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Creating Your Social Media Plan

Melissa Beaupierre, Senior Director - CDC National Prevention Information Network (NPIN)Jennifer Smith, Sr. Web and Accessibility Strategist

Katy Capers, Deputy Health Communications Project Manager

Overview

• Selecting a social media platform

• Selling the concept to leadership

• Developing a resource and staffing plan

• Creating content and getting clearance

• Managing social media conflict

• Marketing and promoting your presence

• Using metrics to evaluate your success

Selecting Your Platform

• Know your audience• Select the platform your audience uses most

often• Identify cross-platform tools

Selecting Your Platform:Know Your Audience

• Know who you’re talking to!

• Who will be reading and interacting with your content? What do you want them to do?

• Who influences them?

• Knowing who’s at the other end will help you craft your messages perfectly and is a key to success

Selecting Your Platform:Study Your Platform

• Facebook isn’t for everyone

• Use resources like Quantcast and Pew Internet

• Consider cross-platform tools to give your content greatest reach – Many have integrated, like Facebook and Instagram or YouTube and Google+

• Use metrics to evaluate your success

Selecting Your Platform:Know Your Goals

• We’ve left this as the fourth step on purpose because the platform you choose will change these slightly

• Engaging with content looks differently from Facebook to YouTube, etc.

Selecting Your Platform:Consider Your Content

• Know what existing, pre-approved content you already have to use

• Does your content best suit one platform over another?

• Identifying these will help in knowing how big of a ‘lift’ putting the platform in use will be

Selecting Your Platform

Some of you may not have to sell the concept to your leadership and some may have a tough convert on your hands.

Either way, acknowledging and talking about all of these key elements will benefit your organization with a smoother implementation of your new social media channel.

Selling the Concept to Leadership

Selling the Concept to Leadership

• Gather statistics• Show impact

with case studies

Photo courtesy of Jason A. Howie: w

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.flickr.com/photos/jasonahow

ie/8583949219/

• Stats: – Know the demographics of the platform you use – Should overlap with your core audience

• Case Studies: – Illustrate the real impact social media can have – Help colleagues envision the future of social media

for your organization

Selling the Concept to Leadership

Selling the Concept to Leadership

• Demonstrate potential benefits

• Point out potential pitfalls

Photo courtesy of CraftyGoat: www.flickr.com/photos/47066874@N00/1589872952/

Benefits to showcase: –Missed opportunities – Creating advocates– Finding new partners– Two-way communication – Increased awareness of cause– Added traffic back to website– Become a leading voice– Identify areas of need– Get community insight

–…and morePitfalls to acknowledge:

– Security risks– Privacy concerns– Cost • Not for the channel, but

intangible resource costs• Explain that many up front costs

can be balanced out with cost savings in other areas of marketing and promotion

Selling the Concept to Leadership

• Provide draft policies, plans and strategies• Identify partners• Justify use within the framework of your

mission

Photo courtesy of Jason Drakeford: www.flickr.com/photos/jasond/86156077/

Selling the Concept to Leadership

Draft policiesRoughly plan out any needed policies, plans and strategies, including• Create and distribute content, • Develop goals, •Measure impact, • Report results, • Respond to any disaster or

problem, • Plans for engaging, connecting,

influencing and impacting users

Partners – Know your internal allies– Identify external support of

your new social media efforts with existing accounts to model and/or share content

Mission alignment – Without framing within your

overall organizational mission, you risk launching a presence that loses support and/or has no long-term staying power

Selling the Concept to Leadership

Developing a Resource & Staffing Plan

• Identify team member responsibilities and account maintenance

• Train staff about platform basics

Photo courtesy of Anna L. Shiller: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3668/10443476473_09cdb12d03_o.png

• Responsibilities – – Don’t just pass account management off to an intern– Consider roles for administration, account management,

content development, content clearance, metrics collections/analysis

– Identify someone to keep abreast of platform updates/changes and/or other trends outside of your chosen platform

Developing a Resource & Staffing Plan

• Train staff – – Train any staff on items like main features, platform-specific

terminology, and best practices– Inform other, non-communication staff: Get their buy-in, help

them know how to respond as individual, and ask them to share relevant content with the SM team

Developing a Resource & Staffing Plan

• Provide best practices for reference, including tips about what NOT to do

• Educate team about tracking and evaluation tools and metrics used to measure success

