Mark Ragan’s Social Media Boot Camp
Last Thursday, I was happy to sit in on Mark Ragan’s "Social Media Boot Camp" after getting an invitation through work. It was a great introduction to social media, focused on a corporate and internal communications perspective. Many of the participants seemed to come from the healthcare and insurance industries. Being past the social media newbie status, I didn’t get much out of the "whirlwind tour of social media tools and sites" as I frequent most of them already. What I was most interested in was Mark’s take on "what to do and how to do it" and "persuading management." Unfortunately, due to the day’s time constraints those parts were rather hurried at the end of the boot camp.
Mark did cover just about everything; he definitely achieved his goal of "complete immersion." Here are some points I jotted down, because they spoke to me:
- On (internal) blogs: "If the CEO is not talking about what’s being talked about around the water cooler, you have a problem."
- Don’t be afraid of negative comments. "If you don’t have bad comments, your credibility goes down" and "You’re going to get the jerks, but then you’re going to get those who moderate the jerks."
- "The value to transparency is credibility"
- On online video: "There’s nothing wrong with a well-produced piece, but there’s a lot of credibility in a rougher video." What you want to use depends on how you want to frame your story.
- In a video with Shel Holtz on persuading the c-suite: there are conversations happening; you have to build relationships and create customer evangelists.
- On persuading the c-suite: "There’s a role for the long-haired black-robed social media theorists, but it’s not your role."
The boot camp was well worth the time, especially for those who, for example, not yet know what Twitter is, and I did pick up some interesting things from the internal and corporate perspective. Now on to processing them.
Dell XPS, Gmail, Thunderbird and Windows Live Writer
This is more of a test than an actual blog entry. I am getting used to my new Dell XPS M1530 and am trying out Windows Live Writer.
As I’m setting up my Dell, I’m running into some interesting dilemmas. Although I have been using Hotmail for over 10 years, I am seriously considering switching over fully to Gmail, especially after syncing Gmail and Google Calendar with Mozilla Thunderbird. My only gripe: Gmail doesn’t do folders. It’ll take me a bit to get used to labeling and archiving e-mails instead.
I tested out my laptop today during a workshop by Mark Ragan of Ragan Communications on social media. Wireless worked well and the 9-cell battery seems to last for about 3.5 hours without setting it to a power save mode. More on Ragan’s social media workshop soon. In the meantime, I joined myragan.com, a communicator’s social network.
Lastly, I’m giving Twitter a try. Mostly for observational purposes.
Orchestras and New Media: The Presentation
Following my blog series “Orchestras and New Media” I created a presentation (now on to an e-book). This is version 1.0 and I hope to get comments, feedback and suggestion, so that version 2.0 will be fitter, happier, more productive.
Some updates
As said, I was dealing with this for a while; following the presidential path of community organizing. Speaking of presidential: photos of that glorious night can be found here. Thank you David Axelrod. (And my blog for the Brabants Dagblad can be found here).
Although this particular blog was placed on the backburner, adventures in new and social media never ceased. In fact, my job description now includes new media.
Chicago Flood
I’ll be dealing with this for a while. (Reflections on crisis management, and how not to do it, later).
Online Media Room
Most orchestras already publish their press releases online; some even distribute them through RSS. But surprisingly few organizations have a complete online media room. The executive summary of the Nielsen Norman Group’s “Designing Websites to Maximize Press Relations” report is an excellent starting point for anyone setting up an online media room.
The report found that “on average, journalists found the answer to simple questions 70% of the time. A Web site success rate of 70% implies the site has a failure rate of 30%. Leaving 30% of press inquiries unanswered would be considered a very poor performance for most traditional PR departments.”
Furthermore, “the ability to find information on a PR site has a strong impact on the journalists’ impression of the site and thus on the way they perceive the company.”
