SOCIAL MEDIA IN TRANSPORTATION Justin Carinci, Communications Director

OTREC

Which media do you mean?

  Scores of media called “social”   Focus here:

 “Complete” social media sites (Facebook, LinkedIn)  Microblogging (chiefly Twitter)  Traditional content with social implications (Website,

blogs)  Single-purpose sharing sites (photo, video, etc.)

Who’s using these tools?

Everyone.

Who’s using these tools?

Digital Surgeons

Digital Surgeons

In business …

78 percent of companies use social media

MediaPost News, 2010

In business …

700 million local businesses have Facebook pages

Hubspot Blog

In the public sector …

 Twitter:  48 governors are on Twitter  At least 80 state legislative caucuses

are on Twitter  At least 10 percent (and growing) of

state legislators are on Twitter

In the public sector …

 Facebook:  Every governor is on Facebook  More than a third of legislators are on Facebook

Why use social media?

 Comparable to traditional media, but with two additional strengths:  Cost  Control

What’s your goal?

  Sell products?   Drive people to your

website?   Become an authority?   Just become known?   Move info to people?   Get people to move?

  The goal will shape everything about your social media strategy.

Be your own guide

 Use your planning process or existing documents to guide you.

 Don’t follow the leaders; they may have different goals.

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What are OTREC’s goals?

  Drive people to website   Move information to people   Secondary

 Get people to move  Become an authority

What are the best tools for each?

  Drive people to website: Twitter   Move information to people: Twitter or Facebook   Secondary

 Get people to move: Facebook  Become an authority: Blog (news), Twitter

Are they best for you?

  Where is your audience, and when?  Twitter can get people to act right now, but is

fleeting  So, have an easy ask: visit a link, not a

party  Facebook posts and events last longer

 Better to keep that information here

Where is your audience?

  At work? On the bus? At home? Who knows?  Consider whether you’re building your

audience or talking to an existing audience.

  They might not use social media  But someone who can reach them does:

media, opinion leaders, etc.

Using the tools

One sneakily powerful tool

With Twitter, you:

  Get out what you put in   Define the terms of your relationships (no “friends”)   Don’t need to commit to much (unless you have an

“authority” goal)   Get in under people’s radar   Have line into targeted community (even invisible

members)

Twitter basics

  Keep it short. One thought per tweet.   Be judicious about posts. They add up.   Nuts and bolts (@, #, d, RT, thx)   Room to retweet.   Is ths n effctv way 2 communic8?   Speak to your audience. You will have followers in

many disciplines, but don’t dilute your voice.

Getting started

Twitter.com is fine for beginners

 You can get started:  Find people who you know tweet  Find organizations you suspect tweet  Follow the followers (and their lists)

As you grow: Lists

As you grow: Favorites

Facebook and LinkedIn

“Complete” social sites

Facebook: Social turned professional

LinkedIn: Professionals getting social

LinkedIn: Who’s there?

Quantcast.com

LinkedIn

  What are they there for?  Know your audience? Do they use the platform, discuss,

post?  Or do they just look for connections, recommendations,

job openings?  Neither the size (<1/4 of Facebook) nor the limited use

are necessarily bad, if that’s what you’re looking for.

Facebook

  Where our audience has been and increasingly spends time

  Diverse platform; broader audience, richer experience

  More casual, fun, than Twitter (professionally)

Facebook: Maturing

So far, so good

  You’ve covered your bases. People can find you. Should you go further? Time to reassess.   Can you keep your

commitments?   What’s your ROI?   Do you have anything

worth directing people to?

Before you go any further

 Find a way to manage your social media, or you’ll go mad!

Social organizers

  Wrangle all your accounts (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and many more) for you and your organization.

  Tweetdeck   HootSuite   Seesmic

Seesmic: New, but gaining

Tweetdeck: Stable

Composing across platforms

All commands together

Send when you should …

Not just when you’re free.

As with any tool

 Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should

You only get one click.

One basic rule:

Beyond

  Mobile: People view you in a variety of media, and take you with them. Are you using the right tool? Do you offer something that an app does better?

  Convenient to audience, not to you

Other venues

Questions? Justin Carinci carinci@otrec.us twitter.com/otrec www.facebook.com/otrec http://otrec.us