening (and Discovery)

What are you trying to accomplish?
Some Examples:
Listening
Learning
Connecting
Educating
Building awareness
Fundraising
Finding / empowering evangelists
Reaching younger demographic
Reaching traditional media

Key Tools

Home Base –Priority 1 (50% of your time budget)
“Social” portion of your hosted presence
Outposts – Priority 2 (40% of your time budget)
Key social sites that you actively participate in
Passports – Priority 3 (10% of your time budget)
Profiles on lower priority social sites
Mostly to listen, occasionally participate
Note: Presence management framework derived from original work by Chris Brogan

Presence Framework

Social Media Tools Overview

Blogs & Microblogging

Blogs
An online journal featuring
opinion and commentary.
Blogs are a “voice”…and a
commitment!
Important compliment to the “official” site
Opportunity for more conversational / experimental content
Our “oral tradition” – building social capital via storytelling
Power lies in interaction: comments, trackbacks and cross-linking

Starting a Blog
Listen
Participate (via Comments)
Decide
Goals
Name
Approach
Editors
Schedule
Metrics of Success

Blogs
RWJF Blogs:
Health Reform: http://rwjfblogs.typepad.com/healthreform/
Pioneer Portfolio: http://blogs.rwjf.org/
Reclaiming Futures: http://blog.reclaimingfutures.org/
Others of note:
WSJ Health Blog: http://blogs.wsj.com/health/
Chicago Tribune Health Blog: http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/triage/
National Journal Health Care Blog: http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/
Health Affairs Blog: http://healthaffairs.org/blog/
Paul Krugman: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/
The Health Care Blog: http://www.thehealthcareblog.com/

Microblogging & Twitter
Short (140 character) status updates.
Conversation-based relationships, built one tweet at a time.
Listening
Exposure for your org
Find relationships
Blog amplifier
Online mobilization
Getting Started
Find & follow the leaders
Add your contacts
Retweet
Reply
Ask questions
Post links / original thoughts

Social Networks

Social Networks
Connecting via existing relationships &
discovering via shared interests &
experiences
Common Elements:
Profile
Wall
News Feed
Friends
Friend Suggestions

LinkedIn
De-facto online professional
network
An interactive CV

Professional profile (+external content)
Contacts (1st – 3rd degree)
Recommendations
Groups
Events
Q&A
Job Postings

Getting Started

Create your profile
Add connections
Creating a group is low cost / low impact way to experiment

Facebook
Largest Social Network: Over 1
Million members sign in daily
Profile-based experience;
“friends” + “fans” builds network

Personal profile
Organization Fan Pages
Groups
Applications
Advertising
Facebook Connect
Younger audience: 80% 34 y/o >

Getting Started

Create your FB profile, add friends
Review groups and fan pages
Fan page a low cost / low impact way to experiment

Powerful media creation and
distribution tools for everyone
Photos and Video are more
Engaging than text
Provide a sense of immediacy and
intimacy
Creation, Management &
Distribution

Upload & store (of course)
Privacy management
Tags
Comments
Geotagging
Channels / Sets
RSS

Flickr
Photo sharing category leader
Site to share photos & short form video
Members can upload, comment, tag, geotag
Groups
Contacts (friends)
Opportunity for visual narrative – photo essays
Free / Pay Options

YouTube
Video sharing category leader
Members can upload, comment, tag
Channels
Contacts (friends)
Informal and produced content (shows)
Free (w/ Advertising)
Honorable mention: blip.tv

Social Bookmarking

Social Bookmarks:
Social bookmarks are used to tag
and annotate content
Content discovery
Publish content streams (RSS)
Helps SEO
Tools:
Technorati – http://www.technorati.com
Delicious – http://www.delicious.com
Digg – http://www.digg.com
StumbleUpon – http://www.stumbleupon.com

Social Documents

SlideShare
Share, present and distribute
presentation files
Members can post, comment, favorite
Create slidecastw/ voiceover
Tools to embed / distribute
Paid option to capture leads

Scribd
Largest social publisher of
documents.
Emerging as the category leader in document publishing
Members can read, publish, comment, and share
Great for research, whitepapers and articles

Wikis
What wikis do well:
Private groups (intranets)
People that know each other
Co-assembly (as opposed to co-editing)
Non-sensitive topics
Great for refining a topic
Not great for general collaboration
(The curse of Wikipedia)

Podcasting

Podcasting
Audio-based series of journals /
Programs
Generally recorded live
Can be used to repurpose audio portion of events, lectures, etc
Many podcast directories, including itunes
Production can be time consuming
Tools like Utterli can be used for lo-fi recording

Resources

Resources
Chris Brogan – http://www.chrisbrogan.com
Online Community Report – http://www.ocreport.com
The Buzz Building – http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/
Influence – http://influence.forumone.com/
ReadWriteWeb– http://www.readwriteweb.com
Mashable! – http://www.mashable.com
360 Digital Influence - http://blog.ogilvypr.com/
Beth Kanter’s Blog – http://beth.typepad.com

Getting Started: Newbie to Maven in 1 Hour
Set up a Google Reader Account (5 Minutes)
Set up a LinkedIn or Facebook Profile (15 minutes)
Create a Twitter account (15 minutes)
Start listening & connecting (25 minutes)
http://search.twitter.com/
http://twitter.com/invitations/find_on_twitter
http://www.google.com/alerts
http://blogsearch.google.com/
http://alltop.com/

Resources
Online Community Research Network
http://www.onlinecommunityresearch.com
Forum One Networks: Services
http://www.forumonenetworks.com/services
Follow Bill:
@billjohnston & @ocreport - #octribe
Contact Bill:
bjohnston@forumone.com
415.299.9638

Questions?