The report lists the top-five reasons journalists gave for visiting a company’s website:
- Find a PR contact (name and telephone number);
- Check basic facts about the company (spelling of an executive’s name, his/her age, headquarters location, etc.);
- Discover the company’s own spin on events;
- Check financial information;
- Download images to use as illustrations in stories
What does this mean for orchestras? Besides the obvious, such as PR contacts, press releases and bios, you could provide an image gallery, the latest annual report, a mission statement and much more. Here is an incomplete list of suggestions:
- Press releases and press release archive;
- Public relations staff contacts;
- Add me to your mailing list/Update your contact information;
- Multimedia: image library/video library/audio library;
- Fact sheets: mission statement/key statistics, people, numbers and titles;
- Biographies: artistic leadership/guest artists/musicians/administrative leadership;
- Financial information: annual report/990-forms;
- Press kits: season announcement/recordings/other major announcements
The Nielsen Norman Group’s report further recommends several usability components:
- Provide fast access to basic facts and figures;
- Provide a simple way to contact a live human being in the PR department; journalists don’t have time to wade through deep, complex navigation trees or sift factual wheat from marketing chaff;
- In particular, pages must present information in well-organized chunks that are easy to scan. If journalists cannot find what they are looking for on a website, it could impact whether they include information about that company in the story;
- Present all press information as simple, standard HTML, designed for minimal download times.
As I wrote before, a blogger’s needs are different than the traditional journalist’s needs. You are working with a multi-media outlet. Images don’t need to be provided in a high resolution; most bloggers can work with a Web-ready image. Just make sure you provide information on how they can use the image and the appropriate credit to use. Video, audio and images can really liven up an online story.
If you provide content, make utilization and attribution easy. Consider providing sound samples, interviews, videos and images under a Creative Commons license, which uses “private rights to create public goods: creative works set free for certain uses.”
In May 2006, SHIFT Communications premiered a template for the “social media release” as an alternative to the standard press release. (A PDF of a template can be found here) The social media press release is an online document specifically geared toward new media content users and generators. Although it has its critics, the concept has found wide-spread use by many corporations. Even press release distribution services, such as PR Newswire, have adapted methods of distribution to accommodate the social media release.
The social media release includes multimedia (photo, video and audio) and features new media concepts such as tagging, bookmarking, trackbacks and even commenting. In similar fashion, SHIFT Communications also produced a template for the “social media room.” (PDF)
Keep in mind that these examples are templates. It is up to your organization to figure out what elements are feasible and which work best. Orchestra consultant Drew McManus offers additional advice on adapting materials for new media.
And lastly, keep in mind that, although journalists’ needs should be the focus and priority of your online media room, the public is sure to read your press releases and find your materials. This does not mean you should adapt your materials for a general public, that’s what other, mainly marketing, materials are for, but be aware that the public can and will read what you publish.
Other New Media Tools
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of other new media tools. The trick is finding out which tools work for your organization and which tools are being used by a possible target audience. I wanted to highlight four other services not mentioned before:
SlideShare
Organizations frequently have to share and present their ideas. Microsoft PowerPoint is perhaps the most commonly used tool to convey those ideas and presentations. Annual meetings with season’s highlights, education campaigns, advocacy campaigns and fundraising events could all benefit PowerPoint’s strengths in projecting imagery and bullet points. But why would you limit your audience to those who are gathered in the room? Potential patrons, advocators and donors are everywhere.
SlideShare is an online community for sharing presentations. Upload your presentation to share your ideas and connect with others. Users can easily find presentations via a search and tags and download or embed their presentations into blogs and Web sites.
SlideShare lists things you can do:
- Embed slideshows into your own blog or website;
- Share slideshows publicly or privately. There are several ways to share privately;
- Synch audio to your slides;
- Market your own event on SlideShare;
- Join groups to connect with SlideShare members who share your interests;
- Download the original PowerPoint / PDF file
Launched only two years ago, Twitter is one of the most instantaneous, direct new media services around. Similar to Facebook’s and Myspace’s “status update” functions, Twitter allows the user to post short (up to 140 characters) messages for the public to see in a process called micro-blogging. Over two million users are registered at Twitter, including companies such as Whole Foods and presidential candidates such as Barack Obama.
