Post on 07-Jan-2017
Small CitiesandSocial Media
A Review of Best Practices and Current Studies
Presentation Objectives• Acquaint interested parties with:• A simplified landscape of social media venues• Industry estimates of ongoing costs• Best Practices for Social Media planning & use• Practical and Statutory considerations• Key differences from personal & commercial use
Why is this important?
If you don’t know where you’re goingANY road will take you there
• Start with the end in mind• (Seven Habits of Highly Effective People)
• One cannot manage what is not understood• One cannot manage what is not measured• Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right
things• (Peter Drucker)
Social Media• The Big Four (and one more)• Facebook• Twitter• LinkedIn• YouTube
• Our own blog/website…but there are alternatives
The Venues Evolve, Specialize and Consolidate
Each with strengths & weaknesses
Hence, the importance of objectives
• Target audience, • who & which venues
• Span of objectives• Communication / dialog / persuasion / branding• Service delivery / transactions / scheduling
• Content types• End Result Proposals, Alternatives, Data -> Ideas
• Content source and monitoring• Performance measuring
Social Media Cost ComponentsMay include any of the following:• Venue (i.e. Facebook) account fees and analytics fees• Multi-venue management service fees• Audience research and/or Strategy consulting fees• Site(s) / app(s) development costs• Content creation, review and approval• Content strategy and policies development• Staff resource commitment• Management oversight and commitment• Contract content development• Image / video licensing or development• Development of News Media collateral
• Monitoring, analytics and interpretation• Community management (posting, comment approval, etc)• Public Relations consulting• Legal review• Advertising and Venue promotion
Industry Cost Estimates
At this time there are no established industry-wide certifications of knowledge, ability or expertise in social media management. Caveat emptor.• A study by Bonsai Interactive concludes the average
cost for a social media campaign is over $210,000• Campaign consists of: social media strategist, community
manager; micro-site and mobile app.• According to contacfac.com social media
management agency contracts typically run $3,000 to $15,000 per month• Management agencies post supplied and developed
content
The Scaling Problem
For large entities seeking large audiences, upscaling is very cost effective:
• it costs no more to post to 100,000 followers than it does to post to 5,000
• however, it costs no less to post to 500 followers than it does to post to 5,000
The cost effectiveness depends upon the value of, and ability to achieve the objectives
Whoa…what’s a follower?
Follower is a term generally applied to a user who has subscribed (“like”/”follow”) and is noitfied of the social media posts of a given entity.According to the Local Government Management Association, governments typically obtain 6 - 9% of their population in Facebook “likes” and up to 11% of their population in Twitter followers.
Wait…what do you mean by ‘community’?
A community refers to a common area of interest. This may be a full Brand (ie Coca Cola) or a specific subset such as a product or area of interest within the Brand (shareholder news, or promotional events).
Municipal ‘communities’ might include:• City council activities• Individual High School or youth league sports• Community Events• Emergency Management / Disaster Preparedness• Traffic / Public Works alerts• City news
Guiding Principles of Public Engagement(excerpted from Institute for Local Government)
• Inclusive Planning (with potential audiences)• Transparency (who sponsors the process, purpose)• Authentic Intent • Breadth of Participation• Informed Participation• Accessible Participation• Appropriate Process• Authentic Use of Information Received• Feedback to Participants• Evaluation
Typical Social Media Process
(Excerpted from commercial strategies)
• Listen• Engage•Respond•Persuade•Measure
Best Practices for Social Media(excerpted from Institute for Local Government)
• Define Purpose and Objectives of Public Engagement• Understand the audiences• Consider both the message and the messenger (venue)• Set clear roles and expectations of staff, official & consultants• Create a plan• Establish and analyze measures of success• Present community oriented information & questions• Ensure sustainability of communications• Maintain stakeholder relationships
Best Practices for Social Media(excerpted from Local Government Mgmt Assoc.)
• Define approval authority and requirements• Who posts, who replies, who approves comments received
• Identify resources to maintain presence• Who creates content, who reviews• Content should be posted daily to each community
• Establish Workplace Protocols• What content and comments are acceptable in each community• Protocol for review of negative comment: respond, ignore, delete
• Spam, Spoof, Flamer and Troll management• Advertisers deleted• Research Imposters / Spoofers• Manage flamer content, access
Legal Issues for Social Media(excerpted from Institute for Local Government)
• First Amendment• Is venue traditional / designated / nonpublic forum?
• Use of Public Resource• Use for apparent non-public business / personal comments• Issue advocacy / campaigning / ballot initiative advocacy
• Posting, content, comments as public records• Search and retention as part of public records request?• Identity of commenters, if known?
• Open Meeting, Sunshine Laws• Impact on elected official making content, comments?
• Compliance with Privacy statutes• Venue indemnification contract language• Procurement process for venue use
Commercial Use• Revenue / market share objective• Brand building, brand loyalty focus• Cost offsets traditional marketing / advertising venues• It’s all about persuasion
• Target audience tends to be large• Performance related compensation to community managers• Rapid innovation cycle
• PLAN• TEST• MEASURE• ADJUST
• Integrated with broad marketing objectives and plans• Return on Investment focus• Drop venues, communities, strategies that don’t perform fast