NMS team members Alex Redmond (Mid-Atlantic Business Development) and Leslie Bradshaw (Communications Manager) shared social media best practices and specific ideas for the agriculture industry during two presentations to the DC Ag Communicators in May and June 2009.

1. © 2009 | New Media Strategies www.newmediastrategies.net Alex Redmond Leslie Bradshaw Business Development, Mid-Atlantic June 23, 2009 Communications Manager, Public Affairs DC Ag Communicators – Social Media Overview

2. Making Sense of Social Media: 7 Areas to Focus On Emerging Platforms Wikipedia Blogs Cloud Computing Twitter Media Sharing Social Networks 2

3. Blogs Not “just a blog” – many considerations: Your organization’s blog Influencer blogs Employee blogs Coalition / member blogs Competitor / adversary blogs Permanent, but imperfect – many decisions: Software Engagement strategy Message and positioning Intelligence and tracking © 2009 | New Media Strategies www.newmediastrategies.net

4. Blog Reading Habits of Capitol Hill 70% Chiefs of Staff/Deputy Chiefs of Staff/Directors 68% Communications Directors/ Press Secretaries 47% Legislative Directors/Senior Policy Advisors/Counsel 47% Legislative Assistants Legislative Correspondents/Other 42% Blogs * Source: National Journal Group, Washington in the Information Age

5. Local and National Blog Consumption Local Blogs Wonkette 42% 49% Red State Hotline On Call 35% 42% Townhall Daily Kos 29% 39% Local Blogs The Corner 24% 32% Hotline On Call 21% 29% Talking Points Memo * Source: National Journal Group, Washington in the Information Age Blogs The Note M. Malkin 20% 23%

6. States Have Vibrant Blogospheres, Too Blogs

7. Logistics

8. The 6 Steps to Planning and Executing a Digital Campaign Set goals Establish team roles Brand and integrate campaign elements Scope, research, understand task at hand Evaluate and select platforms Document everything

9. #1 – What Does a Win Look Like? Basic metrics Video views, comments and subscriptions Facebook fans, Wall posts Visitors and link-backs to your site and/or blog Blog and Twitter buzz – quantity and impressions Tonal reaction (positive/negative) Benchmark reports (beginning/end; weekly/monthly) How engaged, lasting, meaningful was the experience? (qual.) Campaign-dependent metrics Units sold Actions taken (e.g., petition, contesting, etc.) Voters, constituents, consumers, students or decision makers influenced Lasting, Google-able resources Launching point for future efforts

10. photo NMS METHODOLOGY: This is How We Do It AGGREGATE social websites bookmarking ANALYZE blogs message FILTER boards social networks emerging ACTIONABLE INTELLIGENCE platforms video

11. #2 – Establish Team Roles Team: Community / Communications Management Role: Communicates on behalf of the campaign, under their own name, everywhere online (think: touchy-feely spokesperson); Ensures that message and aesthetics are consistent across entire campaign (on and offline); supports Community & Profile team Involvement: 2 – 3 people Team: Profile Management Role: Populates profiles with content; works with / as Community Managers; maintains and interacts continuously Involvement: 2 – 3 people Team: Metrics, Reporting, Tracking, Innovating Role: Ensures that goals are being set and met; makes recommendations to recalibrate based on results, emerging platforms and new goals Involvement: 3 – 4 people

12. CHALLENGE: Digital and Geographic Divides Solution: Communications Team Tactic: Point people in DC manage and solicit content from Farmers Solution: Profile Management Team Tactic: Meet with Farmers once a quarter to scope out an approved set of messages and topics; adjust and update as needed Solution: Editorial Calendar Tactic: Create a master calendar for posting to platforms (e.g., blog post, tweets, etc.); receive posts from Farmers via Communications team (need only be emailed; “photo attached” would be great, too); post for / as approved Farmers Solution: Digital Press Events Tactic: Invite bloggers to the farm; encourage photo and video creation; create universal tag so content can be aggregated

