1. Choosing and Coordinating Multiple
Social Media Channels
Jeffrey Levy
Chief of E-Communications
USCSIS
Rev 2/16

2. Mission, Tools, Metrics, Teach
• Basic outline for any effort:
– New channel launch (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
– Communications campaign
– Educational effort
– Participatory project
• For this talk, we’ll focus on multi-channel
campaigns

3. Mission, Tools, Metrics, Teach
• Who’s your audience?
– Everyone listens to WII-FM
• What are you trying to do with/for/to them?
– Teach them something?
– Move them to action?
– Help them accomplish a task?
– Something else?
• There can be many answers for a single campaign
Until you know, you can’t go on

4. Your Turn
• Take two (2)(II) minutes
• Think about something you want to do in social
media
• Outline the mission goals, starting with audience
• We’ll pick a couple to think through

5. Mission, Tools, Metrics, Teach
• How will you accomplish your mission goals?
• Know the tools
– Fit/purpose
– Strengths
– Weaknesses
– Oddities (example: Twitter will show it to everyone looking right
then, but Facebook won’t)
• Choose the right ones for the job
• Not everything is a nail, so a hammer isn’t always right
– Including social media itself!
“Cool!” isn’t a mission goal, but it’s fun!

6. Jeffrey’s Quick and Dirty Chart
Name Broadcast Comments? Promote
Other?
Live Q&A? Good to know Watch
out for …
Twitter YES! Yes, plus
hashtags
Yes Yes Polls (?) Hashtag
hijacking,
Message
flood
Facebook Yes, but
not to all
fans at
once
Yes Yes Yes, but
harder than
Twitter
Videos directly
in FB are
watched more
Message
flood
YouTube When
promoted
elsewhere
Yes, but
nasty
commentin
g
Yes No Annotations,
multilingual
captions
Do
captions
for 508!
Blog Yes, longer
form
Yes Yes, very
good
Yes, but no
natural
audience
Less formal
place to write
Lots of
effort, low
return?

7. Mission, Tools, Metrics, Teach
• What succeeded
• What missed and can be improved
• What missed and should be tossed
• What new stuff you should try next time
• Know that learning what’s available, pulling
data, and analyzing takes time

8. Mission, Tools, Metrics, Teach
• Many sites offer fantastic metrics
– Twitter
– Facebook
– YouTube
– Maybe your blog
• Learn what’s available *before* you start
• Plan what to gather lest you drown in
numbers
• Don’t do it again without numbers

9. Mission, Tools, Metrics, Teach
• Please teach: listserves, webinars, anything
• We don’t each have time to learn from scratch
• You know more than you think

10. Doing It: Communications Plan
• Audience(s)
• Key Messages
• Mission Goals
• Tools and tactics for all channels, not just
social media
– Think of how various channels can reinforce each
other
• Social media posting plan

11. Social Media Posting Plan:
Who?
• Who will write out the plan?
• Who will write, review, and approve posts?
• Who will post?
– Your agency’s staff?
– Contractors?
– Another agency if collaborating? Cross-posting?

12. Social Media Posting Plan:
What?
• Pull key messages from the comms plan
• REWRITE for social media
• Four Cs
– Concise
– Correct
– Current
– Care: everyone listens to WII-FM
• Careful about length
– Don’t go longer on Facebook vs. Twitter just because you
can
• Plain language

13. Social Media Posting Plan:
Where?
• Where will you post?
– Which sites?
• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Typical users’ interests, demographics
– Which accounts?
• Main agency
• Lower organization
• Local office
– Which languages?

14. Social Media Posting Plan:
When?
• When will you post?
• How many times will you repeat on each site?
• How frequently will you repeat?

15. Social Media Posting Plan:
Examples for When?
• Routine announcement
– Twitter/Facebook on the afternoon of day 1
• Major rollout
– Twitter
• Day 1: 10 am, noon, 4 pm
• Days 2-4: 10 am
– Facebook
• Day 1: 10 am, 4 pm
• Days 2-4: 5 pm

16. Social Media Posting Plan:
Examples for When?
• Two-week participatory project
– Twitter and Facebook
• Day 1: 10 am, 5 pm
• Days 2-6: daily, fit around other posts
• Day 7: reminder post, one week to go!
• Days 8-11: daily, fit around other posts
• Days 12, 13: countdown to end
• Day 14: 10 am, noon, 4 pm with posts written to remind people of
hours left
– Blog
• Day 1: promo post
• Day 7: one week to go!
• Day 14: deadline post

17. Social Media Posting Plan:
How?
• Live?
– Works when interacting live like a Q&A or live
tweeting
– Can be done by anyone from anywhere, including
on their phone
– Can be a burden to have to be real-time
• Via a scheduling site?
– Best for scheduled posts and evergreen info
– Might not be as convenient to access

18. And now a word about …

19. Lack of
guidance on
social media
Mobile Access?
Accessibility.
Section 508.
Govt info on
non-gov’t
servers
Access
blocks
IT Security.
Unproven technology.
FOIA
FACA
Records
management
Information architecture.
Content management systems.
Privacy.
No
Permanent
Cookies.
COPPA.
Copyright.
Official source.
No advertising.
Corporate branding.
Promotion of
outside
organizations.
Procurement
Resources.
Culture.
Knowledge.
Web 2.0 Policy
Augmenting
appropriation.
Soliciting donations.
Anti-Deficiency.

20. AAAARRGGGHHHH

21. Breathe
• Start small and slow
• Make sure you have the resources
• Try one thing and learn before expanding
• Check your metrics to be sure it’s worth it
– And know there’s no magic number that’s right
• As comfort settles in, try something new
• Be patient: culture change, not tech wizardry

22. Resources
• DigitalGov.gov: our own federal resource from
GSA
• Gov’t Social Media Community of Practice
– Justin Herman, justin.herman@gsa.gov
• Go to lunch with:
– Your IT folks
– Your attorneys
– People who have found success

23. Contact Me
• Email: jeffrey.m.levy@uscis.dhs.gov
• Phone: 202-272-2997
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/levyj413
• Slide presentations:
http://www.slideshare.net/levyj413