IF YOU DON’T CARE WHAT YOUR RESIDENTS ARE SAYING ABOUT YOU, STOP LISTENING

NOW!

#Why govts need social media policy #today

#rightnow

A presentation of -30- and Beyond, Gene Williams, Owner, 508-776-2769, genewilliams49@msn.com

Do you need a social media policy?

YesYesYesHeck Yes

Why do you need a social policy?

Because your constituents are hanging out on Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn

They’re there and talking about you, good and bad

They’re there and sharing stories about you, good and bad

They’re there and want to talk to you and they want you talking to them

And you should be talking to them

Why you need a social media policy!

To know what people are saying about you, your city and policies

Better yet – to know how are you responding Having a social media policy in place doesn’t mean

you get to dictate your image. But, you do get to interact responsibly in the conversation that forms your image. *

* Shama (Hyder) Kabani, author of the Zen of Social Media Marketing:

Social Media is important because …

The Internet is closing in on television as Americans’ main source of national and international news. Currently, 41% say they get most of their news about national and international news from the Internet, up 17 points since 2007.

Television remains the most widely used source for national and international news – 66% of Americans say it is their main source of news – but that is down from 74% three years ago and 82% as recently as 2002 *

… online is where everyone is headed!

* Pew Research Center for Journalism findings

But what about Local News?

The Internet ranks as a "top source of information for most" local news of interest — from housing to jobs, calendars to reviews

The rise of search engines and specialty websites for different topics like weather, job postings, businesses and e-government have fractured and enriched the local news and information environment *

* Pew Center Internet & American Life Project

Local, Local, Local … and more Local

The most popular local topics: Weather (89% of people get it) Breaking news (80%) Local politics (67%) and crime (66%)

The least popular on our list of topics: Zoning and development information (30%) Local social services (35%) Job openings (39%) Local government activities (42%).

47% of adults use mobile devices to get local news and information, mostly for “out and about” categories of information, such as restaurants

Social media is becoming a factor in how people learn about their local community 17% of adults get local information on social networking sites such as

Facebook at least monthly

Internet vs. NewspapersInternet vs. Newspapers More people now get their

news from the Internet than from newspapers.

According to the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism: 34% of respondents said they read

news online within the past 24 hours

31% favored newspapers 41% said they get most of their

news online 65% of 18-to-29-year-old group say

the Internet is their main news source

Sigh, the Internet overtakes Newspapers

How it all breaks down

What makes a smarter Social Media city? At its best, it is:

Engaging: It promotes citizen involvement and builds a new sense of ownership with scope for collaboration in every aspect of city life.

Transparent: It lifts the lid on how the city works – processes are visible, dialogue is open, feedback is swift.

Nimble: It delivers services in real time with an enhanced ability to adjust to citizens’ fast-changing needs.

Secure: It respects privacy, protects data and leverages technology to enhance the physical security of citizens.

Inclusive: But remember, not everyone has a computer. People should still be able to communicate in the way they know best. *

* IBM: Social Media and the City

First, determine what Social Media is

What we’re talking about is primarily the Internet and mobile-based tools – apps – that allow you to share and discuss information with your constituents. It’s social interaction that includes the following: Forums Blogs, vlogs Social Bookmarking Social Communication Sites Podcasts Photos Videos (video, vlogs, livecasting) Real-Time communications (chat, chat rooms, video chat)

Next, summarize the purpose of the policy

Here’s one from the state of Delaware: Provide guidelines to State Organizations and employees to

use existing and future Social Media technologies to provide information and interact with customers in Social Media venues in the performance of state business, within the framework deemed appropriate by State Organization authorities. Provide guidelines for conduct by State Employees who will use Social Media and Social Media venues to engage with customers on behalf of the State of Delaware.

(A list of various government Social Media policies can be found at www.socialmediagovernance.com)

Then make sure you identify yourself

Anyone posting information on behalf of your town should include the following information: Their real first and last names The department or agency they for which they

work Their role within that department or agency How to contact the poster (at minimum an email

address, but more information is preferable) A single point of contact (a general email

address, a phone number, a name, hours of operation, etc.)

Be Accurate!

The Social Media world is very unforgiving, so:DON’T. EVER. LIE! The minute you’re

caught in a lie, you’re sunk.Never, ever knowingly put out inaccurate or

false information. Verify all the facts and put only those

verifiable facts out to the public.If you make a mistake, correct it.If you’re caught in a lie, admit it.

Be Transparent!

People react badly when they think government officials are covering up something. The cover-up is ALWAYS worse than the indiscretion.

Don’t try to spin the information in your favor. Again, it will come back to haunt you.

Be honest in your opinions and identity. Honesty, or dishonesty, will be quickly noted in the Social Media world.

Publicly correct any misinformation. Discourage undue caution in the release of public

information. Again, be as transparent as possible and communicate as much information as you can – without disclosing information that is specifically non-public.

Admit your mistakes quickly. In other words, manage the crisis!

And whatever you do, Be Careful!

The landscape of Social Media is littered with examples of people – celebrities and politicians – who said too much, said it too quickly, said it too thoughtlessly, said it too insensitively.

Printed words and photographs don’t allow for sarcasm, laughter, facial expressions that indicate you are joking, etc. They carry more weight than you realize.

REMEMBER?

Go, Go, GoneDaddy!GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons released a video of himself shooting a "problem elephant" in Zimbabwe. PETA responded by shutting down its GoDaddy account and asking others to do the same.