Twitter’s uses are multiple: networking, sharing information but mostly conversation monitoring (even if you’re not ready to jump in the conversation yourself, you can monitor what is being said about your organization). Colin Carmichael, blogging at the Social Media Group, wrote:
“Track your name, your brands, your competitors, anything you need to know about before it hits the ‘rest of the web.’ Twitter is a breeding ground for blog posts and bloggers have gotten into the habit of using Twitter to collaborate and research their upcoming posts out in the open. If you or your brand get a lot of blogosphere play, it’s the online equivalent of having inside access to the editorial boards of every major newspaper.”
The Point
Online fundraising is a completely different sector of the Internet and new media. A whole new series could be written about the opportunities, case studies and tools; Barack Obama alone can tell you how important it can be for an organization. Obama not only raises funds but engages and activates his online community. Now, most organizations do not have the manpower or the funds to set up a complete social media network like Obama’s, but there are ample opportunities to raise funds and activism. One such service is The Point.
Inspired by Malcolm Gladwell’s book “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference,” The Point lets its users start campaigns—asking for donations or make something happen—but the operation only succeeds if the campaign hits a predetermined tipping point. For example, if we raise $5,000 we will start an education program in a community center, or, in one wacky case, if we raise $10 billion, we’ll build a glass dome over Chicago to keep the winter out.
In its own words: “Every problem has a tipping point of public frustration that will force a solution. If enough people want a problem to be solved and they have a way to find one another and coordinate action, they will solve it” and “The Point offers a new approach to leveraging the influence of groups and making things happen.”
Yelp
Online city guides have been around since the early beginnings of the Internet, but now they combine yellow pages, city guides and social networks with user-generated content. Yelp is perhaps the best-known example.
Users can find, review and talk about places, restaurants, doctors and anything local. Businesses can claim their page. According to the Web site “Once you have claimed your business page you’ll be able to access numerous features (track how many people view your business on Yelp, private customer messaging, immediately update your business’ facts).” Advertising and sponsorships are also possible.
Yelp has come up with a list of dos and don’ts for businesses and organizations:
- DON’T review your own business or solicit reviews from your employees or friends.
- DON’T spam yelpers with promotional messages about your business.
- DON’T overestimate the impact of a single negative review. It happens to even the best businesses. That said, if you see a trend of negative reviews, you may want to take this feedback and determine if there is a way to improve your business.
- DON’T lash out at the people who have written negative reviews about you. Tempting as that may be, we see that backfiring in some cases as the Yelp community may up the ante and even engage in “vigilante justice” by spreading more negativity. Try to remember, “the customer is always right”.
- DON’T offer incentives or payment for your customers to write positive reviews about your business on Yelp. This sort of “shilling” often causes ill will with both current and potential customers. In addition, these paid reviews violate Yelp’s Review Guidelines and will be removed.
- DO claim your business page and afterwards, login to Yelp for Business Owners to keep track of your business’ page on Yelp and to engage with the Yelp community.
- DO add photos to your business page and make sure your business information is correct. You’ll be able to immediately update your business’ information via the Yelp for Business Owners website.
- DO thank those customers who have reviewed your business using Yelp for Business Owners. In general your best bet is to keep it simple and positive, keeping in mind that these are your most vocal customers.
- DO take the feedback to heart but remember that each review is just one single opinion.
- DO start thinking about every customer as a potential yelper and supporter… and providing the excellent customer service that will encourage them to spread the word.
Remember the MTV/Nickelodeon study? According to the study, “a clear majority of young people asked said the majority of website links (88%) they viewed and the viral video content they downloaded (55%) came from friends’ recommendations.”
Interview on Facebook on Beth’s Blog
I’ve just been featured on Beth Kanter’s widely read blog. As I was writing the Orchestras and New Media series, I found her blog and the We Are Media project to be extremely helpful. So I contacted her. Here’s what she writes:
Not too long ago, I got an email from Marc van Bree, the PR coordinator from the CSO, who telling me about his new blog. He also mentions that he saw my powerpoint and thanked me for using the CSO screenshot. One thing lead to another and I directed him to the WeAreMedia project because the idea is that the conversation can become more than a brainstorming session or list of resources.
Read the entire interview on Beth’s blog.
Funky comments sections
WordPress seems to have run into some problems with closing comments. Should be (temporarly?) resolved. Too much php and MySQL knowledge required for comfort.
