Introduction to social media for the Town of Cardston, AB. Created in 2010 and without being able to consult with the client (subcontracted work), I concluded they weren't ready for Facebook (at the time, they had blocked access to Facebook from the town web site). Happy to say I was wrong - the Facebook group page they created for the town now has more members than the town has residents.
2. The tsunami of information
• 20 years ago we were digesting more info in a day
than a mediaeval monk did in a lifetime
• Lifetimes WERE shorter then
• We’re not just flooded by information now, we’re
overwhelmed & can be destroyed by it
• The social media starfish is no longer an octopus –
it’s a many-headed hydra
3. What is social media?
• 140 definitions
• All 140 are valid
• Basically, engaging with stakeholders online is a form
of social media
• Blogs, social networks, Twitter, wikis, photo/video
sharing sites (flickr, YouTube, Vimeo), music sharing
sites (last.fm, blip)
• Creating opportunities for your stakeholders to
engage with you online.
4. What are the benefits of social media?
• It’s extremely cost effective.
• It can replace market research.
• Feedback is almost instantaneous.
5. What’s the downside of social media?
• It’s time-intensive.
• Negative feedback can happen while you’re sleeping.
• In 2010, it’s overwhelmingly vast.
• Twitter
» 5 million Twitter accounts
» Average Twitter user now has 300 followers (January 2010)
• Facebook
» 203 million users.
» Average Facebook user spends 7 hours/month on the site (January 2010)
• Blogs
• 175,000 blogs created every day
• 113 million blogs created to date
• 7.5 million are active
• 70 % of internet users read blogs on a daily basis
8. Listen
• Social media plan developed for Town of
Cardston taps into existing uses of social
media by stakeholders
• Social media policies need to be developed
before diving in
• Staking a claim to name needs to happen
now though – assign a SPOC
9. Listen
• Set up Google Alerts
• Your organization/you
• Your competitors
• Your industry sectors
• Set up RSS feeds
You’ll never keep up with the blogs you should be
reading if you don’t
10. Set up RSS feed for blogs
• www.bloglines.com
• www.newsgator.com
• All you need is an email address and
password
• Activate your account
• Start adding blogs you want to track
11. Setting up Google Alerts
• http://www.google.com/alerts
• Enter search terms: Cardston; Cardston, AB; Town of
Cardston (use “quotes” for complete term)
• Define search type – comprehensive
• Decide how often you want to receive alerts
• Enter email address to which alerts are to be sent
• Create alert
• Check email and activate alert
12. Engage
• Create profiles for your organization
• Create Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and flickr presences, even
if they’re only placemarkers to begin with
• Connect with folks who’ve already expressed interest in Cardston
(Facebook group)
• Start following folks from your various communities on Twitter and
immerse yourself in the culture (southern Albertans, Mormons,
horse and theatre people, museums)
• Don’t be afraid to just watch for a while
• Start develop your own blogging and social media policies –
including your social media MPOC
13. Share
• Start adding content to existing groups (e.g. Cardston Facebook
group)
• Content includes: photos of events, videos, notices of upcoming
events, starting discussion threads
• Pose questions to get the best response
• Create a Cardston group on flickr and invite photographers
who’ve already tagged photos to join a Cardston group
• Create a Twitter account (suggested name, CardstonAB) and
profile that links to the town’s web site
• Start to monitor the conversation about Cardston on Twitter
14. Share 2 – delving deeper on Twitter
• Search for people you know on Twitter
• Start engaging with them
• Check all @ messages and reply to them
• At least read profiles of everyone who starts to follow you – follow
them back if you like what they have to say
• Start tweeting info you’ve discovered that interests you (Google
Alerts and RSS feeds of blog posts are great sources)
• Send some @ messages to people you want to follow you.
• Participate in #chats related to the area using hashtags.
• Tweet links to events posted on the town’s calendar using a
URL shortener – ow.ly, as well as to area events.
15. Sincerity
• Marketing and PR (whether it’s PR1.0 or PR2.0, traditional marketing or
social media marketing) aren’t selling.
• Social media isn’t about selling – it’s about sharing information and
engaging with stakeholders.
• Always try to add value.
• Be transparent – let people see who’s behind the tweet, the blog, the
video, the photo.
• Learn the zeitgeist of the social networks in which you participate.
16. Sincerity 2
• Observe the rules, esp. the unwritten ones.
• Be generous. It costs you no $ and it buys you a tremendous
amount of goodwill.
• This means sharing info of interest to your followers/readers/fans
that isn’t necessarily about you, your town, your events, e.g.
Pincher Creek’s The Gathering – Cowboy Poetry
• Be yourself.
• You’re not one-dimensional.
• Express your enthusiasms.
• Connect with people throughout a broad spectrum.
• Be patient.
• Most ‘overnight successes’ were two or more years in the making.