Social Media Missteps #1

Ack,Flack!In 2011 Japan suffered a devastating earthquake and tsunami. Four days later, actor Gilbert Gottfried tweeted an insensitive joke about the disaster that cost him his job as Aflac spokesperson.

Social Media Missteps #2

The Weiner Wiener!

Need we say more? Congressman Anthony Weiner tweeted a lewd photo of his underwear to a college student and the subsequent Social Media controversy crushed him and forced him to resign from office.

Social Media Missteps #3

Social Media Success #1Brains on Fire was a viral marketing campaign by South Carolina that hired 92 teens to lead a viral Social Media movement, primarily through an interactive website, to cut smoking rates among young people by 5%. The result: a 17% decrease in youth smoking rates – with no expensive mass media campaign, or increase in cigarette tax.

Beauty over Politics was a SM campaign by the Arizona Office of Tourism, which wanted a more cost-effective advertising alternative. It implemented a marketing strategy on Facebook to get visitors excited about the state. The result: an average of 8 times more clicks to its website, and one in four visitors requesting additional information. 

Social Media Success #2

After a popular “mommy” blogger accused the TSA of “taking” her son away from her, the TSA recruited a fulltime blogger from the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky airport to get its side of the story out without using traditional methods of press releases and media interviews.

“The point of this is that it is too late to start using social media tools like blogs and Twitter in the middle of a PR crisis. You must already be familiar with the tools, the social media customs, and have established yourself as honest and transparent.” *

* TSA’s Blogger Bob

Social Media Success #3

Be clear about the consequences!

In your policy, state clearly (try to avoid legalese, but have your attorney approve the language) the consequences of violating the Social Media policy.

Have ZERO TOLERANCE. First violation is your last day of work. Don’t give the person another opportunity to hurt or embarrass the city, your office, or your employees.

Who speaks for the city?

Limit the number of people who can Tweet, post to Facebook and YouTube, etc.

Train those people on how to conduct themselves. Go over the policy with them and then go over it again. Make sure whoever works for the city is a 24/7 employee and

that their non-public Social Media accounts are subject to the same policy as laid out by the city.

Stress that perception is reality and in online social networks, the lines between public and private, personal and professional are blurred. Just by identifying yourself as a city employee, they are creating perceptions about their expertise.

Specifically address examples of taboo topics, such as untruthful statements, offensive language, disparaging remarks, disclosure of non-public information, and general nastiness.

Create a monitoring system

A Social Media policy isn’t much good or effective if you don’t actually monitor the space where conversations are happening.

Start with a few of the many free monitoring sitesStart with a few of the many free monitoring sites

Use news alerts and feeds from Google News or Google Alerts

Use an app such as Technorati to monitor blogs

Boardtracker helps track forum and discussion boards

Google Video feeds help keep you from being surprised by a video you never wanted public

Twhirl, TweetDeck and Monitter track Twitter comments

Twendz gives you a more comprehensive idea of what’s being said about you and your city on Twitter

How do you monitor?

Those pesky comments

You won’t find more incivility anywhere than you on a message board. It’s worse than Bengals fans trying to “communicate” with Browns fans. Profanity, threats, personal attacks, racism, religious intolerance, homophobia, solicitations … all – and more – can be found, anonymously, on just about any message board. Which means you need a clear, strong policy on what is acceptable.

Or should we say what is ….

… Unacceptable

Types of things that shouldn’t be allowed on comment boards: Profanity Personal attacks Solicitation for commerce Support of or opposition to political campaigns or ballot

measures Comments that are off topic Sexual content Harassment of the city or individuals Discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion,

gender, marital status, public assistance status, national origin, disability (physical or mental), or sexual orientation

Anything that compromises public safety

And make sure commenters know …

That the city has the right to remove any content that abuses the policy

That the commenter can and will be restricted, removed, and/or banned for violating the policy

That the city can and will take legal action for continued violations of policy

That posting is a privilege, not a right

And,finally …

Let’s talk a little about crisis management.

Sooner or later, you’re going to screw up. When you do, admit it immediately. Be

upfront and quick with a correction. If you’ve said something wrong in a blog or Tweet, modify the earlier post and make it clear you’ve done so.

Face the media immediately. The media ISN’T out to get you, but it will hold you accountable, and the more you stall, the worse it will be.

Don’t hide. Return calls. Answer questions.

Don’t turn a one-day story into a one-week story, or worse, a one-month story.

Get help! A little money spent on crisis management can help save your city embarrassment and your job!

Just in case you forgot

     FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT CRISIS MANAGEMENT, SAMPLE

POLICIES, OR ANYTHING ELSE WE DISCUSSED TODAY.   

Questions?  

-30- and Beyond Gene Williams, Owner

508-776-2769genewilliams49@msn.com

What is a #hashtag?

A hashtag “#" is a symbol to mark certain words for searchability, primarily on Twitter, but also on Google and other Social Media sites. Any combination of characters led by a hash sign (#) is a hashtag, and any hashtag, if promoted by enough people, can "trend" and attract more individual users to discussion using the hashtag. It helps organize those words into a bucket, for want of a better word. When you go searching for the word or phrase, it will show up your search engine results. Hashtags also help weed out site-wide inside jokes and conversations that aren’t on point. An example: #lost in america, phrase lost in america will show up in the results.