Telling A Story On Social Media

Telling a Story with Social Media

Ann TreacyTreacy Information Services

atreacy@treacyinfo.com

It’s where the people are…

If you aren’t telling your story online someone else is.

Search for your name to see if there’s a discussion already happening

Establish your Story

• What is your story?• Who do you want to hear it?

(Know the demographics)• Who’s going to tell it?• Find your voice

"When you write, you make a sound in the reader's head. It can be a dull mumble … or it can be a joyful noise, a sly whisper, a throb of passion."

- Russell Baker, U.S. columnist and journalist

http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/mnvoices

Find the Right Tool(s)

• What tools suit your talents, time and story?

• What is your target market using?

• How much control do you need/want?

Anatomy of a Blog

Widget

Widget

Widget

Widget

Post: most recent first.Under Post:1. Leave a Comment2. Categories 3. Permalink4. Author

Static Page

Blogging

• Think of it as chapters in a book. Let your story unfold.

• Hear from an expert

Blog Logistics

• www.wordpress.com– Follow the instructions

• Use your voice• Use pictures, video,

audio• Tell people about your

blog

Mini-Lesson: Google Alerts

Anatomy of Twitter

What I see when I login

Where you type your 140 Character Tweet

Tweet

Shortcuts:@annt – to reply or shout out to someone#mnbb09 – to add a subject to your tweetRT (ReTweet) – like an email forward

Anatomy of Twitter

What can you do? What you see when you visit• Update your story• Follow people who add to

or further your story• Find people talking about

your story• Find people who are in your

area (and should know your story)

Twitter Logistics

• www.twitter.com – Follow instructions– Complete your profile!– Upload a picture

• http://search.twitter.com/advanced– Find fellow Twits

Mini Lesson - RSS: Really Simple Syndication

A family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format

Flickr

• Save, store, share photos• Add pictures to your story• Create groups, invite

others to share photos add to the stories

• Embed photos into other sites to spread the story

• www.flickr.com• www.picasa.com

Feeds to

YouTube

• Animate your story• Content trumps quality• Keep it short & focused• Invite others to use your

video• Invite others to

participate• www.youtube.com

Channel

Embedded Video

Video Contest

• Encourage others to tell their story

• Set parameters• Provide some instruction• Ask folks to post to

YouTube and tag or send link

Video Logistics

• www.youtube.com– Set up a channel– Search for likely viewers

• www.vimeo.com– For more than 10

minutes

• Flip Video– Cheap & easy

Wiki

• Build a story around local chapters

• Easy to change content• Open to change content• Great for decentralized

content creation• http://en.wikipedia.org/

wiki/Minnesota

Social Networks

• LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Plaxo…

• Build a community to hear, build, corroborate, promote your story

Facebook - LinkedIn

Facebook – Advanced Use

Facebook Page• Visible to everyone• View visitor statistics• Add applications

Marketplace• Sell/advertise items

Group• Able to send bulk

invitations – so easier to grow list of members

Events• Post open houses, invite

folks

Open up your story

• Invite comments, photos, videos

• Post comments on other sites that talk about you

• Address the positive and negative

Moving Forward

• Search for yourself online

• Establish a story• Choose a tool(s)• Get started

Questions?

Notes posted soon at: www.blandinonbroadband.org

Ann Treacyatreacy@treacyinfo.com651.239.4581