DC Ag Communicators - Social Media for Agriculture

© 2009 | New Media Strategies www.newmediastrategies.net
Alex Redmond Leslie Bradshaw
Business Development, Mid-Atlantic June 23, 2009 Communications Manager, Public Affairs
DC Ag Communicators – Social Media Overview

Making Sense of Social Media: 7 Areas to Focus On
Emerging Platforms
Wikipedia
Blogs
Cloud Computing
Twitter
Media Sharing
Social Networks
2

Blogs
Not “just a blog” – many considerations:
Your organization’s blog
Influencer blogs
Employee blogs
Coalition / member blogs
Competitor / adversary blogs
Permanent, but imperfect – many decisions:
Software
Engagement strategy
Message and positioning
Intelligence and tracking

Blog Reading Habits of Capitol Hill
70%
Chiefs of Staff/Deputy Chiefs of Staff/Directors
68%
Communications Directors/ Press Secretaries
47%
Legislative Directors/Senior Policy Advisors/Counsel
47%
Legislative Assistants
Legislative Correspondents/Other
42%
Blogs
* Source: National Journal Group, Washington in the Information Age

Local and National Blog Consumption
Local Blogs
Wonkette
42%
49%
Red State
Hotline On Call
35%
42%
Townhall
Daily Kos
29%
39%
Local Blogs
The Corner
24%
32%
Hotline On Call
21%
29%
Talking Points Memo
* Source: National Journal Group, Washington in the Information Age
Blogs
The Note
M. Malkin
20%
23%

States Have Vibrant Blogospheres, Too
Blogs

Logistics

The 6 Steps to Planning and Executing a Digital Campaign
Set goals
Establish team roles
Brand and integrate campaign elements
Scope, research, understand task at hand
Evaluate and select platforms
Document everything

#1 – What Does a Win Look Like?
Basic metrics
Video views, comments and subscriptions
Facebook fans, Wall posts
Visitors and link-backs to your site and/or blog
Blog and Twitter buzz – quantity and impressions
Tonal reaction (positive/negative)
Benchmark reports (beginning/end; weekly/monthly)
How engaged, lasting, meaningful was the experience? (qual.)
Campaign-dependent metrics
Units sold
Actions taken (e.g., petition, contesting, etc.)
Voters, constituents, consumers, students or decision makers influenced
Lasting, Google-able resources
Launching point for future efforts

photo
NMS METHODOLOGY: This is How We Do It
AGGREGATE
social
websites
bookmarking
ANALYZE
blogs
message
FILTER
boards
social
networks
emerging
ACTIONABLE INTELLIGENCE
platforms
video

#2 – Establish Team Roles
Team: Community / Communications Management
Role: Communicates on behalf of the campaign, under their own name, everywhere online (think: touchy-feely spokesperson); Ensures that message and aesthetics are consistent across entire campaign (on and offline); supports Community & Profile team
Involvement: 2 – 3 people
Team: Profile Management
Role: Populates profiles with content; works with / as Community Managers; maintains and interacts continuously
Team: Metrics, Reporting, Tracking, Innovating
Role: Ensures that goals are being set and met; makes recommendations to recalibrate based on results, emerging platforms and new goals

CHALLENGE: Digital and Geographic Divides
Solution: Communications Team
Tactic: Point people in DC manage and solicit content from Farmers
Solution: Profile Management Team
Tactic: Meet with Farmers once a quarter to scope out an approved set of messages and topics; adjust and update as needed
Solution: Editorial Calendar
Tactic: Create a master calendar for posting to platforms (e.g., blog post, tweets, etc.); receive posts from Farmers via Communications team (need only be emailed; “photo attached” would be great, too); post for / as approved Farmers
Solution: Digital Press Events
Tactic: Invite bloggers to the farm; encourage photo and video creation; create universal tag so content can be aggregated

