Debunking Social Media Myths - A Guide for Media Executives
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Debunking the Myths: Creating A Social Media Strategy that Work
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Transcript of Debunking Social Media Myths - A Guide for Media Executives
Debunking the Myths:Creating A Social Media
Strategy that Work
Today’s Session
• Why We’re Here
• Who I Am
• Five Parts:
– Part 1: Social Media Overview
– Part 2: How to Use It
– Part 3: Guidelines to Consider
– Part 4: 10 Questions for Strategy Building
– Part 5: Measurement
Social Media? Really?
• Don’t get lost in the hype, buzz words
• Embrace the idea, the concept
• It’s really back to basics
Where to you stand?
• What’s all the hype?
• Here we go againSkeptical
• Feel the pressure to do something
• Not sure what I should be doingReluctant
• All in and experimenting
• Trying to assess ROIEngaged
Engagement
Social Media? Really?
Listening
Conversations
Part 1
Social Media: So What Else Is New?
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/tkawaja/social-lumascape-8223008
SOCIAL MEDIA ICONS
The pitfalls
Misuse
Distribution of wrong information
Fact check
Distraction from core tasks
Spreading staff too thin
The pros
• Expanding your reach
• Engaging new readers / audience
• Developing story ideas
• Accessing thousands – millions – of potential sources that resource strapped newsrooms can’t reach
The pitfalls
“It is not quite clear what the right use is,”
says Andrew Nystrom, a senior producer for social and emerging media at the Los Angeles Times.
“If you aren’t a friend of someone on Facebook, should you be pulling photos from their page?”off Facebook? We err on the side of caution.”
How to use twitter
• What to ‘tweet’ about
– Link to a new blog, story, video, phot
– Retweet a comment or link
– Replay to someone in your community
– Talk about an unfolding story
– Insight, humor, thought-provoking
Source: Steve Buttry
Twitter Tools: HootSuite
Twitter Tools: TweetDeck
Twitter: Tweet your beat
• More frequent tweets, more followers– The Patriot-News’ Sara Ganim (@SGanim) saw an
increased number of followers when she tweeted the JerrySandusky trial, a part of her beat as a crime reporter.
• Live Tweeting– The Tuscaloosa News (@TuscaloosaNews) posted up-
to-the-minute updates on a local tornado to Twitter,including information on emergency resources. The Alabama newsroom was awarded the Breaking News Pulitzer for its coverage of the event.
Twitter: Use Hashtags
• Hashtags can increase engagement 50% (1.5x) for brands.
• When you include hashtags in your Tweets, your Tweets become more visible and you eventually gather more Twitter followers.
• The Washington Post (@WashingtonPost) often uses hashtags to describe the content of its tweets or to add context.
– E.g. #facts, #Iraq, #fiscalcliff
Twitter: Share what you’re reading
• Journalists receive 100% more (2x) active engagement (on good Tweets) when a URL is included.
• When individuals share URLs to non-company sources, theyexperience a bump in follows.
• Journalists who retweet see significant increase in followers (300%)
Twitter: @Cite Your Sources
In the above Tweet, The Guardian (@guardian) includes the Twitter handles of journalist Elizabeth Day (@elizabday) and actor Stephen Mangan (@StephenMangan), the subject of the article.
Facebook for Journalists
Why Facebook?
• Find new story ideas, track trends and sources
• Publish real-time news updates and community engagement
• Connect with readers and viewers in new ways
• Bring attention and traffic to your work
• Help reate, craft and enhance your media outlet’s or personal brand
Source: Facebook Journalism 101
Facebook: What should I do?
• Share stories, multimedia, photos, links
• Engage/interact with audience
– Post questions
– Ask for first person accounts of news
• Crowdsource
– Gather anecdotes from readers about breaking news or other stories, e.g.:
• Where were you on 9-11?
• What is child’s school doing about security in the aftermath of Newtown?
Source: Facebook Journalism 101
Facebook: What should I do? Cont.
• Storytelling:– Offer “behind the scenes” insights
– Share personal reflections
• Consider stories on education, politics and behind the scenes stories and analysis
Source: Facebook Journalism 101
Facebook: Time of Day Matters.
• Daily Feedback and Referral Clicks:
– Journalists received the highest amount of feedback later in the week.
• Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday had the highest amount of feedback –
– with Sunday receiving the highest amount of feedback at 25% more likes and 8% more comments above average.
Source: Facebook Journalism 101
How It’s Used
• Mexico “Spring” Uprising –
– “Somos mas de 131” / Yo Soy 132
– Students in protest video
• Egyptian Uprising
• Nearly 1 billion potential sources
Source: http://mashable.com/2011/02/27/facebooks-growing-role-in-social-journalism/
How It’s Used
• Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times have expanded
their distribution and sourcing to Facebook.
• Kristof, who has more than 200,000 people who like his
page, has used the page to post regular updates from
his reporting.
• Starting with the Egyptian Revolution to his latest
coverage of Libya, Kristof posted detailed descriptions
and reports about what he saw and information he
received.
Source: http://mashable.com/2011/02/27/facebooks-growing-role-in-social-journalism/
Part 2
Guidelines to Consider
Guidelines…Seriously?