• Specify guidelines for maintenance activities

Photo courtesy of Anna L. Shiller: http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5525/10443477423_acc3da2025_o.png

Developing a Resource & Staffing Plan)

• Best practices – – Research best practices and include these in your plan for

reference.– Include tips on what NOT to do based on mistakes others have

made in the past.• Tracking – – Identify metrics early– Educate staff about the importance of tracking as you go

• Maintenance – – Identify staff times and acceptable devices for managing

accounts– Show leadership you’re proactive to minimize harm

Developing a Resource & Staffing Plan

Creating Content & Getting Clearance

• Compile account profile basics

• Develop editorial calendar

Photo courtesy of DiamondDuste: www.flickr.com/photos/73835403@N00/2928439313

Creating Content & Getting Clearance

• Profile basics - Gather and get approval for: – Account or org. name/handle – Logo– Other art/images/background– Description/summary– Other customizable info

• Calendar - helps pinpoint– Contributors – Clearance dates – Posting dates –Other relevant information

Dovetail dates with:– Existing important dates– Observance days – Projects – Announcements – Events already in place

Also leave flexibility for: – Timely or sensitive updates– Special events

Creating Content & Getting Clearance

• Identify pre-approved content to repurpose

• Outline content style and tone to be used

• Consider user’s journey from social media platform to your site

Photo courtesy of KevyGee: www.flickr.com/photos/99139484@N00/3988111831/

Creating Content & Getting Clearance

Content:• Current content has already

been approved and is perfect to re-purpose. Example are: – FAQs – Photos– Fact sheets – Brochures – Posters – Success stories– Field images

Tone: • Platform and audience dictate

tone • Conversational/open-ended

tone = Facebook• News headline/one-way tone =

TwitterUser journey: • Consider where you are

sending your audience• Don’t make them dig • Ensure links add value

Creating Content & Getting Clearance

• QA posts with checklists for adherence to best practices, standards and policies

• Respond promptly• Set sharing guidelines

Photo courtesy of AlexKngorg: www.flickr.com/photos/alexkingorg/314461432

Creating Content & Getting ClearanceBest practices: • Guidelines for 508 accessibility • Proprietary style guides• Consider posts that might

igniting controversy • Check lists are a great • Apply lessons learnedResponse Time: • Users expect faster responses• Pay attention to ‘social care’ • Don’t neglect/dismiss any

chance for communication

Sharing guidelines: • Administrators should know

what kind of content is safe to ‘like,’ ‘share,’ ‘retweet,’ etc. • Focus on official partners or

share content from the general public? • i.e., NPIN focuses on 4 diseases

aspects and only re-tweets items that fall within that spectrum

Creating Content & Getting Clearance

• Outline ideas and rules for contests or promotions before conducting one

• Copyright/ownership of repurposed content

• Develop calls to action

Photo courtesy of Anna L. Schiller: www.flickr.com/photos/frauleinschiller/10443333595/

Contests/promos: • Develop policies/guidelines/rules before a contest or promo • Don’t let an oversight hold you to fulfill a costly or time-

consuming promise • Don’t upset the audience with a perception of false advertisingCopyright/ownership of repurposed content: • Identify any content that may belong to others and ensure you

correctly attribute itCalls to action: • Know what you want people to do and how you want them to

interact with you• Give users reasons to come back and interact with you

Creating Content & Getting Clearance

Managing Social Media Conflict

Before Conflict• Ensure tone and voice of your org stays intact to mitigate

confusion• Establish approval and clearance processes, and

determine when to engage and when not to • Establish user comment policies; CDC and

SMGovernance.com provide some great examples• Identify sensitivities or existing obstacles, know hot-

button issues ahead of time• Get HR, legal, and PR teams involved early and tap into

their existing expertise

Managing Social Media Conflict

After Conflict• Be honest and admit error! The Internet is forever so

don’t ignore problems – acknowledge and move on• Create a triage plan and determine who needs to be

brought into a conversation and when• Be consistent but be flexible – Each situation is different,

but be consistent to maintain your brand’s promise• Know when to take it offline, direct message or e-mail• Work with special teams and senior leadership, if

needed, to ensure voices from across the org are heard

Marketing & Promoting Your Presence

• Cross-platform digital promotion

• Traditional promotion

• Partnerships

Image courtesy of Giulia Forsythe: www.flickr.com/photos/gforsythe/7196460482/

Marketing & Promoting Your Presence

Basics of digital promotion• Add icons/links into existing

channels :– E-mail signatures – Newsletters – Blogs – Websites

Traditional = offline materials • Brochures • Posters • Swag• Business cards

• Signage • You may need to tell people

your handle/profile name • Having an event or in the

news? Provide a social media link with news coverage

• Use hashtags during live events so people can share their experiences and thoughts in real time - for example, our hashtag of #SM4PH

PartnershipsAgain, partnerships, partnerships, partnerships. • Harness what you already have to engage current partners and

have them link in with your new account.

