SOCIAL MEDIA AND PUBLIC HEALTH

A presentation for the National Collaborating Centres for Public Health

March 3, 2011

“I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”

- Wayne Gretzky

This presentation is is about learning, anticipation, about thinking ahead, about changing the way you play. You can still use the same tools (skates, stick, puck), but use them better, in different, new ways.

CONTENT STRATEGIST & RELATIONSHIP BUILDER

First, a little about me. What do I mean by relationship builder? Business is all about relationships, and Iʼve made building them mine...

STORYTELLING

I love telling stories, and helping people tell theirs. Stories change lives. They make you think. They make you laugh, cry... they influence.Social media is revolutionizing messaging. And thatʼs really what I do. There are so many different ways to relay stories, and countless reasons to tell them.

The online world has brought us all closer together, empowering each of us with tools to tell stories, and to find others that will enrich our lives. So many different goals and objectives...So many different results!

Part 1: IntroductionOverview

Part 2: What is SM?

Why is it important for PH?

Part 3:Setting up a SM strategy

Monitoring & Measurement

Part 4: Wins and Losses

Digital DivideRecap

9:10 Social media workshop presentation begins10:30-10-45 Break 12:00-13:00 Lunch 14:30-14:45 Break 15:30-16:30 Debrief and next steps discussion. 16:30 End

Listen.

Learn.

Engage.

Ok. Letʼs get started...

Throughout this presentation, these are the buckets weʼll be putting all of our activities in. No matter what you do in social media, for that matter in a communications or marketing strategy, you always have to start by listening. Learn from what you hear, and use it to engage with the desired audience. Then go back to listening...

SOCIAL MEDIA MATTERSit really, really does...

So thatʼs why Iʼm here. I get to tell this story. Why are you here? Not just to discuss/hear why social media is important... there are tons of people out there already saying that. And you wouldnʼt be here if you didnʼt recognize that there may be something to all the talk. Youʼre here to find out how it applies to you. How you can use it, how you can use it better, and how it can affect both internal and external collaboration.

?Why does this matter to you?

Why SHOULD you care about social media? In short, because it makes your life easier. But also because it provides you with countless opportunities to connect with... most people. Including the people in your own organization. Weʼll get back to this.

JUMPING ON THE BANDWAGON?

Why are you here? Because everyone has told you itʼs where you need to go? Or because you honestly feel SM can add value to your business.

Everyone I talked to at the various NCCs ultimately feel there is something to this “social media thing”... theyʼre just not sure exactly what it is, or how to approach it. Caution isnʼt always a bad thing, but donʼt let it impede your first steps.

What do YOU do? What do the various NCCs do? Amazing things... You already know this. But from a bricks and mortar/nuts and bolts perspective (next slide)

PUBLIC HEALTH

•Networking•Supporting•Promoting

•Sharing•Collaborating•Improving

MAKING LIFE BETTER

=

In looking at the various NCCs and talking with some of the people involved, these are the things that to me, defined what it is youʼre all striving to do. Youʼre doing these things with the tools you have.

Research papers/reports

Press releasesE-newsletters

Discussion forums

E-learning

EmailEvents/Conferences

Slideshows

Video

Website

SurveysTraditional marketing materials

Wiki

Tools you are currently using. Am I missing any? Can you think of any more?

UPDATE: REFER TO NCC MATRIX THAT PROVIDES/DETAILS ALL THE TOOLS AND ACTIVITIES CURRENTLY IN USE. <MARCH 17, 2011>

COMMON ENEMY(or enemies)

Money

Time

ResourcesChange

Uncertainty

Taking the next steps toward unfamiliar/untested activities can be difficult and with limited resources, time and actual bodies it becomes even harder. Are there any more here we should add?

SOCIAL MEDIA MATTERSno, really, it does...

And itʼs not that it just “matters”, it can help. But itʼs just a cog in the machine. Social media isnʼt the hero in this story. You are, but using social media can aid in overcoming/harnessing these “common enemies”.

We need to ensure we align any social media discussion with overall marketing, communication and brand objectives.

?Why should you care?

And so weʼre back to why should you care? Sure, there are social media tools out there that “everyone” seems to be using, but does that mean they work for you and Public Health?

What are some of the reasons you can think of as to why itʼs important?

FIRST THING: SHEER SIZE OF POTENTIAL AUDIENCE...

Three out of four Americans use social technologyForrester, The Growth Of Social Technology Adoption, 2008Taken from What the F**K is Social Media, One Year Later

Whether you want to use it or not, everyone else is... which is different than “everyone else is doing it.” If the audience is there, you need to be too. In general, users are going to expect your site to have these capabilities.

Canada is particularly strong in both internet use, and social media activity.

84% of Canadians are active on social networks.

