Who’s telling your story?

Engage your citizens…using Social Media

Issues important to you (gov’t officials)

Responsible spending of tax revenue

Infrastructure

Planning and development

Emergency services

Delivery of basic services

Disaster planning and recovery

Crisis management

Recreation

Events

Schools (maintenance, levies, staffing)

Road construction (potholes, orange barrels up too long, etc.)

City-sponsored efforts (recycling, smoke alarm day, safety training, CPR training)

Building codes (direction on installing fences, decks, electrical wiring, etc.)

Traffic updates / road closings

Emergency updates (snow storms, tornadoes, electrical outages, chem spills)

Policy research (what issues are on upcoming ballots?)

Issues important to your citizens

Benefits of engaging citizenry

Quicker and easier adoption of new services, policies, etc.

Community support (advocacy) for new initiatives

Immediate feedback on issues

Direction on what issues are most important to general population

Direction on how to promote community/ attract future residents and businesses

What is social media… to government? The use of Internet- and mobile-based tools

to engage residents, collect consumer data, share information and generate awareness…

Social Media is new form of Public Relations

What is social media? Internet- and mobile-based tools for

sharing and discussing information.

- Wikipedia

Reasons for government to use social media

Alternative to (“evolution of”) traditional PR Increasingly effective and growing

Multiple lines of communication Essential, especially in times of crisis

Inexpensive

Reach various demographics

Increase search engine rankings

Real time

Drive citizens to website

Communicate your message

Establish representative voice(s) for community If you don’t establish a voice, someone else will!

Crisis Management tool Follow same principles as with traditional media

Establish intelligent, skilled spokesperson(s) Tell your side of the story Gain empathy and advocacy Never say “No Comment”

Important points

You DO NOT need to be an active blogger

Leadership should embrace social media, not fear it

Establish social media policy and best practices

You DO need to communicate your message

You CAN measure impact of social media

If you don’t establish a representative voice for your community, someone else will!

Dissenting voices can easily become “de facto” voices for your community

Purpose is not to “control” message, but to “guide” message and engage citizens in message

It all starts with your website!

The tools!

Website. It all starts here! The basis for all PR, branding, social

media Dynamic, functional, user friendly The face…and often first

impression…of your community Content rich—to drive search

engine results

Social Media Policy Establishes best practices and

procedures Ensures that entire staff is on

message Empowers staff to be proactive Positions social media as “means to

engage” rather than “distraction” Encourages citizen participation

The tools!

E-newsletter Ensures regular contact Promotes/strengthens brand Delivers timely, relevant content Easy to monitor Measurable Call to action Entertains Can be self administered Inexpensive—no printing, nominal monthly fees

to manage (e.g., ConstantContact.com) Example: City of Sharonville (Ohio)

Implemented Fall 2008 to bridge gab b/t business and residential communities

Partnered with Chamber to get subscribers Doubled subscriber list in 6 months Receives e-mails thanking them for newsletter

The tools!

Blog Enable direct communication with and

feedback from citizenry Can be monitored and managed by community

staff

More personal and dynamic than typical website

Can be separate from or part of community website

Typically ties into overall marketing/PR strategy

Can allow comments from visitors; can monitor comments

Easy to create using free, downloadable blog software

Best used for sharing information of interest to or that specifically benefits targeted users

Serves as home page for many organizations—growing trend

May work best for elected officials, rather than appointed/hired staff

The tools!

Event Forum

Set up custom events online

Choose whom to invite

Allow others to join

Specific to topic, location, etc. Engages with niche

audiences (e.g., dog lovers re: plans for new dog park; bicyclists re: proposed bike lanes)

Can host actual events at popular community locations

The tools!

Microblog—Twitter

Limited to 140 characters per entry

Allows people to follow each other in real time from any location with Web/mobile access

Simple to use

Growing by 900%

Increasing usage among businesses, individuals, politicians and PR pros as news dissemination device

Bridging gap between traditional and social media

Growing number of reporters take story pitches from Twitter ONLY

The tools!

Podcast

Free video or audio series downloaded to and playable on iPods, computers, TVs, mobile phones, or similar mobile media devices

Enable users to view or listen to preferred content almost anywhere at anytime

Tool for sharing issues discussed at council meetings, community forums, etc.

The tools!

Social Networking Communities What are you doing?

Who do you know?

Fan pages

Groups of common interest

Photo/Video Sharing Sites Personalized albums

Share via invitation, e-mail

Showcase events, demonstrations

The tools!

Wiki Encyclopedic online profile of

community Anyone can contribute content Can be updated in real time Is preferred to be objective—not

self promotional

What’s next?

Google Wave Collaborative tool

Equal parts “conversation” and “document”

People communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more

Evolved from Google Maps Create a wave; add people Users pull text, graphics,

widgets, feeds from other Web sources

Concurrent rich-text editing Users can see instantly

when others are typing inside their wave

What makes social media valuable to you?

It’s the way people of all ages and demographics are communicating

Studies show consumers research products online before buying

True for government, as well

Why wouldn’t you build your online relationship with them…NOW?

Its usage is growing rapidly

Vital part of marketing mix, more search hits

Natural evolution of marketing and PR

Builds via “word of mouth”

Engages citizens like no other medium

Allows you to tell your story in your words

Why social media is relevant Facebook.com- Social Network Site

200+ Million Active UsersFastest growing Demo 30+

Flickr.com-Photo Sharing Apphosts more than two billion tagged images

Twitter.com- micro-blogging site32.1 million people answering the question “What are you doing now?” in 140 characters!

Wikipedia.com- Information Sharing Source684 Million visitors/ 9 million named accounts

Youtube.com- Video Sharing5 billion online US videos44% share of all online videos

Digg.com-Social News site#3 referring source of traffic to NY

Times.30K visitors/ month

Nielsen BuzzMetrics – created in 2006 by A.C. Nielsen to begin measuring social

media

Questions?

Dan O’KeeffeO’Keeffe Communications

dan@okeeffecom.com

513.221.1526

www.okeeffecom.com