In the meantime, keep reading my special “Orchestras and New Media” series. If you have any suggestions or feedback, leave a comment. If that doesn’t work, e-mail me at dutchperspective (at) mcmvanbree.com
More on the series soon. If you have a thirst for more reading, right now, then I would suggest We Are Media or some other suggestions from my updated del.icio.us account (great add-on for Firefox 3 available here)
Content Communities, Social Bookmarking and Tagging
Tagging is the core social element of many Web 2.0 services. The buzzword for this phenomenon is “folksonomy,” which translates to “user generated classification.” Participation is very easy and tagging data is used in new ways to find information.
Organizations can create special tags to keep track of conversations and give an opportunity to content creators to effectively pull the organization’s sleeve and bring attention to their content. Some previously mentioned services that use tagging are Technorati, where you can search blog posts or even entire blogs carrying specific tags, and Last.fm, where you can tag artists, albums and tracks.
Beth Kanter created a special “wearemedia” tag for bloggers who write about the We Are Media project. When bloggers write an article about the project, they add the tag to their post, alerting search engines such as Technorati. This is an easy way for Beth to keep track of who is joining the conversation on her project, by simply searching by “wearemedia”; and it’s an easy way for the bloggers to call attention to their post and stimulate responses and conversation.
The Web site Chicagoist uses a special “chicagoist” tag in Flickr, an image hosting service, so that their readers can mark photos that might be interesting for Chicagoist’s blog posts. Photos tagged range from Lincoln’s deathbed to a photo of a bachelorette party on the streets of Chicago. Chicagoist editors frequently pick out a photo to feature on their Web site (with the appropriate credit to the photographer, of course) to go along an article or even be featured by itself.
Del.icio.us, a social bookmarking site, is a service where users store, organize, search and manage bookmarks of Web pages. Each bookmark is accompanied by a tag or several tags, allowing other users to find links to similar articles or pages. The San Francisco Symphony hosted its first “Bloggers Night” in 2007. The orchestra invited area bloggers to cover a concert and bookmarked all the resulting blog posts on a special del.icio.us page with a special tag “sanfranciscosymphonybloggernight.”
A slightly different take on social bookmarking are services such as Digg and StumbleUpon. These Web sites work slightly differently, focusing on a social recommendation system rather than purely bookmarking. Users can submit links and those links are voted upon (”digging” or “burying,” e.g. up or down vote). The links and stories with the most up votes are featured on the home page of the service.
YouTube, perhaps the most famous content community, gives the following advice to non-profits: “Tag and Title Well. Tag and title your videos with relevant keywords—that’s how users will find your content as they navigate YouTube.”
But tagging is not the only Web 2.0 characteristic of these content communities. Flickr, for example, invites comments and discussions about its images and organizations and users can annotate their images. In addition, users can subscribe to an RSS feed so they can keep track of new images being added.
Digital Storytelling
What’s perhaps most intriguing about content communities is the opportunity to tell a digital story. Why not tell the story of your orchestra’s education outreach campaign, Schoenberg or any other composer festival, or touring adventures in Europe?
Many orchestras already keep a photo journal of their touring activities on their Web site. Let’s take this to the next level and post it on Flick; annotate the images, invite comments and tag locations, people and anything else you can imagine.
Again, YouTube offers good advice:
- Reach Out. Post videos that get YouTube viewers talking, and then stay in the conversation with comments and video responses;
- Partner Up. Find other organizations on YouTube who complement your mission, and work together to promote each other;
- Keep It Fresh. Put up new videos regularly and keep them short—ideally under 5 minutes;
- Spread Your Message. Share links and the embed code for your videos with supporters so they can help get the word out;
- Be Genuine. We have a wide demographic, so high view counts come from content that’s compelling, rather than what’s “hip.”
And lastly, give others the opportunity to tell your organization’s story. Create those tags so that people can let you know when they talk about you. Add those “add to del.icio.us; add to dig; add to Facebook” buttons to your Web site’s content. But most of all, give people the media to tell it. As said before in this series: if you provide content, make utilization and attribution easy. Provide sound samples, interviews, videos and images under a Creative Commons license, which covers the spectrum between full copyright and the public domain.
