Social Media for State and Local Campaigns Public Affairs Council

Using Social Media for State and Local CampaignsCaveats, Strategies, Tactics, Resources

September 2012

NOTE: Use “Notes” View in PPT

Deb SilverbergManager, Social Communications and Strategy@va_deb @AARP #SLGR12

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Friendly Reminder:Print and/or Look at this Deck Using “Notes Page View” for Maximum Benefit

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Quick Survey (no wrong answers!)

You...

• Have personal Facebook page?

• Post or comments at least once a week?

• Have an individual Twitter account?

• Generally tweet, reply, RT content at least 5 days per week?

• Use Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, other Twitter client?

Your Company/Org…

• Have branded, active Facebook page/presence ?

• Have state/regional Facebook pages?

• Have a Twitter presence?

• Have state or region Twitter subaccounts?

• Have someone in company/org dedicated to social media full-time?

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Social Media Can Have a Multiplier Effect

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You

Your FamilyFriends======

Their FamilyFriendsMedia=== ==> And so on and

so on…

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Social Media Epidemic… Suffering from BSOS “Bright Shiny Object

Syndrome”

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Social Media Is *Just One Tool* In Your Comms and Advocacy Toolbox

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• Not a standalone solution

• Not a magic bullet

• Shouldn’t be done in a vacuum

• Should be viewed as one part of overall campaign

Internal resources should be enlisted to help and advise.

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Make Sure to Tap Into Internal Social Comms Resources

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Could be in…

• Communications

• Media Relations

• Marketing

• Digital Strategy or Web productionFind out who “owns” day-to-day management

of your org’s Twitter and Facebook accounts.

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Strategy Development

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Begin with the end in mind. What are you trying to achieve? …Influence, persuade, inform?

…Inspire a call to action?

…Change or enact something?

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Stakeholders/Audiences: Who Do You Want to Reach?

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• Legislators

• Media

• Influencers

• Coalition Groups

• General Public

Important: do your usual issues analysis/environmental scan

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Get “On the Ground” Intel and Perspectives

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Potential contacts…

• Professional association connections (chamber, NFIB chapter, industry groups, etc.)

• Your LinkedIn connections and LinkedIn groups

• Local allies and interest groups

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Do a Social Media Environmental Scan

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Where are key stakeholders on social media – and how active and influential are they?

•Twitter (individuals and organizations)

•Facebook (organizations, individuals with public personas…elected officials, celebrities, authors, some journalists)

•Who does the public in that area trust as information sources?

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Where Should Online Content for a State/Local Campaign Be Housed?

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Some Options:

• Extension of main page or sub page Example: www.aarp.org/earnedasay

• Vanity url: Easy to remember standalone site www.earnedasay.org

• Blog post (if your organization has a blog, and if it’s a fairly contained issue)

• Issue or campaign-specific Facebook subpage or tab (via organization’s main Facebook page)

• Standalone Facebook page

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Changing Gears: What’s In It for Me?Using Twitter Yourself – Professionally and Personally

In a nutshell…

Twitter is great resource for public affairs folks, news junkies, anyone with multiple interests. And it doesn’t have to take a lot of your time.*

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Twitter Can Be Your Personal News & Interests Source• What web sites do you visit often?• What are your ‘Bookmarks’ or ‘Favorites?’• What are your personal interests? Professional?• What causes do you care about or volunteer for?• What do you do for fun? Have favorite sports teams? • What businesses or brands are you loyal to?• What are your ‘guilty pleasures?’

…All can be found on Twitter. And when you’re getting started, you don’t even need to tweet yourself.

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Why Take the Plunge?Influential, interesting people are there…• News organizations• Members of Congress• Journalists, columnists, bloggers, academics• Publications and magazines• Community leaders, partners, government agencies,

non-profits, interest groups• Companies you’re a customer of

Idea: Dip your toe in – and you don’t even have to Tweet yourself!

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Some Great (and Free*) Tools

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• Hootsuite (for monitoring, engaging online, serving as a news reader – primarily for Twitter but also can be used for Facebook and LinkedIn)

• Yammer, for internal collaboration

• LinkedIn

• Online Tutorials

• Googling; asking people you know to help (not as dumb as it sounds!)

Discussion and Questions

Deb SilverbergTwitter @va_debLinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/debsilverberg

AARP

Appendix and Examples

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Hootsuite lets you monitor key words, key issues, key accounts, and other social media activity on Twitter. For example…

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What is Yammer? A private communication and collaboration tool for people in the same organization. It can help you:- Find and share information easily- Save time; avoid reinventing the wheel and duplicating effort- Break down silos- Ease collaboration across departments, groups, locations and time zones

Yammer is used by more than 80% of the Fortune 500.