PR Pro Bono Day- Session 3

Social Media For the Short-Staffed
Kerri Goldsmith of HBK Sorce Financial presented some tips and pointers for people to get the most bang for their social media efforts.
Social media is particularly important for nonprofits because internet users, especially social networkers, are more likely to be active in volunteer associations.

But how can you do it right?  Goldsmith offers four basic suggestions for starting your social media efforts:

• Define your goals (awareness? donations? volunteers? events?)
• Identify your resources (yourself? volunteers? an agency? your audience/supporters?)
• Know your target audience (and in particular, what social media platform are they most likely to gravitate to?)
• Start small and grow into social media

Once you've analyzed your situation, she offers more suggestions:

• Don't be overwhelmed by your options.  Pick the medium you think will be most effective for your message and audience, and start there.
• Use time-saving tools such as Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, or Seesmic.  You can also utilize these tools on your smartphone.
• Plan ahead!  Schedule your messages in advance.
• On Twitter, keep messages to under 120 characters so you can be easily retweeted.  Make sure to shorten URLs, and utilize hashtag/keywords to make it searchable
• On Facebook, take advantage of static content, post longer messages, and use photos or video whenever possible.
• Remember, communication works two ways.  Reply, comment, and thank your audience.
• Build "lists" of people to follow... media, constituents, organizations with complimentary missions, so you can more easily communicate with them.
• Measure your results by tracking links, clickthroughs, retweets, mentions, etc.

Social Media: Tips and tools for integrating Social Media into PR Campaigns

Michelle Catin is the Digital and Social Media Manager of rbb Public Relations.
You can follow her on twitter:  @mimi2point0

What we know of social media is just the tip of the iceberg-- there's so much more to come.

• In 2008, Internet passed newspapers at a source of national and international news.  
• In 2007, Social Networking sites became more visited than porn sites.
• We should all use Facebook for business "If you're not on Facebook, you're not on the internet."
• Every second, a new member joins LinkedIn.
• Twitter use increased 1000% in February 2009.
• YouTube:  100,000,000 videos are viewed per day.
• Anyone can be a reporter on "Wikipedia."

When Maurice Jarre passed away, a student penned a fictitious quiote on the Maurice Jarre's wikipedia entry.  This quote was repeated in numerous newspapers and media outlets-- even though it was factually incorrect.  The media is using the internet for their research... just like the rest of us.
(read more about it here)


Social Media is "Not a fad-- but a fundamental shift in the PR industry.'

The Fundamentals of Public Relations can and should also be used in Social Media!
Research
Planning
Implementation
Evaluation

Research:
Listen.  Set up Google alerts, social media alerts utilizing socialmention.  Research the topics being discussed, the sentiment of these posts, the outlets being used to discuss your business, etc.
Other tracking sites:

• radian6
• converseon
• biz360
• trackur
  
• Use services like Tweetdeck to monitor your twitter mentions.

Survey your audience.  Find out how they're communicating about you.

Strategic Planning: Walk, don't run.  If you build it, they won't come.  You can't expect people to just find you.

• Build a foundation. Use familiy and friends to be your followers
• Use existing assets to promote your social media channels.  Use signature file, website, etc. to promote
• Establish critical mass
• Don't expect results overnight.  Social media is a commitment that requires a full-time commitment.

Implementation:  How to use different social media campaigns in your planning:

• Use Facebook for community events.  Create a virtual invitation.  When people say yes, it will show up on their profile.
• Use ustream to upload video of any event with your iphone. (other phones may be compatable)  You can also upload from your computer.
• Use Flickr to link photos to relevant keywords, which is ideal for Search Engine Optimization.
• Use cross-platform applications (example, set up your Flickr to automatically post to Facebook)
• Use press release distribution services to create links, SEO for your website/organization.  (She does not reccomend the expensive pay services... she beileves that their releases don't live as long on the internet as other services.  She prefers pressreleasepoint.com)
• Use Twitter to build relationships with reporters.  Find them using tweepsearch, which searches twitter bios.

Evaluating: An important process that we sometimes dismiss.  How do you show results?
Measure results using socialmention, bit.ly (which measures clicks to shortened links)
YouTube and Facebook all provide "insights" for measurements

Question:  How do you convince a client that they need to be involved in social media?
1) Measuring their current mentions in social media platforms to determine their online reputation.

2) Looking to see what their competitors are doing.
3) If they're afraid of losing control... they should know that they never really had control to begin with.

Question:  How does Google's recent search algorithm change my web approach?
Yes... they use "real-time" search now, which means that more social media, particularly Twitter, are indexed.  Recent mentions will put you higher in search results.

Question: How do you determine what keywords are most relevant for people looking for you?

Google Keyword tool.  You type in  bunch of phrases, Google generates a list of similar phrases, and tells you which ones are most used.