• Have an employee who is an expert who writes content for other organizations or partners? Make sure they promote your organizations new presence. – If you don’t have an ‘expert’ like this, consider enhancing existing

partnerships with someone on staff who could write a guest blog or spot for a partner so you can begin that relationship to enhance engagement.

Cross-Platform Case Study #1

Cat Immersion Project

• Engaged followers on Facebook with request for cat photos

• Followed up with a YouTube thank you video

• Tracked responses and engagement including likes, shares, comments and photos

• Check out video on YouTube - “Cat Immersion Project”

Cross-Platform Case Study #1This project from SCH was a cross-channel success. It was a special surprise for Maga, who was confined to her hospital room because of cancer and a compromised immune system.

• Fantastic showcase of the power of social media

• Created a deeper story

• Shows what can be accomplished when multiple channels are linked and leveraged

• High demonstrated level of engagement that went beyond just views and included interaction with story through comments and led to action represented by gifts and cards sent to Maga

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Cross-Platform Case Study #1Facebook posts:• 1,629 liked original post + more than 1,000 for the follow-up• 1,011 original comments (most with pictures) + 100 more

comments and pics with follow-up• 1,900 original shares + 124 more shares for follow-up• Reached more than 55,000 with original + over 30k in follow-up

YouTube Video: • More than 264,000 views• 886 likes • 125 comments • Received 40 national media attention

Using Metrics to Evaluate Success• Metrics should be identified during goal setting process, should be meaningful to

YOUR org

• Draw conclusions based on data

• Assess what does and does not work, then tweak

• Keys to evaluation include:

• Exposure - Reach, “reading”

• Engagement - Interacting, like or comment

• Influence - Adopt the call to action (ex: searching for a testing location or calling a hotline)

• Results - Outcome (ex: did status knowledge increase in the area or did smoking decrease?)

• Difficulty of measuring increases with each step, but the beauty of SM is you get to set your own—determine your own success

Using Metrics to Evaluate Success

• Determine desired level of engagement:

• Low = One-way communication

• Medium = Two-way communication

• High = Conversion to an advocate/partner

• Know what can be measured in your social media platform

• Identify the right tools for measurement

Cross-Channel Evaluation ToolsTOOL SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS COST

Google Analytics All channels Free

HootSuite Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare, MySpace, Wordpress

Free and Paid Services

Lithium Facebook, Twitter Paid Service

Radian6 Facebook, Twitter, YouTube Paid Service

Simply MeasuredFacebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Instagram, Vine, KloutComing soon: Tumblr, Pinterest, LinkedIn

Paid Service

Sysomos Facebook, Twitter, YouTube Paid Service

Coremetrics Facebook, Twitter Paid Service

Omniture All channels Paid Service

Resources• CDC Social Media Tool & Guides:

www.cdc.gov/SocialMedia/Tools/guidelines/

• AIDS.gov’s Using New Media Site:aids.gov/using-new-media/

• Mashable.com

• HealthCareCommunication.com

• SocialMediaToday.com

– Infographic: http://socialmediatoday.com/brianna5mith/1648356/how-choose-most-effective-social-media-platform-your-brand

• HowTo.gov’s Social Media site: www.howto.gov/social-media

• Social Media Governance Policy Database: http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php

• Quantcast Blog: www.quantcast.com/inside-quantcast

• Pew Internet & American Life Project: www.pewinternet.org

• Official blog or feed of the channel you’re using

AcknowledgementsModerator

Melissa Beaupierre

PresentersJennifer Smith & Katy Capers

Executive ProducerHarry Young

Technical Producer/DirectorJames Bethea

Social Media CoordinatorCarlos Chapman II

Health Communications Support TeamCynthia Newcomer, Tracye Poole, Daniel Johnson & Valerie Watkins

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Thank you for watchingCreating Your Social Media Plan

@CDCNPINwww.cdcnpin.org