WRPA Conference, September 2, 2010

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Going SocialA True Inspirational

Story of Pain, Persistence, Policy

Development . . .and Triumph

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A Case Study…

• Identified the need• Education and buy-in• Policy development• Strategy development• More education

and buy-in• Soft launch• Test and tweak• Measure and report

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Identified the Need

• Existing Accounts

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Needs

• Existing Accounts• New, affordable ways to

promote services• Competition• Upcoming projects• Alternative to public

open house• Engagement• Customer Service

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Education and Buy-in

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A Few Examples

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A Few More

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Why It’s Important

• By end of 2010 Gen Y will outnumber Baby Boomers…96% of them have joined a social network

• Years to Reach 50 millions Users: – Radio (38 Years) - TV (13 Years)– Internet (4 Years) - iPod (3 Years)– Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months– iPhone applications hit 1 billion in 9 months

• The fastest growing demographic using social media is 25 years old and older

• Half of all current adult social networkers access their profiles at least every other day

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Why It’s Important

• On average each adult with a social networking page or profile has profiles on 1.6 sites; 39% of adults have profiles on two or more sites.

• If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 4th largest between the United States and Indonesia

• The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year-old females

• More than half of Facebook users are outside of college

• 20% of adults have used Twitter

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Why It’s Important

• The #2 largest search engine in the world is YouTube

• YouTube = 10% of all Internet traffic

• 53% of people say that blog content influences purchase decision

• Generations Y and Z consider e-mail passé…In 2009 Boston College stopped distributing e-mail addresses to incoming freshmen

• What happens in Vegas stays on YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook…

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Facebook

What is it?

Who’s using it?

• City and County of San Francisco

• CIA

• Veterans Health Administration

• WYDOT

• Wyoming Highway Patrol

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Twitter

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Who’s Using Twitter

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Blogs

What is it?

Who’s Using Blogs?• TSA

• US Department of State

• Jefferson County Parks and Recreation (Washington)

• Santa Barbara Parks and Recreation

• Fort Collins Museum

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Policy Development

• Best practices

• Multi-departmental Team

• Centralized tools unless:

– Unique business need

– Partnership

• Comment policy

• Employee use

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City of Fort Collins Strategies

Communication with the Public

• Promote events, programs, and initiatives

• Engage citizens

• Improve customer service

• Gather citizen input on policy related issues

• Recruit potential employees

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FacebookPromote*Engage*Recruit*Gather

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Facebook - Gather

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TwitterPromote*Inform*Customer Service

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Twitter – Promote and Inform

Hashtags:• #planfc – Plan Fort Collins information and event• #fctrip – construction updates, road closures, and

traffic updates• #nocosnow – snow removal updates and road

conditions during snow storms

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Twitter – Customer Service

• A snow plow hit my car!

Well, you're apparently off the hook city of fort collins. Now to hope that our property management company is as responsive to work with.

@fortcollinsgov the roundabout @ horsetooth & ziegler needs cleaning. There is a sandbar that is slippery

@FortCollinsGov Does the no-smoking within 20ft of doors or windows law apply to exteriors of apartments and private dwellings? I hope so!

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Twitter

General Feedback

• @STiMonSTAR - @fortcollinsgov the patched street is so much nicer. Thanks for making Bueno Dr. drivable again.   

• @gletham - Very cool that the city of fort Collins responds when I bring up a local issue. Much appreciated

• @SprigToys - @fortcollinsgov Thank you for the great updates of road conditions! Have a great holiday, stay warm!

• @ConnectConsltnt - @fortcollinsgov : I see the 2010 Recreator is out! Yahoo! Time to spin again. Dropping any off at the Chamber? Please.

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YouTube and Flickr

http://www.youtube.com/CityofFortCollins

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fortcollinsgov

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City of Fort Collins Strategies

Internal Communication

• Inform and engage employees

• Identify and dispel incorrect rumors

• Create connections among employees

• “Humanize” management

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Soft Launch….at first

• Facebook– 1,162 fans

• Twitter– 1,740 followers

• YouTube– March: 535 downloads– July: 3,688 downloads

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Test and Tweak

• When we engage– Negative/opinionated – share with staff– Factually inaccurate – correct– Addressed to us/question – respond– Heated – redirect offline to e-mail

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and Tweak and Tweak and Tweak…

• Concerns, Challenges, and Opportunities– Time and resources– Fresh and varied content (photos, video, etc.)– Integration into “old school” marketing efforts – Cross promotion– Meaningful tracking mechanisms

• Looking ahead– Blog– Internal communication

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Measure and Report

• Measurements of success– Fans, followers, lists, downloads, interactions– Success stories– Program participation– Citizen Survey: informing, welcoming citizen

involvement, listening