Post on 21-Jun-2015
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André Natta, Principal, Urban Conversations
Building an Effective Online Community Strategy
Checking in
Checking in
Checking in
Objectives
● Know how to determine which social media tools are right for the organization
● Identify four tips for effective online community engagement
● Identify examples of sustainable online community engagement
● Have a better understanding of what tools are useful for accomplishing goals
Determine your purpose
Why?
Why NOT to be using it
• It's free and easy
• Everybody else is doing it
• It's the best way to reach the “young” people
Why SHOULD you be using it
• Complimenting work plan objectives
– if it's not considered part of it, it should be
• Tools (& people) are in place to manage a strategy effectively
• You are willing to be where they are online
Determine your purpose
Determining outlets
?
Building audience
• Ask for the information
– Twitter name
– Personal and business profiles
– Worst case, they won't provide it to you
• Promote social media channels in print
• Think about how you post (cross-posting)
Building audience
• Listen... a lot.
– Create lists in Twitter
– Subscribe to people on Facebook (if possible)
– Place people in circles in Google+
– Set up a Google Alert
• Search for them
– Built in function on sites
– Tools like Contax.io
Four tips
• Be a resource
• Engage
• Moderate
• Measure/Track
Be a resource
• Provide information about upcoming events– Your own events, merchant sales, events from
relevant organizations
• Answer questions– Encourage adoption of district “hashtag”
• Determine where you want them to go– Preferably your website or newsletter sign-up page
Engage your community
• Ask questions– Surveys
– Open ended posts/Photo captions
• Check in on them every once in a while
• Find a few conversations– district merchants and fans/followers
Engage your community
Moderation
• Establish terms of use
– What will and will not be allowed
– It's their conversation, but it's your organization's space
– Helps them feel more comfortable sharing how they feel constructively
• Social media policy– Allows everyone managing the accounts to be on
the same page RE: approach
Measuring/Tracking
Measuring/Tracking
Measuring/tracking
• Account management tools
– Tweetdeck
– Hootsuite
– Seesmic
• Additional tracking options– Google Alerts / Bing searches
– Bit.ly
The new stuff
– Flash ≠ Pinterest-friendly
– Make sure you're allowed the share the images that you choose to on the site
• Google+– It's getting used a lot more than people realize
– Nice tool for digital “town halls” and educational opportunities
Other things
• Twitter backgrounds
– Helpful branding tool
– Background measurements - http://bit.ly/HcW4S4
• Facebook Fan Page changes– Initial reports suggest more engagement thanks to
introduction of Timeline (still too soon though)
– Use images to help promote events
Other things
?
Thanks!
Twitter - @acnatta *Warning – I am a baseball fan & I'm active on Wednesday nights