Developing A Comprehensive Online Communications Strategy
- 1. Considering All The Angles: Developing A Comprehensive Online Communications Strategy
- 2. Presentation Overview Where did I/we start from? Why did we bother? How did we build our online communications strategy? Who was involved? What did they do? What are the strategy’s guiding principles? What were the outcomes? What tools are we using (and for what)? How do we minimize the risks (perceived and real)? Corporate Social Media Policy Staff guidelines for personal use (building ambassadors) Guidelines for public posts (appropriate vs inappropriate) Roles and responsibilities Top 7 Lessons Learned
- 3. Where did I/we start from? Personal Background: Experience and education in traditional communications. Very skeptical of social media (can’t even keep up with my email). A reluctant believer in the power and opportunities of social media. Now a vocal proponent and active user (@kitchenernews). Our Communications Team: Vast majority of resources focused on traditional communications. Recognized need to balance traditional and online communications. Recognized reality that we would not be getting any new resources. One individual was keen on social media and lit a fire under the rest.
- 4. Why did we bother? The Changing Times: Changing expectations for online communications and engagement. Enhances ability to listen to online dialogue that is already happening. Engages stakeholders traditionally difficult to reach. Allows for more better monitoring and evaluation of all communications. The Local Opportunity: 40% of Kitchener residents use Facebook daily or weekly (2009). 34% of residents watch YouTube or look at photos on Flickr daily or weekly. 279,220 FB users identified themselves from Kitchener (May 2010). 100,800 of those Facebook users were between the ages of 35-64.
- 5. The Changing Times Industrial revolution Automobile Airplane Television Social media
- 6. How did we build our strategy? Who was involved? Cross corporate staff team included: Communications, IT, HR, Enterprise units, Economic Development, Legal Services, Records Management. Project team lead by Corporate Communications & Marketing. What did they do? Developed 40 research papers on specific topics. Surveyed 10 other Canadian municipalities to learn best practices. Analyzed past input from over 2,000 stakeholders. Presented draft recommendations to focus groups (youth, seniors, etc.) Sought approval from senior management and city council.
- 7. How did we build our strategy? What are the strategy’s guiding principles? Start small. Do things well. Grow from there. Centralize responsibility and accountability for content maintenance. Decentralize responsibility for “listening” to online conversations. Dedicate resources to manage content. What were the outcomes? Comprehensive Online Communications Strategy Corporate Social Media Policy Social Media Guidelines for Staff’s Personal Use
- 8. is a conversation supported by online tools Social Media
- 9. What tools are we using (and for what)? Let’s Use: Facebook Twitter Youtube Flickr Linkedin RSS Feeds eNewsletter Email signatures Not For us: Craigslist Myspace Digg Yahoo Ads Google Ads Youtube Ads Maybe Later: Blog Podcast Wikis (internal?)
- 10. How do we minimize risks? Corporate Social Media Policy Centralizes oversight for social media accounts with communications. Outlines content deemed inappropriate for posting - will be removed. Provides protocol for response to sensitive or negative public posts. Allows all city staff to monitor social media about work issues. Does not allow staff to update personal social media accounts at work. Staff Guidelines for Personal Use of Social Media (building ambassadors) Helpful tips for staff to use when on personal social media accounts. Encourages staff to talk about city issues appropriately. Supported by day-long staff training session on social media use.
- 11. How do we minimize risks? Guidelines for Public Posts Legitimate disagreement / policy criticisms encouraged. Public posts removed if they: Provide personal information of individuals Promote hatred or discrimination Are abusive, profane or sexually explicit Attack an individual Promote an individual business Promote a political party or individual running for office Roles and Responsibilities Communications division provides oversight of social media accounts. Reallocated existing staff position to Online Communications Specialist. Check social media sites and update content 2-3 times per day.
- 12. Top 7 Lessons Learned Social media is a dialogue, not a monologue a conversation, not a campaign Hard sales/marketing does not work (eg. ticket sales vs. public input) Unique content spreads quickly break news online to build followers Benefits far outweigh risks don’t waste too much time worrying about the risks
- 13. Top 7 Lessons Learned Make connections by making it personal picture vs. logo, respond to posts, etc. Online world moves too fast for traditional gov’t approvals requires organization to trust content managers Don't rush to delete critical comments you’ll build trust and your followers will respond for you
- 14. Questions???
Editor's Notes
- #15: Everyone wants to do it. but no nobody knows how. There are no experts. Just people who have tried. You learn as you go.