70% of users 55+ visit social networks.comScore Briefing - State of the Digital Media Universe, 2008

And the demographic activity is changing. Older people are increasingly active online.

Visiting social sites is now the 4th most popular online activity—ahead of personal email.Nielsen, Global Faces & Networked Places, 2009

AHEAD OF PERSONAL EMAIL

SOCIAL MEDIA IS DEMOCRATIZING COMMUNICATIONS.

“Technology is shifting the power away from the editors, the publishers, the establishment, the media elite. Now it’s the people who are in control.” - Rupert Murdoch, Global Media Entrepreneur

Everyone has a story to tell

PUBLIC HEALTHSocial Media and...

Increased access to the Internet and mobile communication combined with strategic uses of social media can bring public health information to many more people, more quickly and directly than at any time in history.

THE RISE OF THE E-PATIENT

New breed of INFORMED health consumers

Bringing together e-patients and health care professionals.

e-patients report two effects of their online health research: better health information and services, and different (not always better) relationships with their doctors.

Theyʼre calling it participatory medicine. A collaborative model that encourages and expects active involvement between all participants. In this case, they strive to educate the professionals on how to deal with more engaged/empowered patients.

Searching for health information is the third most popular online activity for all internet users 18 and older.

http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Generations-2010/Overview.aspx

Number THREE... thatʼs crazy. Think of all the things there are to do online, and most people do this.

One and two are play games and shop...

70% of Canadian internet users search online for health information.Statistics Canada http://www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/COMM29A-eng.htm

61% of American internet userssearch online for health information.Pew Internet http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/8-The-Social-Life-of-Health-Information/01-Summary-of-Findings.aspx

The fact that we “beat” the US in many of these online stats isnʼt meant to be taken as good or bad, it just is... this type of information doesnʼt have to change your strategy or your idea of social media, but it is meant to give you a better snapshot of your audience. Canadians, whether they are your direct audience or not, are very active in this space. Your DIRECT audience needs to know that. Perhaps they need an online forum to help them deal with this reality?

THE PROBLEMWho polices the content?

Communication used to be “one” authority to “many” – i.e. a health institution, the ministry of health or a journalist communicating to the public.

Now... we are all content creators

Itʼs great to live in a world, an age, where social media has turned the monologue into a dialogue, where anyone can be a content creator and communicator. Do health professionals have a responsibility to ensure that information is correct and accessible?

“Patient health sites might be delivering bad medicine”- Amednews.com March 1, 2011

“Social, but safe? Quality & safety of social networks”- U.S. National Library of Medicine Jan 24, 2011

Investigators from the Children's Hospital Informatics Program evaluated the quality of health information on 10 social network sites (SNS) with an average membership of 6,707 that were organized around diabetes as the health concern. Among their findings were that only half of the SNS had content that aligned with clinical/evidence-based practice recommendations, while misinformation about a diabetes 'cure' was found on four moderated sites and three sites carried advertisements for unfounded cures (9/10 sites permitted advertising). Seven of the sites were hosted by for-profit entities and 3 belonged to professional organizations. In general, they found a high degree of variability in the quality and safety of the information provided on the sites, reports the American Medical News.

Opportunity or Pitfall?

Done properly, discussions like these can not only bring your brand and services to millions of people, but youʼre providing value by lending your authoritative voice to a dialogue you werenʼt involved in before.

YOu donʼt have to agree or disagree, but the whole concept of “knowledge translation” or putting information into context/a language people can understand applies here. There are rules and guidelines, and depending on time and resources, there are limits to what you can do, and when, but the opportunity exists to be part of an international conversation that can directly add value to your own audience.

I feel there is a huge opportunity here for the NCCs. Using social media to collaborate internally is a significant step to ensure your messages are consistent, that you are aware of the misinformation affecting your audience and your own brand. From a client-facing perspective, you could provide that very forum that polices/debunks/confirms much of the public health information out there and contextualize the implications. Additionally, you may be able to collaborate amongst yourselves AS WELL as your audience to help contextualize that information.

WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

The answer is not facebook or twitter. Itʼs not even this barrage of media...

DIALOGUE. INTERACTIVITY. COMMUNITY

According to wikipedia, which is also a social medium, social media is the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue.

Yes, there is a big social/community element that has been fostered by sites like these, and while facebook operates primarily on a community focus, twitter is about conversations, itʼs not a pitch platform.

The number of followers you have may indicate or determine how you effective it can be, but itʼs still what weʼll call a microblogging channel. From a community/support/peer research perspective, social media is very prominent in the health space. e-patient, society for participatory medicine, the NCCs...

The American Public Health Association has a great, if basic, social media presence.

Ultimately, itʼs about collaboration, sharing, and adding value... how can we: build our brand, build trust, send out our message, communicate better, work better, build a following, etc.

Listen.

Learn.

Engage.