6 Tips: Social Media for Agriculture
ON THE FARM CASE STUDY: Leslie’s Family’s Farm

DIGITAL PRESS EVENT CASE STUDY: Intel
Worked with Intel to invite influential bloggers and media makers onsite to ISEF, resulting in:
776 photos on Flickr
160 blog posts and tweets
Production of nearly 40 YouTube videos
20 audio recordings of interviews with attendees
Helped manage and organize interested online communities, facilitating new connections
Reached over 1.5 million viewers
Created lasting online resources and relationships
Shifted previous perceptions about Intel and its dedication to education

Specific Platforms

Twitter
What is it?
Permanency of blogging
Utility of emailing
Sociality of Facebook
Agility of text / IMing
Why join?
Disseminate information
Converse and share
Build a network
Gain insights
Who uses it?
The media
Politicians
C-level executives; decision makers
Brands and organizations
Online influentials

In Fact, Twitter Has Its Own Ecosystem & Economy

Organic Interest:
Media & Blog Stories: 7,000+
Twitter Posts: 10,000+
Results:
3.8 million Impressions
55,000 Facebook users
10,000+ Pledges
16,000 video views
100+ blog posts
1,200 Tweets
“The president made an offhand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics.”
- Spokesman Bill Burton
High-Profile
Twitter Placements:
John Mayer
Rosalind Wiseman
Chicago Tribune
Fox5 (lead to on-air)
“I bowled a 129. … It’s like – it was like Special Olympics, or something.”
- President Obama
March 19
Jay Leno Show
March 20
Story explodes
March 31
Special Olympics
launches social media campaign with help from NMS
TWITTER CASE STUDY: The Special Olympics
April 1 - Today
Conversation continues…

Social Networks
What is out there?
Facebook – friends
Twitter – communications
Ning – organizations
LinkedIn – colleagues
MySpace – A & E
MeetUp – offline
So I have a page, now what?
Upload your contacts
Relax the reins
Spark two-way conversations
It’s a garden: plant, water, weed, maintain; repeat.

News Updates
Targeted Ads
Thousands of Click-Thrus
Shared Links
Dozens of Wall Posts
2,200+ Members
Donation Motivation:
1 Twitter follower = 100 liters of water
1 Facebook member = 100 liters of water
FACEBOOK CASE STUDY: ACC / Drinking Water

Media Sharing
Video – what is out there?
YouTube – massive reach
Vimeo – customizable
Viddler – interactive
Photo – what is out there?
Flickr – open network
SmugMug – closed network
Twitter applications – Twitpic, Utterli
Why you need it:
A picture is worth…
Tell your story; create a lasting resource
Make it compelling; short and something you’d pass on
Create assets to share with on and offline media outlets

“ALL CYLINDERS” CASE STUDY: C-SPAN
Transformed their image in the eyes of online influencers and tech communities
Reengaged their core political audience through embeddable video and blogger link-backs
Exchanged their limited advertising budget for social capital, search engine optimization (SEO), brand awareness and historical, lasting resources
300+ blog placements; 600+ inbound links; millions of online views
Blogs
Social Networks
Twitter
Media Sharing
22

Wikipedia
What are wikis?
Collaborative resource
Relies on “wisdom of the crowds”
Not always accurate, buuuuut…
Read: Here Comes Everybody (Clay Shirky)
Why you need them:
Define the debate at point of research: Wikipedia
Replace internal intranets
Create a puzzle-piece mentality that encourages more participation and knowledge-sharing
Enable easy access
Document evolution and keep definitions dynamic (e.g., of your issue / organization)

What tools are available?
Google Docs
Google Reader / RSS
Slideshare
Delicious
YouSendIt
TinyURLs (recommended: bit.ly)
“Share This”
Why you need them:
Cost effective ($0)
Accessible anywhere
Time-saving
Searchable; can make public
Cloud Computing

What to watch for?
Aggregation (FriendFeed)
Portability (Facebook Connect)
Authentication (OpenID)
Integration (Google Connect)
Mobile (iPhone and BlackBerry apps)
“Life streaming” (Qik, USTREAM)
Status-o-sphere (Facebook, Twitter)
Blogosphere segmentation (state level, interest based)
What will continue to evolve?
Boundaries: Personal / Private / Professional / Organizational
Sharing: Anonymity / Transparency / Intimacy / Translucency
Connectivity: Portable / Integrated / Aggregated / Authenticated
Emerging Platforms

