Plain Talk Social Media Workshop
Using Social Media to Achieve Goals, Engage Citizens, and Improve Outreach
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Presented by Sam Loewner 9/22/2011 Plain Talk in Complex Times
Workshop Goals
• How to think about social media: the basics
• Generating “good” content for social media
• Useful social media tools
• Measuring your social media success
• Activity
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SOCIAL MEDIA DEFINITIONS
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SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY Plan. Implement. Operate.
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Social Media Strategy
• The model: this presentation • The components:
– Audience • Who are “they?”
– Speaker • Why should “they” listen?
– Objectives • What are “we” going to accomplish?
– Content • What are “they” seeing (or hearing)?
Overview Audience Speaker Objectives Content
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Audiences – The Users of Social Media
• Although younger generations are more prolific users of social media, older generations are rapidly adopting the services.
• Social media is popular across all racial demographics, and different racial demographics use social media in distinct ways.
• Social media, and the internet as a whole, are used by both high- and low-income users. Low-income users may be more likely to look for government resources online.
• Social media isn’t just for college students. Both Twitter and Facebook are popular among those without college degrees.
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Audience Information
• Put your audience first
• Keys for learning about your audience – Know the demographics – Learn what commonalities exist – Understand how and when they are listening – What do they want to learn? – Ask them about themselves
• Use this information to determine what kind of social media channels to invest in.
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• Users expect different content from different sources – Personal – Organization – Government – Corporate
• Give people a reason to pay attention to you
Types of Speakers
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Objectives
• Don’t use social media just to say that you are using it.
• Determine what makes your presence different – What are you going to offer that isn’t already out there?
• What are your “real life” information goals? – Those goals should look very similar to your social media goals.
• Consider print or email outreach: social media can be another channel for that AND accomplish things that those channels can’t.
• Examples: – Customer Service – Feedback and Reviews – General Outreach
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Content
• The Four Keys of Good Content – Make it personal – Make it interesting – Make it urgent – Make it shareable
• Remember, it’s a conversation, not a lecture. – What would you tell a member of your audience if you were on the
phone?
• Things to include – Links, Questions, Calls-To-Action
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SOCIAL MEDIA MECHANICS Tools. Measurement. Privacy and Security.
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Introduction to Social Media Tools
• Websites and resources that make your strategy a reality
• Tools change frequently
• The best way to learn about tools and services is to experiment and use them. – Talk to friends and family who use these services.
• We will cover: Blogs, Twitter, Facebook. – It is also important to understand LinkedIn, YouTube, and
smaller networks.
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Blogging – Wordpress
To visitors To you
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Twitter – Twitter.com
• 140 characters • Symbols to know:
– @ – #
• Links • Lists
• Making Twitter more
manageable: Hootsuite
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Twitter - Hootsuite
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• Multiple sources of information
• Scheduling
• Organization
•Shortened Links
Facebook – Facebook.com
• Host conversations – Post news, videos, and
useful links.
• Keep updates short
• Customize wherever possible – Landing pages, apps
• Use with Hootsuite, if necessary
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Measurement – Google Analytics
• Learn about your audience: where are they?
• When do they visit your sites? – Are you fighting the current
or moving with it?
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Measurement – Facebook Insights
• Who are the people that like your page? • Are you preparing content that makes sense for your
audience?
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• When do people like to visit? Are people interacting with your content?
Measurement – High Level Thinking
• What do you want people to know or do?
• Attempt to measure how social media impacts an audience’s knowledge or actions
• Don’t get caught up in the numbers
• Don’t forget: ask your audience
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Privacy and Security
• DO NOT: create an environment where it seems acceptable to share protected information
• DO: Create a comment policy AND a monitoring policy
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• DO: Attend the eHealth Privacy and Security breakout tomorrow morning
CONCLUSION Review and Activity
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Review
• The element of a social media strategy
• Useful social media tools
• Measuring your online outreach strategy
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ACTIVITY Use what you’ve learned.
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