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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