Remember listen, learn engage? Your organization may have a mandate to discuss certain issues and reach out to a certain audience, but until you take the time to listen, how do you know what issues are being talked about now? How do you stay current? You and your audience are thought leaders, professional and trusted figures in this space, but the days of telling your audience what they should be concerned about are over...

DISCUSSIONS/DIALOGUESo, this is great and from, as Iʼm sure you know, the NCC for Methods and Tools. A couple of things about this...

Anonymous. BAD IDEA.

However, commenting is still a great way to engender a conversation. This (the Methods and Tools discussion forum topic) was viewed over 4,000 times over its life and and added to this month. Thatʼs great, but it was still a conversation between two people (perhaps the same person?) and itʼs potential is limited. Why couldnʼt Kristen seed the conversation honestly? “Hey, itʼs me, Kirsten, from NCCMT. We have been getting requests like this quite a lot, so I thought I would ask our followers to weigh in.”

Incentivize: Ask them to contribute, and perhaps give them a reason to. Theyʼre busy, whatʼs the incentive here? Co-authorship of a paper? Helping the greater good? Reputation? Recognition? Find out what motivates your audience, and use it.

Once youʼve got some feedback, use it. Collect it. Repurpose it. Create a paper reporting the findings, adding the contributors to the author list.

THE GREAT EQUALIZER

Transforms the way we communicate

Social Media...

Instant and borderless

Monologue to dialogue

The instant and borderless is important, but being able to narrow that is just as significant. The “local” impact social media can have, and the staying power a well-developed story can possess is huge. That said, speed and global accessibility must have significant implications to a public health environment. Comments?

“We want to engage our patients in their healthcare”- Dr. Jeff Livingston, MacArthur Ob/Gyn

•Medical Summary•Chart•Lab results•Secure messages to your physician•Schedule an appointment•Prescription refills

In this case, they use password protected software and social media to share med info with patients.Transparency “anything I can see, they can see”...As a result, they report that doctor-patient relationships have improved because they donʼt have to rely on on online search to get medical info... they can easily access a trusted source online.

This falls primarily into the engage category. I donʼt see them doing much “listening” or “learning” from their patients, except that they like the experience.

There were some “referral/recommendation” discussions on the facebook page.

PUBLIC HEALTHSocial Media and...

So, more perspective/some knowledge about how you can use social media and which social media tools you should/could implement. The fact is with a mandate of building communities to facilitate, share and collaborate on public health initiatives in Canada… you are already heavily involved.

Research papers/reports

Press releasesE-newsletters

Discussion forums

E-learning

EmailEvents/Conferences

Slideshows

Video

Website

SurveysTraditional marketing materials

Wiki

Here we are back to the tools you currently use... but what you have to look at first are your goals and objectives.If your goal is to operate in a vacuum, then social tools and tactics are not likely of any use.If your goal is to increase traffic, get more newsletter signups, event attendance, audience interaction and awareness, then you are using a lot of the right tools already, but how you use, promote and develop them can change within a social media environment.

In some cases you stray outside of these tools. Some of you are using Twitter and Facebook. Take your own experiences and apply them to your professional perspective. How can these things add value?

LISTEN.

How do you know what presentations were popular at your event? How do you know what to change next time? What research papers go into your editorial calendar? What is working on your site? Whatʼs not? What are the trending public health issues? And many more...

Use Twitter as a listening tool like “Google Alerts” (a how-to for google alerts will also be included at the end) to initiate a practice of monitoring what is going on in your space. Set up searches and follow/list (also included in the how-to section) popular/relevant/influential people that will add value to your data collection and, ultimately, your own messaging and activities.

Until you incorporate a “listening” component to your strategy, youʼll always be a step behind. Remember Gretzkyʼs quotation? (next slide)

“I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”

- Wayne Gretzky

Some of it is instinct, but much of it is learned behaviour. Itʼs not the best anology from a listening perspective, but the overall idea remains solid: you canʼt operate in a vacuum. Knowing what people want to talk about is often more important than reacting to what they WERE talking about last month.

A sound listening strategy forms the cornerstone of a sustainable, scalable social media strategy. It helps you understand whatʼs being said, where itʼs happening, what kind of volume youʼre dealing with, and where on the social media presence curve you sit as a company. Consider this the initial research phase of your work to get a lay of the land, and an ongoing temperature gauge that helps you adjust your continued activities.

TRUTH & FICTION

Truth: Social Media takes a lot of time and effort.

Fiction: I don’t have enough time or resources to use them.

The reality is, yes, it can take a lot of time, but the benefits will come, and ultimately these activities will save time in other areas, like focus groups, specific campaign practices, market research, database building and management, etc.

By listening, one man operations can mine market research to build their brand, engage audiences and grow. They have to, because in order to compete, they have to be steps ahead of their competition.

CEOs of multi-billion dollar organizations blog and tweet. They base that subject matter on the company line, but crisis and issues management revolves around your ability to respond to a complaint, an issue. They often want to personify their brand, or boost their spot in the market by emphasizing their thought leadership and track record.

The reality is, users/audiences have come to expect more from their online experience.

As far as time is concerned, itʼs easy to say “time is relative”, but for most people you either have enough, or you donʼt. The question isnʼt how much you have, but what youʼre doing to fill it...

If youʼre going to say “I donʼt have time to build relationships online!” yet youʼll fly across the country to attend a workshop on how to do it, then thereʼs a problem. Iʼm glad that you did it, and Iʼm not saying itʼs easy to change how and why you spend your time on certain things, but in this case Iʼm telling you: make it a priority and it will net results.

PROCESS

Process is important in anything you do... You get your coffee, you sit at your desk, you open your email/check your messages, look at your to-do list and... GO.

The same way you check your email every morning, I get my coffee (checking in with foursquare), open my Google reader (RSS feeds), twitter platforms, linkedin and see whatʼs going on in “my” world. I check my email and open my to-do list (evernote) and jot down the important things/contacts/whatever I just learned/listened to. I circle back and tweet/retweet/blog and set up any alerts (via hootsuite, also included in the how-tos) so that I can see what happens to my conversations. Then I get to “work”... circling back throughout the day to check my channels.

So, getting started often means trying things to see if they work. You already have lots of experience with this, but never get discouraged. The reason it didnʼt work, or didnʼt work as expected, may not be for any reason other than expectations, how you used it, why you used it, etc.

My understanding is that this “wiki” or resource portal started as a pilot project to provide the general public with practical and up-to-date information on heat-related illnesses...

The general consensus seems to be that it was too time consuming to manage.

Fair enough. These things can be difficult to manage, which is why you need to develop a process to run it efficiently and effectively, and compelling calls to action to get people involved. Incentivize: photo contests, home remedies, global warming debates... winners get published in the next newsletter, win a shoppers drugmart gift cert for sun tan lotion, etc.

Whatʼs the call to action? Join the debate? Are we arguing about something? What happens when I sign up? Do I have to sign up to participate in the conversation? Why do you want them to sign up?

Take the information you build for this portal and build on it. Repurpose it. Ultimately, it sounds like it wasnʼt really a failure, but an opportunity. It needs some tweaks, but apart from that the idea isnʼt bad and you can grow it.

You donʼt even have to be active in social media to take advantage of your listening activities. By “active” I mean update your fb or linkedin accounts, tweeting regularly, etc. Itʼs market research you apply to your day-to-day, as well as your forward-looking goals.

Odds are, youʼre already doing this. Your organizations are research and information-based. You are constantly learning and trying to determine the best ways of adding value to your audience with that knowledge.

Without certain tools and tactics in place, your options may not be limited, but your timeliness and effectiveness may be.

What’s in it for me?

Many of the people I talked to pointed to difficulty in getting conversations started, in getting people to comment or submit their stories, sharing their experiences.

Unfortunately or otherwise, we very much live in a “whatʼs in it for me” world. Being more optimistic, Iʼll admit itʼs not always because people are looking for incentive, they just donʼt always have the time to participate in a survey, comment on a discussion forum or submit their own content.

As I said earlier, identify what motivates your audience. You know what they are interested in. You know what may, or may not, motivate you to participate in a survey or comment on a blog topic. How can you apply that to your audience?

84% of Canadians are active on social networks.

So what happened to these people? Why arenʼt they weighing in? We started our discussion board, weʼre on facebook, why isnʼt anyone talking to us?

Iʼll be honest. Sometimes, you need to provide an incentive. It doesnʼt have to be monetary, but it does need to add value. If you want someone to participate in a survey, or submit a case study, an experience or comment on a discussion thread, sometimes you need to say “the first 50 people to weigh in on this subject gets a free ticket to our next event” or “everyone who participates in this survey gets a free copy of the ebook: Does eating organic food reduce pesticide exposure?”

First, it takes time. You need to develop your network and provide them with reasons to come back regularly. You need to identify what motivates them. I canʼt say this enough.

CONSISTENCY & VALUE

But even if you can incentivize them to participate once, how do you get them to stay? People are busy, but they still send hundreds of emails, post photos of their kids and follow thousands of people on twitter.

THeyʼve made it a part of their ritual, their habits.

You need to get on this list... reading the newspaper used to be, and still is for many, a daily activity. But now people digest a lot of their material online, and they create a list of resources they check regularly.

Catering to a daily audience is way too difficult, but as long as you are consistent and set their expectations, you make it easier for them to know when and why they should come back...

Letting them know that something theyʼre interested in is coming helps to ensure that they come back...

CONSISTENCY

This is a colleague of my wifeʼs. She works for a PR agency, but this is her personal blog. It doesnʼt add a lot of value to peopleʼs lives, but she gets a lot of traffic based primarily on her interesting commentary, but also because she sets, and meets expectations.

You canʼt get it right out of the gate, but by listening and learning you can employ some strategy that not only makes your job easier (knowing when you have to publish something and why), but ultimately it makes for a better experience.

Thereʼs nothing out there that will ever change the fact that relationships take time, because that is what youʼre trying to do... build relationships with these people.

BUT, Consistency breeds familiarity, which creates/engenders relationships.

REPURPOSE

Maybe every XX months, you decide you want to open a discussion on healthy eating. Advertise that. Promote it. Ask for input. Offer writing credits for participation.

Do the research (much of which can occur online through SM channels to save time and money), and report your progress. Discuss any issues you may be having. Any holes you need filling. It doesnʼt take you any more time. Youʼre likely having these discussions internally andyway.

Once youʼre finished, package it. Take what youʼve learned and turn it into something. But multiple somethings. A slideshare, an ebook, a blog discussing the process. Pull out some findings and tweet them, pointing back to the site and other useful resources, and asking for feedback... possibly for a writing credit in the follow up.

But re-use and repurpose. Social media not only makes it easy to publish and disseminate, but you can learn and record its online life, and take that information for a follow up document.

“It takes a thousand tweets to build a reputation, and one to change it all.”

- Scott Stratten, author of UnMarketing

But itʼs a double-edged sword, like all things message-oriented (note, not “social media oriented” but messaging based!).

CONTROL IS AN ILLUSION

Control is an illusion... not participating in social media doesnʼt mean youʼre maintaining control over your message, it simply means fewer people get to see it and therefore respond to, or resonate with it.

Whatever it is that you do, I firmly believe that your goal always needs to be engagement. Whether youʼre a business or a resource, if you engage people, youʼve won.

Every point of contact is a point of engagement. It either heightens the relationship or lowers it...

INCLUDE YOUR AUDIENCE... EVEN IF YOU FEEL THEY’RE NOT ACTIVE IN SOCIAL MEDIA

“You can listen to! Send an email to: socialmedia@nccph.ca

Subject line: Please add me to your social media updates!”

This is a good way to include an audience that isnʼt active in social media. You can provide them with updates via email, newsletter, as well as provide them with some tools to hook into the social media activities you have going on.

From a public health perspective, my understanding is that the relationships you and your “target audience” are trying to engender revolve primarily on trust and thought leadership.

As a result, your online activities should all be structured to build on that trust, to reinforce it, and to react if that trust is called into question... Iʼll bring up some examples of how reaction time and the “right” response has not only mitigated damages, but actually personified and elevated the brand in question.

CREATE A HOME BASE

From both an internal and outward-facing perspective, it makes sense for the NCCs to create a social media home base to provide clarity to your audience, but also amongst the various centres. You can point people to various social media channels, but always be clear as to why you use those channels. Why should they be going there? To communicate with you? To learn? To collaborate with their peers?

The APHA does a pretty good job at what their social media channels are for. They have split up their twitter feeds into: Public health, Get Ready News, Public Health Week, Annual Meeting, and “the Nationʼs Health”... all subjects they want to focus on.

The NCC collective could do the same, but identify each account held by each centre, and what you might find when you go there.

Be clear and concise. The same way youʼre not sure how to set up a twitter account, your audience may be in the same boat, so provide them with the tools and info they need. There will be how-to docs for twitter, facebook and linkedin at the end of this presentation.

MAKE IT EASY

Make it easy for your audience to share and comment on your content. Even if you donʼt participate actively via any of the social media channels, this allows your audience to engage with your content and share it. It allows you to determine whatʼs working, what people are reading, and provides them with an opportunity to weigh in on it.

PLAN. LISTEN. LEARN. ENGAGE. TRACK. REFINE.

Setting up a Strategy

1.Create a vision2.Start with metrics3.Research your audience4.Develop a strategy5.Phase your rollout6.Listen and learn7.Engage with purpose8.Stay connected9.Track your progress10.Keep experimenting!

Strategy: •What are the objectives?•What tools are we going to use? •What are the measures of success?

Vision, metrics and audience are things you know best... itʼs hard for others to help here. I can help with expectations and methods, but ultimately you live and breath public health and need to own this.

That said, the single most important thing I can bring to you at this point in the presentation is to help you set goals...

Ultimately, itʼs about focus. Focus your viewerʼs attention and pull them into your funnel. Landing pages, facebook pages, blogs, demo pages, etc. They all have their uses and depending on what your objectives and measures of success are (traffic, awareness, click-throughs, sign-up rates, attendance, awards, etc.) they serve different purposes.

OBJECTIVES

These can be tough, and often change, but they should align with all of your other objectives. They should align with your vision... this isnʼt an “online only” goal. Sure, more traffic to your website is a digital objective, but the goal is awareness or a conversion that contributes to a bigger picture.

The people Iʼve talked to over the past week identified some challenges, and were able to generally identify some goals and objectives:

How do we get more traffic/conversation on our discussion forum? We want to engage users in more two-way conversations? Develop a two-way exchange...Develop more Word of mouth awarenessMore effectively promote...More traffic/build networkEngageMore downloads/conversions.

AUDIT

once youʼve settled on goals and objectives, we audit your current activities and capabilities, as well as your willingness to make changes or increase time, effort, budget, etc.

In many cases this is also an exercise in prioritization. I donʼt like to make changes for the sake of change.

RE-INVENT THE WHEEL?

Maybe, maybe not... I donʼt believe in change for the sake of change, especially when there are already so many things you are doing well. Identifying what youʼre doing well is just as, if not more, important that pointing out whatʼs not working.

The fact that some of you are trying tools like twitter, discussion forums, video means that we just need to focus your efforts and identify what tools we can use to reach our objectives.

But before we get to the tools, there are the challenges... challenges are generally blessings in disguise in my experience, because they force you to think a lot about what youʼre doing and why.

The biggest challenge seems to be ...

communicating in both official languages. This can be resource draining, but if itʼs built in to your DNA, then the process needs to be built anyway.

Social Media conversations are meant to be short. Yes, theyʼre also meant to be frequent, and sometimes fast, but there are tools that can accomplish that for you, and again Iʼll point to consistency and respect as the ultimate guidelines.

Two twitter feeds is not my ideal solution, but do-able. Iʼd preferalternating french to english, with a clear acknowledgement that the information can be obtained in either language.

Other suggestions...

Ortsbo (also canadian) is one of many translation tools, however iʼll repeat that constantly translating can be time consuming, but most blog posts shouldnʼt be more than a couple of paragraphs long and ultimately, in your case, theyʼre likely pointing to research that has already been packaged in both languages. Similarly, tweets are 140 characters long. Google can translate that for you. That said, Iʼm not so sure thereʼs value in creating an english and a french tweet.

Consistency is key, and your audience will let you know what they like and donʼt like. My experience tells me that you need to make it easy, appealing, and ultimately add value. Period.

We donʼt (generally) email in both languages. As long as we are respectful of the issues, I think that the value trumps the sensitivity, but correct me if Iʼm wrong.

TOOLS

Tools that worked in the 1980s may not work today. Thatʼs not to say that they WONʼT, but there are better, cheaper, more efficient ways to get in front of your audience today than ever before. Twitter, facebook and other social networking sites are just that: theyʼre channels. Weʼre looking for tools to make those channels work best for us.

THE RIGHT TOOLS

It all comes down to what you need them for, and how youʼre going to use them. My computer does all that I need it to do. But if I needed recording tools, I need something more.

GoogleTwitter clients: Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, etc. are very useful for managing multiple social accounts, tracking conversations and, in the case of hootsuite, ranking and mandating action.

Hootsuite is particularly good at this... but where they fall down is in the reporting. Theyʼre free up to a point (Hootsuite has a paid model once you get more users involved), so this is understandable, but ultimately we need reporting capabilities in order to insure weʼre achieving our goals.

Technorati: blog search... what are people worldwide saying about your space on millions of blogs.

Tweetbeep: google alerts for your tweets.

Wordpress: great blog engine... anyone can use it and there are a number of free themes.

Sysomos and Radian6 are both paid services but their reporting

MONITORING

Radian6 and Sysomos can provide the reporting and the workflow management to make the process effective and easier to manage.

REASONS TO MONITOR

The Long Tail

The Story Angle

The Misstep

The Recruit

The Brand Association

The Long TailInfluencers carry a lot of weight, but there are millions of people online at a given time. Passionate brand evangelists can be found in far reaches of the web, in smaller and more niche communities. Social networks, communities, and forums exist for the most specialized interests you can imagine, and monitoring social media closely is the best way to find them. There can be immense value in connecting with these small but passionate groups and giving them opportunities to get acquainted and connected with you and your brand. Connecting with “the long tail” can do wonders in raising the awareness of your brand within your target community.

The Story AngleLooking at your brand and your industry from a single point of view can be limiting. Listening to how other people are telling stories about your product, company, or brand can uncover new and creative ways to talk about your business. You may uncover subtle trends in your industry or innovative ways of describing your work. The media and the readers of your blog will enjoy capturing a creative story that will help your brand stand out from the competition.

The RecruitMore than likely, the first thing a potential employee will do when considering your company is do a Google search. Monitoring the web ensures that youʼll know what theyʼll see and read before they do. And todayʼs talent market is incredibly tight in many industries, making great people the most valuable asset for many businesses. Listening carefully to discussion online in your industry can help you identify experts and standout talent that you may not find through traditional search channels.

The Brand AssociationYouʼve likely spent a great deal of time and money establishing your value proposition and brand positioning in the marketplace. But are your customers and potential customers viewing your brand through the same lens? By expanding your monitoring efforts to listen broadly across the web, you may capture tangential associations for your brand across new lifestyles, demographics, or cultures that you hadnʼt previously considered. And if there are negative terms associated with your brand, discovering them will allow your company to address issues when needed and keep realistic awareness of overall brand perceptions for future planning.

HOW TO MONITOR

Brand

Industry

Competitors

In the brand bucket, youʼll want to concentrate your searches around terms, words, and phrases that are directly related to your company and business. You can go broad or narrow, but in general, youʼll want to develop a stack of keywords and phrases that reflect:The name of your org Your brands, units, or offeringsNames of specialized services you offerNames or terms around specific campaignsKey stakeholders in your organizationNicknames, abbreviations, or misspellings of any of the above

IndustryProactive. Itʼs intended to help you understand the larger landscape that surrounds your business, the conversations that are above and around your brand. Itʼs not about you, but rather understanding how you might fit into the larger profile of your industry on the social web. Here, you might search for:Terms related to verticals you specialize in Phrases that define the markets you serve Larger industry keywords or categories Professional organizations you belong to or that fit your business profile Names of thought leaders in the industry you serve

You can identify and locate conversations that arenʼt about your company, but where you can engage and communicate expertise, meet new people, and establish your online presence as a resource and authority without a focus on sales or marketing.

CompetitorsCompetitive intelligence used to be limited to expensive, paid reports from business intelligence companies, or whatever information you could glean through your network of acquaintances, friends, and contacts. The social web has brought a new dimension to competitive analysis, and put a wealth of information out there to find. You can look for:Names of competitive companies, brands, products, and servicesStakeholders in those companiesBuzz around competitive campaigns or promotionsNicknames, misspellings, or the like of any of these

MEASUREMENTROI versus ROE

Before we talk about measurement and measurement activities, itʼs important to identify what your measures of success are. The so-called ROI of social media is often hard to measure. Instead, we try to identify specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and timed goals that align directly with a big-picture brand goal: i.e. increased awareness.

Itʼs not a single metric. Follower counts or traffic donʼt mean much on their own.

Social media activities take time so the “ROI” is nearly impossible to measure... ROE or its variations (return on relationships) speak to the potential increased awareness, more people talking about you, a better understanding of where you and your services fit in can yield.

“If I offered you a tool 10 years ago that allowed you to listen and respond to the casual conversations of

your potential, current, and past [audience], you would have paid me $20,000 per month for this 8th wonder

of the world...”-Scott Stratten, author of UnMarketing

But now, that it is here, and free, and people want to know how itʼs going to pay off... whatʼs the ROI of a networking event? The conference you flew to? The seminar youʼre attending right now?

If you expect immediate results, you should reset your expectations.

But you have to start somewhere.

Having a hypothesis to start from is important. For instance, “We think that an increase in blog subscribers over six months will correlate with an increase in sales,” or, “Post activity on our help forum will decrease call center costs,” are strong hypotheses to get started measuring and benchmarking. Build your goals based on these hypotheses, and measure against them to see if youʼre on the right track.

In general, a monthly report outlining your number of twitter followers, facebook fans, blog traffic, comments, conversation tracking... these are good places to start.

SOCIAL MEDIA WINS

Organization:Dominoʼs Pizza (7 Chicago-area franchise stores)

Social Media Tools Used:• Twitter—2,500 followers, @ Ramon_DeLeon• Twitter search• Tweetlater alerts (now SocialOomph.com)• TweetPhoto• TweetDeck• Viddler• Flickr• Monitter

Results:• 7 successful Dominoʼs franchises• Doors opened to provide pizza for large groups• Hundreds of thousands of impressions of one video alone• Dozens of blog mentions

Sounds weird, and it doesnʼt apply to a non-profit perspective, but itʼs still a great story...

April 2009: Amy Korin ordered some pizza online with Dominos.

The order was wrong and late, taking more than an hour to arrive. A social media consultant, she hopped on twitter and let her feelings known.

“The only way to put out a social media fire is with social media water,”

- Ramon DeLeon

Ramon DeLeon, the owner of seven dominos franchises in Chicago, contacted here immediately on twitter and promised to make it up to her.

She woke up to a video (not knowing the bandwidth here, I didnʼt include it, but we can take a look...) that was made for her by Ramon and Jr., the manager of the store in question.

