Socialnomics Video • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXD-Uqx6_Wk

CRAFTING A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY Connecting with Customers & Constitutencies & Building Your Personal Brand Cynthia Bee, Outreach Coordinator Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District

Social Media Growth

NOT Just for Youngsters

• On Twitter the 55-64 year age bracket is the fastest growing demographic with 79% growth rate since 2012.

• The fastest growing demographic on Facebook’s and Google+’s networks are the 45 to 54 year age bracket at 46% and 56% respectively.

• -Global Web Index Study

E-mail Isn’t Going Anywhere

Source: Marketingprofs.com

DEFINING SOCIAL MEDIA OBJECTIVES “Deciding what NOT to do is as important as deciding what to do.”– Steve Jobs

Organizational Goals The 2009 White House Open Government Directive requires all federal government agencies to “open new forms of communication between government and the people.” • What is the goal? • What type of

content do we want to share?

• How much time do we wish to invest? Do we have the manpower?

• What tools are necessary?

• What would success look like?

CONTENT CREATION Creating and managing your online content

It’s All About Content (what to share) 7 Contagious Content Types (Source: Monica Jade Romeri) 1. Newsjacked Content Providing real-time industry news and smart commentary will win you social followers and fans

2. Infograhics Not all content needs to be in plain text form. An infographic is great at concisely illustrating heavy data and complex processes.

3. Statistical Content People crave numbers and concrete facts. Identify top-notch industry research reports with heavy data and statistics, and use them to give your content supporting evidence and heft. 4. Case Studies Although research and statistics are powerful, sometimes readers desire a real-life illustration of data. This is where case studies come into play; they can breathe life into data—making your content more relatable and boosting relevance. Practice active storytelling to make your case studies more shareable.

5. Visual Content Visual content—including videos, infographics, webinars, podcasts and SlideShare presentations, is becoming increasingly popular, since it allows you to inform and entertain viewers at the same time.

6. Hybrid Content Hybrid content, which mixes written and visual content mediums, is another intriguing option for contagious content creation.

7. Emotionally Resonant Content Content that inspires happiness, awe, anger or anxiety has been proven to increase the likelihood of a viral content outbreak. No matter which type of content you create, it must resonate and strike an emotional chord with your audience.

Everybody Helps (who creates it) • A great opportunity to

get the entire staff involved and contributing.

• Show off the great stuff your people are doing!

• Social media is best in-house rather than outsourcing.

• Employee photo contests are both inexpensive and morale building.

Terminal Reservoir- Photo by employee C. Steadman, JVWCD

Division of Labor (who shares it)

• Social Media Ringmaster: Strategist and visionary responsible for design, content oversight, campaign planning, analysis and interpretation of social media analytics.

• Content creators, curators, account administrators: Staff responsible for daily routines with posting rights. • Content providers: In this case, the entire organization should participate. It is recommended that responsibilities be distributed throughout the organization. Source: A Manager’sGuide to Designing a Social Media Strategy

Content Responsibility Models

Centralized Decision Making

• The social media ringmaster is the ONLY person authorized to open accounts.

• The social media ringmaster sets up accounts for decentralized subunits.

• The social media ringmaster approves content. May approve only certain types or all.

De-centralized Decision Making

• The central social media strategy only provides the context and every subunit must then decide where and how many accounts are opened.

• Sub-units are responsible for content posted.

EX: JVWCD ---- Conservation Garden Park ------ JV Home & Garden Club

Source: Social Media Strategies for Managers

Content Sharing • Limit who can share and

respond on social media to trained staff.

• Provide guidelines for staff to follow when responding to online comments.

• Let staff know what type of responses require additional input from other staffers before posting.

• DO NOT EDIT your feed to remove negative comments, it will only generate more. Respond factually when needed.

• If your company is being unfairly maligned, your supporters will usually step in and call out the “evil doer” in ways you cannot.

Content from Others -Produce as much original content as is practical for your organization. -Share (with permission and/or attribution) content from related businesses, agencies or industries. It’s also good etiquette to provide a LINK to the original source. -Never, ever STEAL content, it’s wrong and can be expensive - Promote others, just like a date, no one likes to listen to someone talk about themselves all the time!

Infographic by Jim Doughtery, Digital C4

Routines 1. Know Your Goals Posts should have a clear connection to your organization goals. 2. Follow A Daily Routine Establish a daily routine and stick to it religiously. 3. Use Tools Save time by using tools such as “Hoot Suite” to post to multiple accounts. Use lists to organize and filter content. 4. Use Automation The above tools allow you to create content well in advance then “schedule” it to post to your feed whenever you desire. 5. Use Assistants Get help from employees, etc. but only “outsource” tasks to trained employees. If there is risk, don’t outsource it. Source: Raff Skirr

Tools Use “Company Only” Tools Reduce Embarrassing Errors

Many experts advocate providing a company Smartphone and/or tablet that can ONLY be logged into company social media to avoid potential embarrassing errors by employees posting personal matters to your business account. Prevent rather than have to apologize after the fact.

Show Some Personality! Remember that in social media, “social” comes before “media”. –Cynthia Bee

Treat your followers to “behind the scenes” opportunities that “reward” them for following.

STRATEGIES Define then FIND your audience

Audience Who is going to be your target audience? • What characteristics are you considering when identifying segments of your core audience? • What networks should you target in order to gain access to your core audience? • Who do you expect to join your network? • Identify your organization’s audiences and build the organization’s audience on social media channels. Source: Social Media Strategies for Managers

Select Your Social Sharing Properties Nearly unlimited number of social sites. Select the MINIMUM number you need to connect with your audience

Suggested Participation Hierarchy

Facebook- MUST DO • Best for general

communication Twitter- most SHOULD do • Best for emergency

communications • Best for concepts and ideas Blogging- Most SHOULDN’T do • Best for intensive level

communication.

Visual Site Participation Hierarchy

Instagram- MUST DO • Easy for most to participate

in, shows what you do in real time.

You Tube- Most SHOULD do • Great to show video Pinterest- Most SHOULDN’T do • Most applicable to those who

sell products rather than services.

TACTICS FOR CONNECTING

Source: Inez Mergel, Syracuse University

Tactic #1: Pushing Content “Pushing Content” means providing facts, press releases, and web content on social media channels to inform and educate the public. This tactic should be one of your routines to distribute and broadcast web content via social media channels. It will help to reach parts of your audience who may never visit your official website. Source: Inez Mergel, Syracuse University

Tactic #2 Pulling Content “Pulling Content” means getting your followers/ fans etc. to provide content to your social media properties. This is most often done through users sharing Photos Videos Testimonials Check-ins Reviews Source: Inez Mergel, Syracuse University

Tactic #3 Networking/ Mingling Mingling occurs when representatives of your organization participate on the social media properties of OTHER organizations. Help promote what your valued partners and contacts are doing, building each other makes everyone more effective. * Be careful, one man’s “mingling” is another man’s “time wasting”! Set clear perimeters for this important activity.

Tactic #4 Customer Service This is your opportunity to showcase your customer service- for good or ill, make the most of it! Respond carefully and thoughtfully when needed. Social media for business/ government is intended to SHOW YOUR ACCESSIBLE SIDE. Must be approachable in order to encourage interaction and engagement.

Conservation Garden Park Rap • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRDFkuLHxqE