How To Help Employees Socialize Your Brand: Preparing For The Opportunities and Pitfalls

Shabbir J. Imber Safdar10+ year digital agency veteran

www.safdaranalytics.comTwitter: @ShabbirSafdar

Conference hashtag: #GIIEvents

Author / Presenter Background Founder of The Safdar Group (2010),

a web agency with an expertise in nonprofit web analytics.

Founder of Virilion Inc (1997), a digital agency in Washington DC, Boston, NYC, & Austin specializing in online public affairs and nonprofit campaigns.

Frequent speaker on online crisis communications, web analytics, social media measurement, and online strategy.

Free ebook: “3 Fundraising Metrics For Your Nonprofit Website” (October 2009)

Free ebook: “Is Your Nonprofit Facebook Page Worth It? Analytics and Measurement Techniques” (April 2010)

Ebooks available at www.safdaranalytics.com

What are you here for?I am a marketing or

communications staffer with some responsibility for creating a social presence for the organization and guiding my colleagues.

88 of 166 Goodwills are using social media (Source: GII)

We’re going to coverA tiny tutorial on “how to” get

more social.The policies you should have in

place to do so and guide your team and your non-communications-savvy colleagues.

How to develop measurable goals for your social media work

Can a modern nonprofit ignore social media? No.Your supporters and detractors will

use it to talk about you, whether you want them to or not.

Your competitors are using it to drive attention to their efforts. Can you afford to cede all that attention to them?

Sooner or later, someone in your organization with responsibility who can’t take it anymore will start an initiative.

Can we set it up and lock it down? No.It’s not social if you’re using it to

broadcast press releases written in the third person, and you’ll suffer from either:◦a crisis caused by a tin ear (not

likely), or ◦a complete lack of effectiveness

(likely).

What is required for success?A commitment throughout the

organization to transparency, listening, and storytelling;

Guidance in the form of policies both for staff and for you web visitors;

Well-understood organizational and PR goals; and

A commitment to measure the results and learn from them.

Transparency, why?There are no secrets online.The details that make your

passion authentic are not big, polished, infrequent stories.

They are tiny details.Show prospective supporters

frequently that you “sweat the small stuff.”

Why do we listen?We need feedback: positive,

negative, and disinterest.Positive feedback is deceptive:

we don’t want to be told we’re great, but what is resonant.

Negative feedback is passion at odds with expectation (not to be confused with trolls)

Disinterest is the worst of all.

How do we listen?Avoid “tool obsession”Crank up Google Alerts and

HootSuite for Twitter search using:◦Your organization’s name◦Your nearest competitor’s name◦Key phrases around your mission

Don’t worry about “centralizing” listening in your organization.

StorytellingLittle details of your work in the

context of the organization’s mission

Examples:◦“I’m eating soup.” (Poor)◦“Having lunch with Joe from the

Career center. He runs the weekly career seminars”

◦“Three laid off auto workers from the Numi plant in tonight’s career seminar. Three families suffered in that layoff.”

It’s a process, not an answerSpeakListenAdjustRepeat

More infoBeth Kanter’s blog:

http://www.bethkanter.orgAllison Fine’s blog:

http://afine2.wordpress.com/

Policies for staffYou need policies in place for

staff because they need guidance.

Many of them, especially the digital natives, aren’t public relations natives.

Guidelines:◦Be honest.◦Be nice.◦Don’t talk out of school.

A great social media policyEnvironmental Defense Fund’sKey points:

◦Nothing online is secret◦Everything online exists forever;

nothing can be deleted◦There’s no such thing as a personal

controversial opinion; your job is always a part of you

Also see the story behind this policy

Goodwill Social Media PoliciesTacoma, WA and Greater New York – New

JerseyKey points:

◦ Be polished◦ Be respectful◦ Be relevant◦ Don’t talk out of school

Arlene has a social media policy available for Goodwill’s to adapt for your own use.

Note that policies should ideally cover people blogging on company time about their work, as well as people sharing online on their own time.

Who answers what?At large organizations it gets

pushed to the experts, away from communications.

In small organizations it probably comes back to the communications or marketing person who learns about everything you do.

What new roles does this create?Communications and Marketing needs to take on:Listening on behalf of the whole

organization; andMeasurement of results.

Red Cross Personal Online Communications GuidelinesDoUse disclaimersBe transparentBe accurateBe considerateRespect copyrightTell us about your blogBe generousBe a good bloggerRespect work

commitmentsUphold the Fundamental

Principles

Don’t

Reveal confidential information

Link to guidelines

Handbooks and GuidelinesApart from a policy, you also

want to give guidance in the specifics of your mission

Guidance for logo usage, specifics tips about tools, and common pitfalls that people working within your mission might encounter (privacy issues, for example)

Read the Red Cross social media guidelines designed to bring chapters up to speed on social media.

Common Pitfalls OnlineThinking what you post is

“hidden” by a password or “privacy settings”.

Thinking that because you don’t identify your place of employment, nobody will know.

Once you type it into a computer connected to the Internet, it’s fair game to wind up on CNN someday.

Questions so far?Have you had an incident?Are you listening?

Measurement of social mediaRealize that social media today is

where email fundraising was in 2000.

Your goal is to engage in a conversation with supporters about your work.

Incorporate their feedback, both overt and subtle. It will change you, and invest them in your mission.

Your “asks” both overt and subtle, will be measurably more effective over time.

The Overt Ask

Mission Ask

Leads to….

This page has six asks

How to measure the bottom line impact of your social media work

People you’re connected with in social media

Unique visitors you drive from social media to your website

Dollars, Email

Prospects, and

Donations

Example of your Facebook Marketing Funnel

5,000 fans

13% click

through per

month

2% give

This number is pretty directly under your control. Over time it will grow organically.

This number is very much under your control. Be more passionate and persuasive, and more people will click.

This one is the hardest to nudge in the short term. However in moments of high news profile, it will skyrocket.

Why bother to measure it?Your staff deserves to have the

results of their work connected to a bottom line organizational goal.

You don’t want them to fall into the PR-trap of working hard at something without measurable impact.

If you ever hope to get better at anything, you need to assess your progress along the way.

What will I learn when I review my data bi-weekly?What events and activities drive

fan growth?What social media updates drive

the most click thru traffic?What events cause people to

give more?

Getting startedGet Google Analytics (free) deployed on

your system correctly (not free, but not expensive).

Start keeping track of three metrics:◦Social media reach◦Click-thru rate◦Gift/Volunteer conversion rate

Set moderate, incremental goals for your social media staff

Review bi-weekly to learn what your audience likes

Questions so far?Who looks at their analytics?Does anyone measure their

social media for results?Is anyone connecting online

actions to in-store donations?

Managing online crisesSooner or later, this is likely to

happenThe solutions seem easy, but

there are a million ways to do it wrong.

Scenario #1The New Republic has had a long running beef with Goodwill. A headquarters employee for your area discovered that many of the nearby stores have donated issues of the New Republic on their shelves. They’ve sent out an email asking staff in each store to remove all copies from the shelves. A reporter got a hold of this email and is calling for comment on a story you know isn’t going to look good for you. What do you do?

www.truthypr.com

In 2008 an overzealous Circuit City employee ordered all copies of Mad Magazine removed from the shelves of all stores due to a Circuit City parody.

As the story hit the AP wire, the Circuit City PR team responded with a letter to Mad and the blog that broke it, Consumerist.com, with an apology, a self-deprecating joke, and a gift card.

The response was lauded by PR people and consumer advocates alike, and earned Circuit City an updated AP story and kudos for coming clean on their mistake.

Apologies Work: Circuit City vs. Mad Magazine

Ben Popken’s (Consumerist.com) 3-step system for fixing corporate gaffes:

1. Admit you were wrong2. Stop doing the wrong thing3. Make a material gesture of apology

http://consumerist.com/2008/08/circuit-city-sorry-for-commanding-employees-to-destroy-mad-mags-sucker-city-parody.html

Scenario #2

A critic with a beef of your organization has made a homemade video that liberally uses your trademark. The video has been posted to YouTube. Your legal counsel tells you that he can send a quick letter to YouTube and have it taken down. What do you do?

Greenpeace vs. Nestle

Don’t screw up your apology.

From flickr user BlaiseGV on March 19th, 2010

www.truthypr.com

In 2003 a photographer documenting coastal erosion shot thousands of photographs including one of Streisand’s Malibu home.

She lost in court, and drew 400,000+ visitors to the photo.

Coined the concept “The Streisand Effect”.

Source: Wikipedia

Suppressing online speech: Barbra Streisand vs. Pictopia.com

It takes talent to get your controversy into Wikipedia, from whence it will never leave.

Scenario #3

An employee’s work is subpar and is asked to leave your organization. A more senior employee who managed them on a few projects (but was uninvolved in their termination) gives them a glowing review on LinkedIn.

Problem?

Scenario #4You have a job opening and have narrowed the search down to two candidates who have been in for second interviews. Out of curiosity you Google both and notice that one of them has a Facebook profile that indicates they have a baby on the way and attend a Mormon church.

You close your browser and never tell anyone what you found. You hire the other candidate

Problem?

FollowupThese slides are available

on slideshare for download as well as the Goodwill conference extranet. Also at www.safdaranalytics.com

For more information about setting up measurement for social media, contact Shabbir Safdar at 415-683-7526 or shabbir@safdaranalytics.com

Ebooks available at www.safdaranalytics.com