For future reference, Zaana's slide set is available on Slideshare.
I found the whole presentation quite useful for getting my head around some of the issues regarding growing a social media strategy (either in general or for a specific tool) from scratch to ensure that it is structured and sustainable. For this post (linked to my reason for this blog in general) I'm going to just dot point and then flesh out a few of the many things that stood out to me/that I want to remember and refer to again/that I want to find out more about.
- 1 in 4 businesses have a Facebook presence but this is actually less than 2009 (which was a big year for experimentation).
- Public and private sectors using social media very differently.
- Interesting stats and comments on EU Libraries and their use of social media. Does this carry across into Australian situation smoothly, or are we different?
- UTS is a great example of a library effectively using multiple channels to reach it's target community. http://www.lib.uts.edu.au/
- POST framework from Groundswell. These should be considered in this order. Too often we start with the tools, but we need to first establish WHY we want to be present in Social media in the first place. Then consider:
- People - Who is the audience? What are their specific needs? (Don't assume that you know them - need to ask/observe) How would we like them to interact with us know, and in the future?
- Objectives - What are we trying to achieve? What actions do we want the audience to take? What benefits are there for the customers? For the providers?What will success look like in this sphere?
- Strategy - How will we get there? What existing services can we collaborate with? Timelines? Are there barriers to be overcome? Map them to better understand how they can be overcome. Governance issues?
- Tools - Once we have established the above, we can look at specific tools and determine which is the most appropriate. Ensure we look at where users are, and also the levels of resourcing available.
- Also looked at Buy-in - both bottom up and top down buy-in are important for success. And buy-in is not a one off event - need to build a strong, consistent, ongoing relationship.
- Evidence - where does it LIE? (Provide evidence that "speaks" to the people that you need to convince.
- Literature
- Industry
- Experience
- Need to establish roles & responsibilities (eg may be one key person, but they will need a support team especially for leave/holidays)
- RASCI for resourcing.
- Map out the first three months (slides 84-86). Make it explicit for each tool. Remember, it's about growing the audience.
- Allow enough resources. For example, initially Twitter will require one person, one hour per day until they build up their presence through regular posting of good content, and involvement in conversations. However, although there will generally be one key person, they need to have a team behind them to find useful information and also cover when on leave etc. Also means not just one perspective and results in a more rounded account. Note, unlikely to see success with Twitter for 6 + months.
- Measurement is very key.
- Not just followers/friends/views/click throughs although these are valuable.
- Sentiment analysis – what are people saying and what emotions are they showing? There are some measurement tools available in this area but still being developed.
- Conversations and stories are the richest part of social media, but difficult to measure.
- Some specific tips for Twitter
- Plan ahead and know what you are going to post - don't necessarily limit to core business but consider other related information that will be of interest to the majority of your customers.
- Frequency 1-5 tweets per day (any more can be overload)
- Use relevant hash tags
- Consider who you should and shouldn't follow (don't need to follow everyone who follows you)
- Use @ replies
- Use URL shortening services - eg Bit.ly which allows you to track stats of the click throughs, etc.
- Some specific tips for Facebook
- Profile vs Group vs Page (which is indexed in search engines). Once set up can be difficult to change.
- What to post - as per notes for Twitter above.
- Admins - who, and enough in case people leave.
- Frequency of updates
- Friending
- Events
- IN summary, a quote from Sarah Houghton-Jan "Be clear, Be there, Be Present" - paraphrased as be consistent, authentic, available.
Things that I want to follow up/find out more about:
- Bit.ly for URL shortening & tracking
- Foursquare - esp growth in Australia
- Diigo - taken over in some respects from Delicious, but more functionality
- POST framework
- Groundswell (2008) by Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li
