Leveraging Social Media in Your
Communications Outreach
IAP2 Regional Conference
06.11.09
#IAP209

What gives me the right?
52 25 5

Marqui “pay bloggers” program
Launched an ethical debate in the blogosphere
● Twenty bloggers, three-month contracts
● Established readership, wrote about development
● Post once per week, mention Marqui, flag your post
● $800 / month, we’ll publish everything

Results? Oh, yes…
More than 200 pieces of press

Exposing Myth #1

Maslow’s Hierarchy was wrong
Social connection is more
foundational to our well- being than
food, water and shelter
Emotions are the primary shapers
of our experience and trust

A brief history of marketing

Social media in perspective:
Awareness, engagement

Social media in perspective:
Brand, messaging, sales

Social media in perspective:
Community, choice, confusion

A brief history of social media

2004 - the Year of the Political Blog

2005 - the Year of the Media Blog

FF>> 2009 - collaboration at the
highest levels of government

Social Media + Government = BFF
55% of the entire adult population--went online in
2008 to get involved in the political process or to
get news and information about the election.
33% Shared the information they found - seniors
were especially engaged in sharing with friends and
family
Source: Pew Internet

Listening… first step in making
social connections

Exposing Myth #2

Infrastructure Cost is Falling
Everyone is online - not just ‘kids’
Source: Pew Internet

The aging of social media
participants
You might be surprised to know…
Largest age group on Twitter in Feb. 2009 was
35-49
Comprising almost 42% percent of the
site’s audience
Source: Nielsenwire

Infrastructure Cost is Falling
Social media interactions
Data from Forrester Research Technographics® surveys, 2008. For further details on the Social Technographics profile, see groundswell.forrester.com.

Infrastructure Cost is Falling
What kinds of social media do people use?
Source: Universal McCann

A brief brain fact

This is your brain

This is your brain when stressed
Source: Marsha Shenkman

Exposing Myth #3

Social media is not about tools
and technology…

Social media is about human
interaction and social connections

And it’s about building efficiency
and effectiveness…
Source: MixtMedia

…and (BTW) how ‘bout those
Digital Natives?
93% use the Internet
97% game online, on consoles, on handhelds
75% text message
75% use social networks
28% have their own blogs
41% send pictures from their phones

Some key insights

Learn to let go
Source: Seth Goldstein

Be sensible

Stand roughly there

Plan your escape

Open the switchboard

Avoid excessive verbosity

Advertise socially

Measure your influence

…In other words…
Best practices based on Lessons Learned:
• Mission drives everything, clarity is crucial
• Let policy guide, but not paralyze you
• Know the environment
• Consider a pilot as a proof in concept
• Secure the support of senior leaders
• Create internal, cross functional alignment
• Roll out, don’t launch
• Keep listening, and let what you hear inform your
participation
Source: MixtMedia

A brief primer on search

B. L. O. G…

Getting into the magic “F”
Google (all search engine) spiders love:
Relevant Keywords
• Content should be optimized for search
Fresh Content
• Good sites are updated frequently
• This is where blogs and social media help
Lots of Links
• The key to SEM, SEO and SEMPR

Search: refining over time
70.6%
Source: Comscore, Dec. 2008

Anatomy of a search result
Excerpt
from page
containing
keyword

Anatomy of a search result
More from
same site

Anatomy of a search result
Other sites,
relevant
results

Anatomy of a search result
Images,
video, news
push down
organic
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
results

How is your brain feeling?

Did you know?

