USA TODAY: More Than Just News. A Social Media Case Study

USA TODAY: More Than Just News. A Social Media Case Study

Brian Dresher: USATODAY.com Twitter: @bdresher

Blog: social.usatoday.com

August 6, 2010

Where is the USATODAY.com community?

Brands  need  to  adapt  to  the  rules  of  the  playgrounds  in  which  they’re  playing.  

Opening the conversation

Macro to Micro: Transformation of News Brands Before social networks

After social networks

Audience Journalists

Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/thivierr/1784499687/ Photo courtesy of

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mararie/3313582639/

Photo courtesy of

http://www.flickr.com/photos/quinnanya/3003245982/

Journalists Audience

Photo courtesy of

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamescridland/613445810/

Macro to Micro: Breaking News

Photo courtesy of Janis Krums, http://twitter.com/jkrums/status/1121915133

Macro news

Micro news

Managing Twitter

• Engagement - @USATODYtravel - More than 80 readers joined the debate on walking barefoot in hotel rooms. What's the verdict? http://bit.ly/bIIzqM #hotel #travel

• Story Leads - @barbdelollis - Are you #snowbound/stranded in a #hotel ? If so, I'm interested in hearing abt yr experience for a story. Email me @ [email protected]

• Meet Ups - @CruiseLog - Anyone else going on Carnival's Bloggers Cruise this weekend? I'll be on board (and blogging) starting Saturday and would love to meet up!

• Opportunity - @USATMediaLounge - Have you got your tickets to the @Mashable Summer Tour hitting DC, hosted @USATODAY http://bit.ly/amrUTJ

• Awareness - @HiltonAnaheim - We are looking forward to donating Blankets/Cribs to @GCHope tomorrow morning!

• Customer Service - @USATODAYservice - @LinsayPattan Our apologies for the issue with the paper machine. Contact USA TODAY Customer Service @ 800-USA-0001 for a refund of the $1

Monitoring Your Brand

Monitoring Trends

(Snow + Hotel + Can’t Fly) X Twitter =

Source: “Hotel Hotsheet,” by Kitty Bean Yancey, http://blogs.usatoday.com/hotelhotsheet/2009/03/snowbound-in-a.html

Steps USA TODAY Took to Sell Internal Staff on Twitter

• Started small. One person buying-in leads to another and another.

• Shared success stories.

• Defined roles for members of our organization.

• Created internal education plan.

• Prepare monthly report showcasing metrics.

These  steps  have  helped  to  turn  doubters  into  believers!  

Tips for Brands to Reach Users on Twitter

•  Understand value of Twitter etiquette: re-tweets, replies, and thank yous.

•  Use sites such as WeFollow to find and follow Twitterers who cover similar topics.

•  Follow other internal Twitter feeds, industry experts, major brands, clients, competitors, etc.

•  Identify best hashtags to have tweets discovered as well as search for other Twitterers tweeting on same subject.

•  Optimize tweets so that they’re easily re-tweetable.

All  of  the  above  <ps  lend  themselves  to  increasing  Followers  and  Engagement!  

Educate and Inform our Audience about Twitter

Tweets  posted  to  the  comments  sec.on.  

Source: “Hotel guests: What's the 1st thing you do after check in?” by Barbara DeLollis, http://content.usatoday.com/communities/hotelcheckin/post/2009/05/67083873/1

Enhance On-Site Twitter Presence

Source: “Gene mutations tied to children’s stuttering,” by Rita Rubin, http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-02-11-stutter11_ST_N.htm

Twitter Hashtag Charity Campaign

•  Free, full-page color ad in USA TODAY valued at $190,000.

•  Over 60,000 tweets.

•  Reached over 67M Twitter followers.

•  More than 500 organizations were tweeted about.

•  Tweeted by dozens of celebrities including Pink, Tony Hawk, Willie Nelson, Eva Longoria, and the founder of Twitter, @Jack.

Facebook Features

Characteristics of Facebook Fan Pages

Engaging • Regularly updated, fun, and user-friendly.

Content Unique to FB • Photos or recurring features unique to FB.

Interactive Features for Users • Discussion boards or daily questions of the day. • User uploaded photos.

Informative • Info about new products (e.g., iPhone app, Kindle). • Promotion of events (e.g., journalist meet-up at ComicCon).

Transparent • Public responses to public questions, comments, and complaints.

Social Media Partnerships

What the Fark?

Photo courtesy of Charles Apple, http://bit.ly/66KZZT

+Photo courtesy of http://bit.ly/aYERG7 Photo courtesy of Brian Dresher

Social Media Blog

•  Share our internal case studies.

•  Inform our audience on what we’re reading related to social media.

•  Announce new products and site features.

•  Interact with consumers, advertisers, analysts and anyone who wants to chat! http://social.usatoday.com

Location-Based Services

Source: Geek and Poke, ���http://www.cloudave.com/files/geofatigued.jpg

Location and News Brands

•  Geo-targeted messages – Receive tips from news brands when checking-in at location.

•  Trend spotting – Create mash-ups of location-based data with Google Maps.

•  Find sources – Identify users who have checked in near the location of a story in development.

•  Meet ups – Organize events for fans of journalist or news brand.

•  Badging – Recognize and reward users who engage with brand.

Competitive Analysis of Social Media

Mainstream media

Anyone with a cell phone

Mainstream media + Anyone with a cell phone

Measuring the Impact of Social Media

A variety of metrics are used to evaluate social networking performance:

•  Monthly referrals to USATODAY.com as measured by on-site analytics.

•  Upstream traffic to USATODAY.com and competitive set as measured by Hitwise.

•  Audience demographic and growth as measured by ComScore. •  Changes in number of Fans and Followers. •  M-O-M and Y-O-Y comparisons for all of the above.

Social networking also requires an understanding of Return On: •  Engagement •  Interaction •  Awareness •  Influence

Quan<ta<ve  and  qualita<ve  measurement  are  equally  important!  

The Future of Social Media – Connecting Everywhere

Social Networking Impact on Role of Brands

•  Publish content to a blog.

•  Optimize title tags so that they are SEO-friendly.

•  Submit content to social media sites (e.g., Yahoo Buzz, Digg, etc.).

•  Upload multi-media to Flickr, YouTube, and iTunes.

•  Maintain Facebook Fan Page presence.

•  Tweet and monitor Twitter for trends and ideas.

Need  to  know  what  tools  exist  and  how  and  when  to  use  them!  

Developing your Social Media Plan

1.  What do you hope to achieve by having a social network presence?

2.  Who is your target audience and where do they spend their time?

3.  How will you create buy-in with internal staff that this is a priority?

4.  What metrics will you use to gauge success?

5.  Who are your competitors and what do they do on social networks?

6.  How do your on- and off-site social media activities support each other?

Summary

•  Social networking is logical extension of onsite community and social media initiatives.

•  Social networking allows for increased engagement and exposes personality of the brand and increases traffic.

•  Commitment to social networking requires commitment to learn, apply latest tools, and experiment.

•  Social media is here to stay. Each day allows us opportunity to tap new audiences.

Twi$er:  twi1er.usatoday.com  Facebook:  facebook.com/usatoday  Blog:  social.usatoday.com  YouTube:  youtube.com/usatoday  Fark:  fark.usatoday.com  Gowalla:  gowalla.com/usatoday