Question:  How can you take advantage of hashtags and trending topics on Twitter?
Use existing hashtags or keywords (or make up your own) whenever relevant.  She does not know of a tool which tracks the popularity of particular hashtags.  Yes, a lot of hashtags are spam... but they can also be a great tool.

Question:  What is your crisis plan for if your twitter account is hacked?
You can work with Twitter to repair situations like this. She recommends changing facebook and twitter passwords every month.

Question: How easy is it to get things like that repaired at Twitter.  Do they have "Operators standing by?"
You can leave them a message on the twitter forums, but it will take a long time to resolve.  You can also send a public tweet to twitter's administrators. 

Utilizing YouTube for Community Engagement: Michelle K. Gardner

From her official bio: Michelle K. Gardner, John Scott Daily Florida Institute of Government (IOG) at the University of Central Florida (UCF), Utilizing YouTube for Community Engagement. Michelle K. Gardner lives on the World Wide Web. Michelle has a background in management, but her passions are for all things online. Through the IOG, Michelle is able to conduct direct research on how local governments engage their citizens, particularly through technology. Not content with her MS degree in management, Michelle is currently enrolled in the Texts and Technology PhD program at UCF. Primarily focusing on how we are using digital media tools and the World Wide Web. As a wife, mother, full time employee and PhD student, Michelle is grateful the World Wide Web is available 24/7!

And she's a self described "true geek." Love it! Her day-to-day work involves teaching people in government and non-profits how to engage citizens with social media tools. You Tube has been widely known for its entertainment purposes, not to mention "viral" videos, but there are ways to harness it for engaging your communities, measure results, and other business purposes.

YouTube is the leader in online video and the premier destination to watch and share original videos world wide through a Web experience.

YouTube is a part of our cultural change – no matter what your industry, social media resources are a new way that our culture is sharing and receiving information. This format can have a huge impact on your brand and company perceptions.

Benefits of YouTube:
• 24/7 availability
• Dynamic content (not “text on a page”) that is engaging
• Multi-viewer video (many people can watch it at the same time without hold-ups)
• Doesn’t eat up your server space, no paying for storage

YouTube is a great source for research! YouTube features about 40 percent user-generated content, including “vlogs” or video blogs, that you can watch to tap into ideas and opinions people are sharing. YouTube can also be highly useful in motivating a group of citizens by arming them with knowledge, and interesting, easy-to-share material.

A fun video example for your viewing pleasure:
“Forever” wedding dance down the aisle

This video spread like wild fire, prompting magazine articles, TV spoofs (on "The Office") and guest appearances. the song the "dance down the aisle" to is Chris Brown’s 2008 hit "Forever." With the viral spread of this homemade video posted to YouTube, Brown's song made a come back on the charts in July 2009.

As an intentional business example: This is UCF is a 1:42 video that serves as a commercial through YouTube and simple video technology. They have their own “channel” and people can see all your available content. To create your account, or channel, you only need your name password and basic settings, and voila! Easy right?

Creating content and getting started

All you need is a camera, tri-pod, video editing software, staff for video content…but you could even use videos shot from your mobile phone or device! You don’t have to spend a lot of money to incorporate these tools; it just takes a little learning or an extra hand. Getting extra staff to help out can be as easy as getting interns from local colleges or even engaged citizens or volunteers. Some of them may even have the video tools you need to get started.

Practical tips:
• HD video is great, but it ideally suited for less than 10 minute-long videos.
• Creative Commons, copywright licensing for social media content that ensures people get credit for the content they are sharing.
• As a side note in general about all things social media: Clarity of thought is important. You should know why are getting involved and have policies in place.
• Keep your logo on your video the whole time near the bottom of the screen (called a “bug” in the broadcasting world).
• Promote by sharing the link everywhere: company Web site, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
• Use Google Analytics to track your results.

And a final video piece from You Tube: Phil’s Phirst Philm

You can follow Michelle on Twitter at @oneperson2.

SEO and Social Media Releases with Robyn Medlin

Robyn is an account executive with Marketwire. (She loves the breath of fresh air and friendliness of the Southwest coast - we do too!)

Using the death of MJ as an example of the viral news and the need for an online presence.

Reviewing top social media sites by category according to Alexa rankings.

So much out there, and available by phone - NO DISTRACTED DRIVING!

Another caution - don't be a social media spammer. How to pitch without being one? Make the info accessible, easy to find and easy to share.

Standard vs. social media press release:
No live links or metatgs
No photo or video
No elements that encourage interactivity
BORING...
Social Media Release...WOW! What a difference. Marketwire has awesome platform built in - you just upload Word doc and end product can include YouTube video, live links, page sharing on beaucoups sites.

Going live to see how this works on the back end...