She doesnʼt have a million followers. Sheʼs not a celebrity or a huge personality. She was just an unsatisfied customer. “WAS”. Because he was listening, he jumped on her complaint...

The video went viral (we can try to watch it). Unfortunately because itʼs so rare for a company to own their mistake. Word of mouth happens with our without Ramon here, but he took a negative and turned it into a positive.

Mattel: Summer 2007, they launched the “Playground Community”, a private online space for 500 mothers. That fall, they announced a worldwide toy recall. Each day they communicated with the moms in the group to determine how they should deal with the recalls. Despite the recalls, Q4 sales were up and their agency was granted a Forrester Groundswell Award in the “Listening” category... yes. There is a listening category.

Threadless is a popular and respected online community of designers, producers and consumers of fun, innovative t-shirts. Believe in LISTENING FIRST. Let customers decide what the company should make. They use FB and Twitter, because they are most suitable to their goals. They maintain a personality, a tone, and theyʼre consistent in their activities. They engage their audience and provide incentives to contribute. They have almost 1 million people signed up on their site. Over 200K on FB. Over 1.5 M followers on Twitter. Just by engaging. Openess leads to authenticity.

AUTHENTICITY vs. TRANSPARENCY

being transparent is much different than being authentic, but you need both...

Donʼt do anonymous posting...

SOCIAL MEDIA FAILS

Wal-Martʼs RV campaign: they werenʼt transparent OR authentic. Couple started to document their RV journey across america, parking for free in RVs across the country, taking photos and gushing about the employees and service. Walmart was paying for it...

Skittles gave their website a SM makeover in 2009. In an attempt to reach out to a younger demo, they featured a real-time twitter feed on their home page displaying all the tweets containing the word Skittles. Good idea on paper, until you think about a free-for-all feed. Someone wrote Skittles gives you cancer, profanity... a wave of uncensored messages. They took the wrong approach and rushed to market.

They didnʼt enter the space authentically and the campaign didnʼt involve any interaction. By “authentically” here, I mean that they didnʼt try to engage. They just put up a social tool, and let it spew out anything “skittles”. Thatʼs automated, ineffective and, ultimately, dangerous.

Pizza Hut decided it wanted to get in on the SM frenzy. They posted an ad for a young, hip intern, or “twintern” as they called it, who would create and manage a twitter acct for the company.

They were looking for someone who knew how to properly retweet and use hashtags and someone who “speaks fluent LOL”

Problem #1: “Twintern” who speaks “fluent LOL”

Problem #2: Any experience?

Problem #1: When you are breaking into a community that millions of people worldwide consider extremely valuable, it might be a good idea not to belittle them... market test your campaign.

Problem#2: canʼt quite wrap our heads around the idea that Pizza Hut wanted to hire someone who knew nothing about the company prior to their hiring to handle the largest and most direct line it had between their business and their consumers. Maybe SM experience, AND industry experience?

DIGITAL DIVIDE

Thereʼs no such thing anymore... and even if it does exist, you need to act like it doesnʼt. All of your actions need to be targeted to engaging an online audience.

How to sign up for Twitter: http://support.twitter.com/Beginner's Quick Start Guide and Tutorial to Using Twitter: http://twitter.zappos.com/start

How to sign up for Linkedin: http://learn.linkedin.com/new-users/

Facebook Help: http://www.facebook.com/help/

Hootsuite Quickstart Guide: http://ow.ly/4hkRFHootsuite is a FREE social media dashboard that can manage multiple accounts (facebook, linkedin, blog, etc.) simultaneously and help you to monitor your activities

(the basics)

Blogging basics: http://codex.wordpress.org/Introduction_to_Blogging

Getting Started with Google Alerts: http://www.google.com/support/alerts

Getting Started with Gmail: http://mail.google.com/supportGmail is a FREE web-based email platform that is ideal for setting up multiple social media accounts, as well as creating project-specific email accounts that are easy to manage.Top 10 reasons to use Gmail: http://mail.google.com/mail/help/intl/en/about.html

Presentation link: to comeGood resource guides (a list of other material/books/pdfs) to review

REFERENCES/REAL EXAMPLES IN ACTION

American Red Cross Social Media Guidelines: http://www.slideshare.net/PingElizabeth/american-red-cross-social-media-guidelines

What the f*ck is social media: One year later : http://www.slideshare.net/mzkagan/what-the-fk-is-social-media-one-year-later

Social Media’s Promise for Public Health: http://www.slideshare.net/PewInternet/social-medias-promise-for-public-health

PHAC: Mobile and Social Media Tools: http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/sm-ms/index-eng.php

Canada Post Social Media Policy: http://www.infopost.ca/en/social-media-employee-policy/

This will include instructions for hootsuite, RSS feeds, blog setups, google alerts...

Mike Connellmikeconnell.caTwitter : @themunamike@mikeconnell.ca