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Social Media and Consular Affairs

March 2, 2012

U.S. Embassy Website

Why do people come to the Embassy website?

Visas #1

U.S. Embassy Facebook

Visas #1 issue

What is social media?

Social media is a collection of web-based or mobile technologies that turn communication into an interactive dialogue or multilogue

Consumers also become producers Peer/friend recommendations Content is easily shared

Overview of Social Mediain Pakistan

TV, Radio, and Newspapers Still Rule 22 million with Internet Facebook – 6.2 million Twitter – 3 million YouTube – 7 million Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogspot, LinkedIn all

in Pakistan’s top 10 most visited sites.

Important Uses for Social Media

Increase fan-generated advocacy for U.S. policy and initiatives. Fan-generated advocacy usually has greater credibility, resonance.

Increase fan-generated defense of the United States. Increase awareness of U.S. programs in Pakistan Enhance Customer Service (facilitating customer

needs through proactive and reactive communications)

Important Uses for Social Media

Get messages out to a broad audience (i.e. tech, savvy youth on Facebook, well-connected, older influentials on Twitter)

Correct the record quickly Monitor and report on critical topics Measure the engagement

New Social Media Strategy

Show, Don’t Tell Strategy – Emphasis on Photos and Videos

Increased Urdu and Pashto Content Consistent Posting and Engagement – social media

strategy and schedule coming Limited Facebook ad buys Training other sections to answer questions, get involved

How are we doing?

Baseline - Growth of platforms

Consular Issues

Urdu Visa Video

Phillip Urdu Visa Video

11,328 Pakistanis saw this on Facebook

2,000 plays on YouTube

Pashto Visa Video

Rebecca Visa Video

12,190 Pakistanis saw this on Facebook

1,600 plays on YouTube

English Visa Video

Jason English Visa Video

13,257 Pakistanis saw this on Facebook

1,600 plays on YouTube

Examples of Social Media

What We Need from Consular

Consistent engagement – admin (direct) vs. e-mail (collected questions)

List of FAQs we can post and refer to save time Possibly a list of 30 short tips for visa applicants

for Twitter More ambitious - a moderated 1 hour webchat 2 X

per month

What We Can Offer Consular

Training on engagement Promotion of your engagement activities Detailed weekly or monthly reports providing

metrics on your engagement across all social media channels

Agenda

Why Should the Embassy Care About Social Media?

Social Media Overview Features How Public Affairs is Using Social Media

Free Analysis Tools

Why should the Embassy care about Social

Media?

Traditional Media in Decline

Books, newspaper, music, TV networks

24 of the 25 largest newspapers are experiencing record declines in circulation

Information Explosion

Identify and Follow Influential People

PROTESTS!

Disaster Response

Proactive Engagement/Containment

Spot Trends Before the News

Spot Trends Before the News

Follow Discussions

If Facebook were a country, it would be the third most populated in the world behind China and India

#1 or #2 most visited site in Pakistan

850 Million

Facebook

Facebook Looks

Show, Don’t Tell Strategy

Best content engages users and tells them how your services interact with their lives

People connect to people, not numbers Images and videos rule Quotes and testimonials

Photo Galleries

Virtual Exhibits

Exchange Programs

Commenting

Tagging

Sharing

Facebook Polling

Facebook Insights

Twitter

“What are you doing?” in 140 characters 500 million registered users 33 billion tweets per day #9 most visited site in Pakistan

Most important tool in analyzing real-time discussions Older, more influential – journalists, bloggers, academia Average age is 39 years old

Tweet Breakdown

Twitter Progress

We started by listening (issues, tone, etc.) Analyzing conversations Now trying to be more influential, more proactive

Twitter Reach

Adding Influentials Last Week

Twitter – NATO Images and Videos

Follow DiscussionsEngage in Discussions

YouTube

Video-sharing social media site - Upload, view, and share videos. 7 million users in Pakistan - #3 Site in Pakistan

4 billion videos played per day Over 1 trillion plays in 2011

USAID Projects

Educational Programs

LinkedIn

Social network focused on connecting professionals with the purpose of sharing information and opportunities

Audience – 120 million #10 most visited site in Pakistan