Social Media Strategy:Mission, Tool, Metrics, Teach

Jeffrey LevyDirector of Web Communications

US EPA

Rev 4/12

Three Levels of Understanding

• What is this stuff?• Why would gov’t use it?• How do we get going?

Where are you?

Breaking the Ice• Personally or professionally, who has hands-on

experience posting to:– Twitter (anyone live tweeting this workshop)?– Facebook?– Other social networking sites?– Photo sharing?– Video sharing?– Document or slide deck sharing?– Wiki?

• Think of and share one word about feelings the words “social media” create in you

Agenda

• Videos and discussion on what social media means

• Presentation: brief overview of social media

• Break• Mission, tool, metrics, teach: presentation

and working on your own project, then reporting out

What is Social Media?

Anything online where the viewercan do something more than absorb: comment, rate, create content, etc.

Four Things to Remember

• Social media is free like a puppy is free.

• Social media is a set of tools. Don’t throw out the old just because you get something new.

• We’re in the first pitch of a baseball game.

• An expert is someone who knows one thing more than you do.

Videos and Discussion

• Information R/evolution: broad overview of how social media is changing how we think of and share informationhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4CV05HyAbM

• Social Media Revolution: amazing statshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0EnhXn5boM

What (tools)?• Blogs

• Microblogs

• Social networking

• Widgets

• Wikis

• Video/photo sharing

• Podcasting

• Document Sharing

• Contests

• Business networking

• RSS

• Mashups

• Idea generation

• Social gaming

• Virtual worlds

• Social news

• Social bookmarking

• Location check-ins

What (figuratively)?

• Collaboration (internal and external)• Interaction (comments, photos, videos)• “Force Multiplier” through sharing• Tools for adults

Why?• Mission, mission, mission

– So keep using older tools, too• It’s where the people are

– 4,000,000,000 daily YouTube views– 850,000,000 active Facebook users

• More direct connection to people• We’re 17,000. They’re 7,000,000,000.• Chance to hear what others are saying• Competitive advantage in providing information

How?• It’s culture, not a tech issue• Trust: employees, the public• Develop some strategy, but not 400 pages• Experiment

How? (cont’d)• Be ready to fail (fast, small)• Be ready to succeed

– Always ask “what’s next”?– Teach!

• Embrace criticism (it’s almost all useful)• Accept that odd things will happen• Acknowledge that fear, confusion, wonder,

excitement are all normal

How to Get Started: Try It• GovLoop.com

• Twitter (to start, just follow people)

• Facebook (try everything: groups, apps, causes, upload pics, add links, etc.)

• Read blogs on social media

• Post videos to YouTube, photos to Flickr, Documents to Scribd, slide decks to Slideshare

• Listen to a few podcasts

And now a word about …

Lack of guidance on social media

Restricted access on govt

servers

Accessibility.Section 508.

Govt info on non-govt Servers

Infrastructure support of Web

2.0

IT Security.Unproven technology.

FOIA

FACA

Records management

Information architecture.Content management systems.

Privacy.No

Permanent Cookies.COPPA.

Copyright.Official source.

No advertising. Corporate branding.

Promotion of outside

organizations. Procurement

Resources. Culture.

Knowledge.

Web 2.0 Policy

Augmenting appropriation.

Soliciting donations. Anti-Deficiency.

AAAARRGGGHHHHAAAARRGGGHHHH

How to Get Started (Projects)

• Review the stuff about culture• Thicken your skin• Start small, grow over time• Go to lunch with:

– Your IT folks– Your attorneys– People who have found success

How to Convince Your Boss• Mission: use gov’t words, not technologies

– Not Blog: “connecting with our stakeholders”– Not YouTube: “video where people can find it”

• Stay high-level, not technical• More:

levyj413.wordpress.com/2009/05/12/how-to-talk-to-managers-about-social-media/

Now It’s Your Turn!

PuttingMission, Tool, Metrics, Teach

Into Action

Mission

• What's your mission need or goal?– Think broadly: go beyond regulations– Engage, not just direct

•  Who are your target audiences?

• What are their top tasks online, and how does your mission play into those?

Mission Example:Earth Day and EPA

• What's our mission need or goal?Get people to protect the environment

• Who are our target audiences? Everyone in their daily lives, not at work

• What are their top tasks online related to our mission?Learning what they can do, protecting themselves, purchasing, recycling

Mission: More Examples• Policy forums

• Community-building: convening, not directing

• Hearing about problems (traffic, crime, etc.)

• Educating beyond our own websites

• Engaging people’s creativity

Mission: Your Turn

• What's your mission need or goal?•  Who's your target audience?•  What are their top tasks online, and how

does your mission play into those?

Take 5 minutes

Tool

• What tools or channels will help you most directly serve your mission and your audiences' needs?

• Think multi-channel• Remember “traditional” tools

Tool: EPA Examples• Earth Day

– News release– Facetweets– Podcasts– Photo, video projects– Widget– Home page banner– Email– Videos

• Jobs– Email– Auto-tweet– Auto-Facebook posts (researching new FB page)

Tool: More Examples• Policy forums: blogs, social networking

• Community-building: social networking, wikis

• Hearing about problems: mashups, mapping, mobile reporting apps

• Educating beyond our own websites: widgets, social networking, blogging, microblogging

• Engaging people’s creativity: photo/video sharing, contests

Tool: Your Turn

• What tools or channels will help you most directly serve your mission and your audiences' needs?

• Think multi-channel• Remember “traditional” tools

Take 5 minutes

Metrics• What defines success qualitatively for this project?

Engagement is what matters, but isn’t always easy to demonstrate

• What can you measure that will describe quantitatively how it's going? Much is available from some tools, not much from others (and keep staffing and budget in mind)

• How often will you measure?

• Name benchmarks that will tell you whether you're succeeding.

Metrics Example:Earth Day and EPA

• What defines success qualitatively for Earth Day?– People taking action– People owning the environment– People teaching others– People changing how they purchase, use, and toss

out stuff– Attitudes toward EPA and EPA’s mission improve

Metrics Example:Earth Day and EPA

• What can we measure that will describe quantitatively how it's going?– Views: website, Facebook, YouTube, widgets– Reach: retweets, shares, likes, people

participating– Contest/project entries: photos, videos, apps– Comments left (# and nature)– Anecdotes: look especially for evidence of

action

Metrics Example:Earth Day and EPA

• How often did we measure?– Daily, weekly, or overall depending on the

effort• Name benchmarks that told us whether

we succeeded– To be honest, we didn’t do this; just did

summary reports– Still trying to figure out what “big” means (is

60,000 email subscribers a lot?)

Metrics: More Examples• Policy forums: # of comments, # of participants, # of useful

ideas that emerged (esp. if they changed the policy direction)

• Community-building: size of network, level of activity, actions that emerged

• Hearing about problems: # of reports, # of resulting actions

• Educating beyond our own websites: page views, followers/fans, # of widget installations

• Engaging people’s creativity: # of participants, # of entries

Metrics: Your Turn• What defines success qualitatively for this project?

• What can you measure that will describe qualitatively how it's going?

• How often will you measure?

• Name benchmarks that will tell you whether you're succeeding.

Take 5 minutes

Teach

• How will you share what you've learned from this project in your own organization?

• How will you share what you've learned beyond your organization?

Teaching Example:Earth Day and EPA

• Tweeted results• Taught webinars• Spoke at conferences• Briefed management• Incorporated lessons into other briefings

Teaching: More Examples• Same methods as above for all examples, plus:

– Training videos– Recorded webinars for later viewing– Create policy or guidance documents

Teach: Your Turn

• How will you share what you've learned from this project in your own organization?

• How will you share what you've learned beyond your organization?

Take 5 minutes

Resources: Social Media• Jeffrey Levy

– Twitter: http://twitter.com/levyj413– Slideshare (including this workshop): http://slideshare.net/levyj413 – Infrequent blog: http://www.govloop.com/profiles/blog/list?user=28e2wynnsadv3 – (I'm on LinkedIn, but check in only every several months)– (I'm on Facebook, but for personal sharing, not related to work)

• Social media for beginners: Jeffrey Levy blog post linking to resources, including today's videos: http://www.govloop.com/profiles/blogs/social-media-resources-for-beginners

• Govloop: social network for people in and around gov't (just crossed 50,000 members): http://govloop.com

• Many gov't and private-sector social media policies: http://govsocmed.pbworks.com/w/page/15060450/Web%202%200%20Governance%20Policies%20and%20Best%20Practices

Resources: MTMT• Mission

– 10 Communications Objectives of Social Media: http://www.chrisbrogan.com/10-communications-objectives-of-social-media

• Tool– Search for tips and tricks

• Metrics– Blog post with good additional links: http://andrewpwilson.posterous.com/a-new-take-

on-social-media-metrics-for-govern– Category of one blog related to measurement:

http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/category/social-media-measurement/– One view on 10 social media metrics to monitor: http://socialtimes.com/social-

media-metrics_b2950– How far did your tweet go? http://tweetreach.com . http://topsy.com – Twitter stats: http://tweetstats.com

• Teach: try out Slideshare and Scribd