Secrets of Social Media CRMA 2011

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Sean MussendenUniversity of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism

Secrets of Social Media

CRMA 2011

+What I’m Going to Talk About

Overview of why social media matters to news organizations

Priorities in social networks

Focus on Facebook – the most important platform for branding and distribution. Better for news orgs.

Focus on Twitter – an emerging tool better suited for sourcing. Better for individual reporters.

Beyond Twitter and Facebook – Stumble Upon, Reddit, YouTube.

Questions

+Why Social Media Matters

“Living life online” increasingly means social networks

Still in early stages. Search and destination Web sites still VERY important, but becoming less important.

+Why Social Media Matters

People are lazy and busy. Increasingly expect news to find them.

Network of friends/followers and “the crowd” increasingly serve as “editors” that determine what people see.

Trust. People more likely to read something suggested by a friend than a stranger.

How people expect to get news is changing

+Which Social Networks Matter?There’s Facebook…and everything else.

+Facebook Strategy for News Orgs

Facebook best platform for news organizations.

Less important that individual journalists have a presence – unless you’re really famous.

Two things to consider: Facebook.com presence – fan pages, news feed. Integration of Facebook on your Web site.

+Facebook Strategy for News OrgsIt All Starts with the Fan Page


Segment audience so they get only what they want

Spreads responsibility for Facebook across organization

Drawback – takes more staff time

The Importance of Niche Pages

Niche Page Examples

+Facebook Strategy for News OrgsThe Pages Don’t Matter - Focus on the Feeds


Everything from friends and fan pages*

User studies: not looked at as often at Top News.

Not the default view. Users have to take action to see it.

Most valuable real estate on Facebook – “Boardwalk”

User studies: most frequently visited part of Facebook.

Algorithm – Facebook’s “Secret Sauce” – determines what shows up here.

Your goal: get your content here.

Most Recent Feed Top News Feed


Algorithm tries to determine what users care about

Most important factors: User’s previous interaction with that person/org. In this

order: Share, Comment, Like. User’s friend network interacting with a given post. In this

order: Share, Comment, Like.

Secondary factors: High level of interaction from outside user’s friend network. Inclusion of links, photos and videos.

Inside Facebook’s Secret Sauce


If you want people to see your content:You need to work to build a

relationship.You need to post content that people

want to talk about and that they want to share with their friends.

You need to post content that includes pictures/video and links.

Big Takeaway


Lighter content tends to work better than “heavier” stuff.

Don’t dump everything. Select for potential for virality.

Must be things people would want to talk about. “Hey Mabel” stories.

Engage the audience. Crowdsource Ask questions (NOT: “what do you think?”) Quizzes

Stick to your niche.

What kind of content is best on Facebook?


Short, catchy blurbs

Conversational tone

Timing matters!

Eye-catching photos and videos

Adjust based on metrics

Links: goal is always to drive people back to your site. Have to pay the bills.

Remember: your competition is not just other media orgs, but pics of users’ grandkids.

Writing Effectively for Facebook


Important to give users the FB experience on your site.

Facebook OpenGraph makes this easy – talk with your developers.

Three basic levels – beginner, intermediate and advanced.

Incorporate Facebook on Your Site


Allow visitors to like individual pieces of content and share it with their network. Put in multiple locations.

Allow visitors to become a fan/follow. Should be prominent on every page.

Incorporate Facebook on Your Site - Beginners


Show visitors what people in their network are reading/watching on your site.

Incorporate Facebook on Your Site - Intermediate


Make recommendations based on Facebook reading habits. This will creep out some users.

Integrate comment system.

Incorporate Facebook on Your Site - Advanced

+Twitter for Journalists

More about relationships built around shared topical interest than friendships.

Importance is growing, but not near Facebook level.

Of all social networks, best sourcing and informational tool.

Not as important for branding and distribution, but can drive traffic.

+Twitter for Individual Journalists

An amazing knowledge acquisition tool.

“Mindcasting” - A lot of smart people who know more about the topics you care about than you, sharing their knowledge for free.

“The People Formerly Known as the Audience.” – Jay Rosen

Don’t be passive. Engage people you follow.

Tap into the Wisdom of the Crowd


Start with a few smart people and mine the list of people they follow.

Tools for finding new people: Twellow, Twibes, WeFollow, LocalTweeps, GeoChirp.

Edit aggressively. Drop people who aren’t useful.

Strategies for Building Your Twitter Network


Carve out a niche and stick to it.

Write a short, catchy bio and include a picture.

Insert yourself into discussions. Engage with other users who share similar interests.

Court the big influencers in your topic area. A RT from someone with 100K followers better than someone with 100 followers.

Tweet regularly. More tweets = more opportunities for new followers.

Building a Brand on Twitter


Provide useful information. Not what you had for breakfast.

Don't just shill your work. Link to the work of others.

Links, links, links. Use a URL shortener (i.e. Bit.ly).

Use #hashtags. Good way to attract new followers.

Leave approx. 20 characters out of 140 for RTs.

Abbreviate, within reason.

Timing matters!

Writing Effective Tweets

+Beyond Facebook and Twitter


Can be a huge traffic driver to sites if a story gets legs.

Directs people to “best of the Web.”

Important to submit your content.

Important to make it easy for people to share your content on the network.

StumbleUpon


Extremely active social community built around thousands of topical channels

When Digg died, it got bigger

Important to make it easy for people to share your content on Reddit.

Reddit

+About Sean Mussenden

On faculty at the University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism

Focus on intersection of social media and news and multimedia news production

Former newspaper reporter, multimedia journalist and Web editor

Consultant who has helped several news orgs improve social media strategy

Twitter: @smussenden

Facebook: /sean.mussenden

[email protected]

[email protected]

Cell: 202-590-2190

Slides from this presentation available

About Sean Contact Info

mailto:[email protected]



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Secrets of Social Media CRMA 2011