This presentation is for the annual meeting of the Association of Independent Research Institutes, for a panel called, "Across the Twitterverse." Here is the description of the session: Websites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter … Communications and development professionals agree that the rise of social media is changing the way we reach our constituents, and the way they reach us. How do we select the best vehicles and platforms, manage our outreach and measure our effectiveness? This session will explore best practices in using technology in communications.

1. +
Science &
Social
Media
Research Communication
via Social Media at NCI
Brooke Layne Hardison, M.P.H.
Media Relations Analyst, National Cancer
Institute
October 1, 2012 | AIRI Meeting

2. +
NCI’s Approach to Social Media
Facebook Twitter
 Semi-centralized approach  Decentralized approach
 Enterprise pages in English and  Program staff work with OCE to
in Spanish maintain consistent branding &
policies
 News-only page
 Account managers are responsible
 Enterprise pages are run by teams for content and responses
in the Office of Communications
and Education (OCE)
 Comment review and response
handled by Cancer Information YouTube
Specialist (contractors behind 1-  Network approach
800-4-CANCER)  Main channel (ncigov) “favorites”
videos from other channels
 News page run by social media
 Channel “themes” match the tabs on
specialist (me) in the Office of
the NCI website (cancer.gov)
Public Affairs & Research
Communication (OPARC)  News channel managed by social
media specialist in OPARC (me, again)
 All other channels managed by OCE

3. +
Cancer Research
Communication
NCI’s News Center
• press releases
• feature stories
• daily news from the NCI-
designated Cancer Centers
• spotlight stories on scientists
We use social media to:
• disseminate news content
• demonstrate the breadth of
NCI’s research portfolio
• Highlight research progress

4. +
NCI on Facebook
English page, Spanish page & the News page
21,000 total “likes” plus several hundred
organizational likes across three pages.
700,000 total impressions per month
Divisions & offices send info to the Facebook
team for consideration on the general pages
News page includes news from NCI and the 67
NCI-designated Cancer Centers.
We tag the institutions Facebook page when
possible
Other institutions included when there is a
mention of a center in the release (coauthors)

5. + @theNCI
@NCImedia
@NCIBulletin
@NCIBiospecimens
@NCICancerCtrl
@NCICompOnc
@NCIespanol
@NCIExhibits
NCI on @NCIHINTS
Twitter @NCImcMedia
@NCI_NCIP
Programs have their @NCI_NCCCP
own accounts
@NCIPhySci
99,449 total followers @NCIprevention
NCImedia alone: @NCIsbir
52,393 accounts @NCISymptomMgmt
reached weekly @NCITechTransfer
211,707 weekly @NCItrialsatNIH
impressions
@PresCancerPanel
News from NCI
@TCGAupdates
and the NCI-
designated Cancer @SmokefreeGov
Centers (with @SmokefreeTeen
@mentions)
@SmokefreeWomen

6. +
NCI on YouTube
Network of nine topic-based channels
524,958 lifetime views
News channel (NCInews)
70% of the total views for NCI
15,000 views per month
Interviews with scientists, b-roll, event
footage (no scripts)
All news videos produced in-house
using Cannon DSLRs & iMovie

7. Items popular on NCI’s social media pages:
+  Posts with images – the more unique,
the better
 On Facebook, images with photos get
twice the engagement
 Videos that explain complex topics or
demonstrate clinical experiences
(sigmoidoscopy, radiology exams)
 Science explained in simple terms
What to post
 Behavioral & prevention science
For our audiences, items that are
popular on Facebook tend to be
(nutrition, exercise, sun protection)
popular on Twitter as well.
 Science with immediate clinical
implications
On YouTube, people like videos that
help them understand the science
 Science related to common cancers or
those with large online communities
(breast, prostate, pancreatic)

8. +  Facebook
 9:00 pm – 10:00 pm has the highest
engagement (in each time zone)
 8:00 am – 10:00 am has the second
highest engagement
 Post at least once per week. Once a
day would be better.
 If you have more than one item in a
day, space them out.
When to post  Twitter
Facebook and Twitter are more time  Peak times for news-related posts:
sensitive that YouTube.
 Morning Coffee
 Lunch Break
 Toward the end of the work day
 Twitter users tolerate frequent posts,
so online chats or constant posts from
a meeting work better here.

9. +  Cross-promotion: Including mentions/tags
for your collaborators & journals (and even
funders!) increases your exposure
 On Facebook, your post will appear on
the other org’s pages
 On Twitter, your post will appear in
searches for the other org, and increases
the likelihood of ReTweets.
 Scheduling allows for posting during non-
work hours
Other considerations  Facebook & YouTube allow for
Ways to increase your engagement
scheduling on their websites
 Schedule Twitter posts using third-party
clients (Hootsuite & TweetDeck)
 Smartphone apps can monitor for fan
posts & comments during off-hours
 Hashtags and aggregation tools can be
used to bring more attention to your
activities and campaigns
 Aggregators: Paper.li, storify.com

10. +  Applications
 Tweetdeck.com (web or
desktop/phone, display lists in
columns)
 Hootsuite (web-only, add your own
thumbnail images on Facebook)
 Social media news sources
 Mashable.com
 AllFacebook.com
Resources  Facebook.com/Facebook
a.k.a. A few of my favorite things  Twitter.com/twitter
 Help, Guidance & Best Practices
 Facebook pages: Nonprofits,
government, FacebookPages
 Twitter accounts: @twittercomms,
@twittermedia, @gov, @support

11. +  NCI enterprise social media channels
 www.facebook.com/cancer.gov
 www.twitter.com/theNCI
 http://www.youtube.com/ncigov
 News-specific social media channels
 www.facebook.com/NCImedia
 www.twitter.com/NCImedia
 Directory of NIH social media channels:
Links http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
Where to find us
 Directory of HHS social media channels:
http://newmedia.hhs.gov/tools/

12. +
Contact
@BrookeLayne on twitter
facebook.com/brookelayne
Brooke.Hardison@nih.gov
Slides will be posted on slideshare.net/brookelayne