Closing

5 Things You Can Do Immediately
Share content, but not over email. Instead, use a single account on Delicious to store, share and tag relevant stories.
Tips: These can be public or private (just click the “do not share” box).
Add unlimited # of tags to help build context. Detailed repository.
URL:http://delicious.com (also: most stories have multiple “share this” functions)
Build a blogger media list; create an engagement strategy. Identify bloggers most interested in your issues and include them early and often on breaking news, surrogate interviews and other initiatives.
Tips: Treat bloggers like journalists, but don’t expect them to always perform like non-biased reporters. Consider having your surrogate’s blogs link back to the blogs on your list. Reciprocity rules.
URLs:http://blogsearch.google.com (more results) and http://technorati.com (includes authority)
Monitor Twitter. The most instant and social conversations going on about your issues are on Twitter. Blogs lag. Facebook is closed, sometimes blocked.
Tips: On Twitter, you can take immediate action. For key conversers, investigate the Twitterer’s # of followers and if they have a blog. Have a strategy to engage / respond if needed.
URLs:http://search.twitter.com (basic search) & http://tweetgrid.com (up to 9 terms at once)

5 Things You Can Do Immediately (cont’d)
Place digital Op-Eds with influential blogs. Facing a limited “real estate” issue? Editorial Board uninterested? You can be just as effective by placing a guest post on state and / or national blogs. Once place, pivot back to MSM.
Tips: Have surrogates pen for the web – links, photos and embedded videos are excepted.
Sample sites:Huffington Post, Medical News Today, Health Bolt, My Family Doctor
Have Farmers maintain a daily / weekly “diary.” Basically a blog, but in established communities with lots of activity. More efficient; good workaround.
Tips: If your content is consistent and strong, and you’ve made contacts with the site administrator’s, you can get “front paged” (i.e., have your content featured on the homepage). To build credibility: make sure to comment on posts by others.
URLs for top diary sites:http://RedState.com and http://TheNextRight.com (right-of-center); http://DailyKos.com, http://MyDD.com and http://TalkingPointsMemo.com (left-of-center); http://SoapBlox.com (state level and left-of-center)

6 Closing Thoughts
Authenticity and transparency rule the day. When you are transparent, you are credible. When you are credible, you maximize your results.
Try to workaround, not eliminate. Stuck on Twitter? Try a disclaimer: ‘Tweets from our friends do not necessarily represent the views of healthfinder.gov.’ Unable to access actual site? Use search engines.
You get out what you put in. Social media is a like a pet, not furniture. Nurture, don’t walk away.
The marketplace is now a conversation.Are you listening, do you have a voice? And like with any conversation, listening is key.
It’s a relationship, are you committed? The true value of participating online is in the ability to build lasting, meaningful ties.
To make it work in the long run, you need infrastructure. In order to circulate your content and maximize what social media has to offer, you need to have a plan and multiple pathways. Start slow, integrate and don’t over-commit.

Thank you. Questions?
Leslie Bradshaw
Blog: www.lesliebradshaw.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/lesliebradshaw
Twitter: www.twitter.com/LeslieBradshaw
Email: lbradshaw@newmediastrategies.net
Phone: 703-253-0050 x 187
Alex Redmond
NMS Blog: www.newmediastrategies.net/blog
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ajredmond
Twitter: http://twitter.com/AlexRedmond
Email: aredmond@newmediastrategies.net
Phone: 703-253-0050 x 195

DC Ag Communicators - Social Media for Agriculture

by Leslie Bradshaw on Nov 07, 2009

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

3 Embeds 4

Statistics

DC Ag Communicators - Social Media for Agriculture — Presentation Transcript

http://paris20.psst.pro	2
http://www.slideshare.net	1
http://www.levidepoches.fr	1