1. Social Media The greatest hits of the best practices

2. Social media isn’t a cure Are there times when you shouldn’t be using social media? High-ticket businesses: few customers who spend tens of millions; more personal contact is better Management-employees are constantly at odds Management constantly filters communication Don't do social media just to do social media. Have a purpose, and more than to distribute a press release. Privacy and regulatory concerns: Lawyers?

3. Social media is good for an organization’s SOCIAL presence, and…

4. Connecting unaffiliated people interested in similar things

5. Delivering superficial messages

6. Keeping people up-to-date

7. Listening and responding

8. When social media makes sense Think before you leap! What will be different in 3, 6, 12 months as a result of our [insert social media tool here] account? Who are we hoping to connect with? What kind of information is interesting to them? What’s the best format? What might go wrong? What expectations might people have of us?

9. Plan the planning of the plan Have goals and objectives This will help you evaluate impact Twitter strategy example Set guidelines and policy Social media policies of 113 orgs How do your audiences use social media? This will help determine the approach

11. Plan the planning of the plan How will you be human? How will you let your guard down? Can you accept other people orchestrating the conversation? Develop a system for managing it Five Tools for Franchises http://www.atomkeep.com/ http://hootsuite.com/

12. Individual vs. Branded Twitter Accounts? Branded accounts seem less human and transparent, but individual accounts may not always promote best interest of the org. Branded strategies Gov agencies are usually better off with a branded account Staffed by a team of employees (better) http://twitter.com/toyota, http://twitter.com/razorfish Individual strategies @YourName, Communications Director of XYZ co. What happens when Mr./Mrs. Your Name leaves the company? @first-name-atDell (better)

13. Reciprocation Stay away from “bot” tactics! Organization’s can gain trust after it provides a lot of free value to people Social proof Most of us are impressed with people who have a lot of friends, followers, subscribers, youtube views, blog comments, etc. Liking Attractiveness creates a halo effect (good design) We like people who are similar to us (importance of humanness) We like people who compliment us, legitimately Consistency Commit to consistent engagement General Persuasive Strategies

14. What is Facebook good for? Fan page: Red Cross Good for main presence and mass communication No limit on membership, anyone can join/like Administrators appear as the business when posting Resembles a regular profile page Indexed by external search engines Ads publicize the relationship between user and the page Embeds analytics and tracking

15. What is Facebook good for? Facebook Group (Red Cross Family) Good for smaller group communication, especially INTERNAL comm. Share common interests and express opinions Membership capped at 5,000 members. Administrators appear as themselves when posting. Are not indexed by external search engines. Have more control over who joins by setting for member approval Can have general ads on the page Cannot use analytics and tracking Does not resemble a regular profile page

16. Facebook Tips Page name should be short, sweet and accurate Content is the lifeblood: If you aren’t active, it defeats the purpose of having one Provide behind the scenes content Offer people something for joining Empower pre-existing pages and groups Coca Cola example Tap into the demographics Use Fan Page analytics: Insight (embedded) or Google Analytics http://www.quantcast.com/facebook.com/demographics

17. Handling Sticky Situations Nestle example Chipotle example Remember your PR etiquette! Great advice Allowing vs. removing wall post feature? No wall? Why do you have a Facebook page?

18. What is Twitter good for? More of an information network driven by “the people” than a social network Connecting with different demographic than Facebook Providing short, more frequent posts Imagine it like an “always-on” newsletter Emphasizing the humanness of your brand/organization; more like an asynchronous chat with people Link to blog posts, website news articles, make announcements Less distraction than Facebook (offers less detail and means of communicating), more conversation

19. What is Twitter good for? Easier to listen, more public access to conversations Twitter users are more likely to recommend brands and orgs they follow than Facebook users are to recommend those that they are fans of People’s social network differs between Facebook and Twitter Character limit forces you to hone in on the essence of your message Communicate with new groups of people

20. Deciphering Twitter Tweet: 140-character message @name: User or tweeter (e.g., @kmabrams is me) Follow: Act of adding a person to your community Tweeps: People in your community (followers) DM: Direct message (private like e-mail) Re-tweet: Forwarding someone else’s tweet @ reply: Public message to designated user for others to see Unfollow: Act of dropping tweeps Hashtag (#): Defined subject area Block: Not allowing follower Tweet-up: Meeting of tweeters (usually live, such as one at Commodity Classic) Chat: Streaming conversation, usually at designated time

21. Twitter Tips Don’t just make it a venue to promote press releases Listen and respond as much as you talk RT and comment (reciprocity and compliment all in 1) Categorize tweets for added visibility Events, conferences, popular topics (#ag) Use shorthand Provide exclusive information different from other social media and online presence

22. YouTube Tips Post videos that get people talking and stay involved in comments Partner up with other organizations and help promote each other Keep it fresh and short (< 3 minutes) Comedic relief is always a plus Be genuine and compelling with your video content Be useful to educators Should be produced and edited fairly decently

23. Who reads blogs?

24. What’s blogging good for? More influential than other types of social media Space to fully express ideas through words, images, video, and linking Sharing personalized viewpoint and expertise Discussing issues of importance to the organization Providing in-depth commentary to a community Sparking debate and gaining feedback Providing additional value to people More one-way communication, unless you stay active with responding to comments

25. Blogging Tips Prompt comments in the blog What suggestions do you have? What is your experience? What do you think? Integrate multimedia Be creative, catchy, and informative with your blog post titles You have the space, but that doesn’t mean write a novel Readers like subheadings, short paragraphs, bullet point lists, bolding of important/key points Many will scan, few will read with gripping intensity

26. Online Presence Cross promote! But don’t constantly stream only one type of content over all mediums People use social media to keep updated on things they like or find useful, but they may not always check your website. Website should explicitly connect people to their other forms of online presence Websites should be well designed and easy to navigate and find information

27. How does social media fit Foundation is often a solid website for customers and media. Web Social media Internet marketing “Traditional” media Leveraging relationships and networks. Raw and open feedback. Tapping into existing social networks. Paid advertising on other sites, online media relations, search ads, pay per click

28. Measuring Impact Traditional is limited # of users Visit frequency Active users % of returning users Geo-socio-demographics (gender, age, “soccer mom”, geographics) # of comments or # of content uploaded New avenues Activation: # apps installed (FB, phones) % of active users/total (chart this over time) Conversation Time to reach virality(friends of friends/followers of followers) Engagement duration Brand or keyword mentions (+/-, content) Bounce rate Where are they coming from?

29. Measuring Impact How? http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/62067 Built-in tools Hootsuite.com

30. Summary Have a plan; have a reason Choose and use social media wisely How do your audiences use it? Content is king, but so is responding Cross promote various online venues Use your plan to measure impact Take advantage of evaluation and analytic tools