1. Traditional ethics rules apply online.
2. Assume everything you write online will become public.
3. Use social media to engage with readers, BUT professionally.
4. Break news on your website, not on Twitter.
5. Beware of perceptions.
SOURCE: ASNE - 10 Best Practices for Social Media, Helpful guidelines for news organizations
Guidelines…Seriously? ASNE
6. Independently authenticate anything found on a social networking site.
7. Always identify yourself as a journalist.
8. Social networks are tools NOT toys.
9. Be transparent and admit when you’re wrong.
10. Keep internal deliberations confidential.
1. Traditional ethics rules apply online
• In person and online are the same
• Seems obvious: But reminders are critical
• No exceptions – for anybody
• From Day One: State this clearly
2. Assume everything you write online will become public
• Nothing is private
• Encourage reporters to keep professional and private accounts
• Warn reporters to watch what they post and who they follow – even on their private pages
• Maintaining credibility for the media outlet –and person – are critical
3. Engage with readers, but professionally
• Embrace the power of engagement
• Readers/viewers expect responses
• Stress the value of engagement
• Define the limits
• Encourage reporters to avoid getting into flame wars with unreasonable readers
4. Break news on your website, not on Twitter.
• Speed matters today – your competition is more intense than ever
• Tease, promote, engage
• Drive traffic to your website
• “Expand the reach of quality of journalism”
• Remind your reporter – and editors – to be aggressive, thorough and accurate
5. Beware of perceptions
• Beware of conflicts of interest
• “Retweeting” or “Sharing a Link” does not mean endorsement
• Be cautious of editors/reporters “friending” their sources on Facebook
• Manage permissions and what content is visible to whom
• Encourage separate personal and professional accounts.
6. Independently authenticate anything found on a social networking site
• Verify. Verify. Verify.
• Urge editors/reporters to avoid the temptation of reposting content from social media on breaking news stories.
• Get permission from the person, group or company before publishing.
• Public figures are fair game, but beware of private citizens.
7. Always identify yourself as a journalist.
• Anonymity is unacceptable
• Participate in all forms of social media – but always be transparent
• Everything IS public
• Never mislead
8. Social networks are tools NOT toys.
• Reporting phony information is not a joke
• Always be a “truth teller”
• Avoid pranks and gimmicks
• Always credit the original source, e.g. bloggers, tweeters, owner of Facebook page
9. Be transparent and admit when you’re wrong.
• Today’s reporting requires real time coverage
• Don’t fear social media because you might have to correct information
• Correct it quickly – and often
• Retain credibility with your readers – and beat the competition
10. Keep internal deliberations confidential
• Transparency is a good thing, but must be managed carefully.
• Be clear with editors/reporters on what they can share on Facebook or Twitter about discussions of how and why stories are getting covered, where they’re getting played and internal debates about coverage
Question You Need to Ask
1. What are you doing?
2. What’s your plan?
3. What’s your goal? Viewers? Subscriptions?
Revenue, Printing?
4. Who are you trying to reach?
5. Who’s in charge?
6. Who is your competition?
7. How much support do you have?
8. How are you implementing your strategy?
9. What’s working?
10. How are you going to make money?
11. What’s your next move?
12. What’s your metamorphosis?
Part 312 Questions You Need to Ask in Building Your Social Media Strategy
Where do you begin?
• Avoid the bandwagon mentality
• Create a plan
• Define tactics
• Set priorities
SOURCE: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2202307/Social-Media-ROI-How-To-Define-a-Strategic-Plan
Here’s One Approach
SOURCE: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2202307/Social-Media-ROI-How-To-Define-a-Strategic-Plan
# 1
What are
you
doing?
# 2
What’s
Your
Plan?
# 3
What’s Your
Goal?
# 4
Who are
you
trying to
reach?
# 5
Who’s in
Charge?
# 6
Who’s
Your
Competition?
# 7
What
Support
Do You
Have?
# 8
How are you
implementing
your strategy?
# 9
How are you measuring
success?
# 10How are you
going to
make
money?
Part 5
Measuring Success
Measuring Success
• What are they responding to?
• What are they reading?
• What are they sharing?
• Where are they coming from?
• How engaged are your readers?
• How long are they “spending time” with you?
ROI: What Am I Measuring
• COSTS
– Labor: • Newsroom, IT, Sales
– Tools & Software
– Training
• BENEFITS
– More traffic
– More visitors
– Expanded audience
– More followers
– More subscriptions
– More ads sold
SOURCE: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2202307/Social-Media-ROI-How-To-Define-a-Strategic-Plan
Cost-Benefit Analysis: COST = VALUE
Facebook Metrics
• Lifetime total likes
• Friends of fans (potential friends – network effect)
• Page consumption ( what are they looking at?)
Twitter Metrics
• Followers
• Following
• Total tweets
• Retweets
• Number of messages sent
YouTube
• Total Subscribers
• Total Video Views
• Comments
• Favorites
• Likes
• Dislikes
Questions
• Contact me:
– Neil Foote
– Foote Communications LLC
– 214.448.3765
– Twitter: @footecomm
– LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/neilfoote