A visit with social media tools

Think of it as a house
Facebook
YouTube
Flickr
LinkedIN
Blog
Twitter

Your blog: your living room
Thought leadership, humanize your organization,
invite people to visit and engage on your terms

Twitter: your front yard
Make connections locally, news source, amplify your
messages to like-minded people, invite people “in”

The Cost of Customers is Falling
Constituent interaction
Source: InternetNews 12/10/08

The Cost of Customers is Falling
Open platform for innovation

LinkedIN: your study or office
Find resources, recruit, ask work- or tool-related
questions on the most business-centric social site

Facebook: your family room
Connect with friends and family, amplify your
activities, create and nurture “fans,”
access a highly targeted ad platform

Flickr/YouTube: your media room
Extend your message in multimedia - boost your
search results

And now a word about ethics…

“Ethics is what you do
when no one is looking.”
George Bernard Shaw

Today, someone is always looking…

Three Rules to Remember
Rule #1: Use common sense
Rule #2: When in doubt, don’t
Rule #3: If all else fails, refer to
rule #1

Doris Lee’s Common Sense Rule:

Becomes Managing Your Online Reputation…

Case in Point: Dumb and Dumber

Patrick Doyle’s Response:
in Medium, an Apology, Reflects Disgust

Prepare all employees
Your employee handbook needs updating:
● Covers social media
● Covers IM - anything written to a screen can be
used in discovery
● Explicit responsibilities as Brand Ambassadors,
during and after business hours

Honesty: it’s Simple
Honesty of Relationship: You say who
you're speaking for
Honesty of Opinion: You say what you
believe
Honesty of Identity: You never obscure
your identity

Honesty of Relationship
You say who you're speaking for…

Honesty of Relationship
You say who you're speaking for…

Honesty of Opinion
You say what you believe…

Honesty of Identity
You never obscure your identity…

The social web is self-cleansing
Bloggers and social media participants govern themselves -
witness this week’s Facebook kerfuffle
● Announced new privacy policy on 2/15
● Lasted two days
● Completely trashed in the blogosphere

Memes come and go quickly

So… Step away from the keyboard

Your word is your brand
● Now, more than ever, your word is all you have
● Trust is built through communication and
collaboration and participation
● “Whuffie” is real - you have to give to get

What your lawyers will say
KNOW THE RISKS
RULES OF eDISCOVERY
● eMail, blog posts and even IM get reviewed in
the case of any court discussion
● Blogs must be monitored regularly
• Every eight hours

What your lawyers will say
THE MAJOR RISKS ARE AS FOLLOWS…
1. Harassment issues
2. Confidential information
3. Privacy issues
4. Disparagement issues

Infrastructure Cost is Falling
Basic rule of engagement
Don’t “do” social media until:
You understand why…
You understand how…
You understand where…

How is your brain feeling?

A brief strategy discussion

Five Phases of social media readiness
Phase 1: Discovery
Phase 2: Strategy
Phase 3: Skill Building
Phase 4: Implementation
Phase 5: Maintenance

Discovery
What is your online reputation today?
● How do we want it to change?
● What are the issues that are hot?
● How can we align your events and issues
with conversations happening today?

Strategy
How do we support the mission in social
media?
● From discovery: what do we want to change?
• How is the mission reflected today?
● How do we support our objectives?
● Leadership team willingness: at what level
is the support for social media?
• Driven by leadership
• Driven by communications
• Driven by constituents

Skill Building
Who/where are our social media experts inside
the organization?
● Leadership skills
● Communication skills
• Subject matter experts (SME’s)
• Conversation management experts
● Measurement skills
• Setting the baseline through discovery
• Monthly reports - via internal or external methods
– Engagement
– Awareness
– Amplification
– Issue resolution

Implementation
Pulling the team from around the organization to
launch
● Reliance on IT for infrastructure
• If not, external agencies can set up third-party sites
● Media plan/readiness
• Your expertise will be critical here
• Boosters and fans
● Trial phase - three months recommended
• Start small - with one focused platform
• Roll out to other platforms based on readiness, strategy
– Twitter
– Facebook
– YouTube

Maintenance
Holding hands, course corrections, trial and
error
● Weekly checkins
• One hour meetings - discuss recommendations
● Trial phase - three months recommended
• Listen for chatter, watch reactions, ensure constant
improvements
• Measure results

Is your brain full?

Now I’m Listening…
Janet Johnson
janet@janetleejohnson.com
Blog: www.janetleejohnson.com
Twitter: @janetleejohnson
503.807.8964