13. 6 Tips: Social Media for Agriculture ON THE FARM CASE STUDY: Leslie’s Family’s Farm © 2009 | New Media Strategies www.newmediastrategies.net

14. DIGITAL PRESS EVENT CASE STUDY: Intel Worked with Intel to invite influential bloggers and media makers onsite to ISEF, resulting in: 776 photos on Flickr 160 blog posts and tweets Production of nearly 40 YouTube videos 20 audio recordings of interviews with attendees Helped manage and organize interested online communities, facilitating new connections Reached over 1.5 million viewers Created lasting online resources and relationships Shifted previous perceptions about Intel and its dedication to education

15. Specific Platforms

17. Permanency of blogging

18. Utility of emailing

19. Sociality of Facebook

20. Agility of text / IMing

21. Why join?

22. Disseminate information

23. Converse and share

24. Build a network

25. Gain insights

26. Who uses it?

27. The media

28. Politicians

29. C-level executives; decision makers

30. Brands and organizations

34. 55,000 Facebook users

35. 10,000+ Pledges

36. 16,000 video views

37. 100+ blog posts

39. Rosalind Wiseman

40. Chicago Tribune

41. Fox5 (lead to on-air)“I bowled a 129. … It’s like – it was like Special Olympics, or something.” - President Obama March 19 Jay Leno Show March 20 Story explodes March 31 Special Olympics launches social media campaign with help from NMS TWITTER CASE STUDY: The Special Olympics April 1 - Today Conversation continues…

43. Facebook – friends

44. Twitter – communications

45. Ning – organizations

46. LinkedIn – colleagues

47. MySpace – A & E

48. MeetUp – offline

49. So I have a page, now what?

50. Upload your contacts

51. Relax the reins

52. Spark two-way conversations

54. Media Sharing © 2009 | New Media Strategies www.newmediastrategies.net Video – what is out there? YouTube – massive reach Vimeo – customizable Viddler – interactive Photo – what is out there? Flickr – open network SmugMug – closed network Twitter applications – Twitpic, Utterli Why you need it: A picture is worth… Tell your story; create a lasting resource Make it compelling; short and something you’d pass on Create assets to share with on and offline media outlets

56. Reengaged their core political audience through embeddable video and blogger link-backs

57. Exchanged their limited advertising budget for social capital, search engine optimization (SEO), brand awareness and historical, lasting resources

58. 300+ blog placements; 600+ inbound links; millions of online viewsBlogs Social Networks Twitter Media Sharing 22

60. Collaborative resource

61. Relies on “wisdom of the crowds”

62. Not always accurate, buuuuut…

63. Read: Here Comes Everybody (Clay Shirky)

64. Why you need them:

65. Define the debate at point of research: Wikipedia

66. Replace internal intranets

67. Create a puzzle-piece mentality that encourages more participation and knowledge-sharing

68. Enable easy access

71. Aggregation (FriendFeed)

72. Portability (Facebook Connect)

73. Authentication (OpenID)

74. Integration (Google Connect)

75. Mobile (iPhone and BlackBerry apps)

76. “Life streaming” (Qik, USTREAM)

77. Status-o-sphere (Facebook, Twitter)

78. Blogosphere segmentation (state level, interest based)

79. What will continue to evolve?

80. Boundaries: Personal / Private / Professional / Organizational

81. Sharing: Anonymity / Transparency / Intimacy / Translucency

82. Connectivity: Portable / Integrated / Aggregated / Authenticated © 2009 | New Media Strategies www.newmediastrategies.net Emerging Platforms

83. Closing

86. Build a blogger media list; create an engagement strategy. Identify bloggers most interested in your issues and include them early and often on breaking news, surrogate interviews and other initiatives.

87. Tips: Treat bloggers like journalists, but don’t expect them to always perform like non-biased reporters. Consider having your surrogate’s blogs link back to the blogs on your list. Reciprocity rules.

88. URLs:http://blogsearch.google.com (more results) and http://technorati.com (includes authority)

89. Monitor Twitter. The most instant and social conversations going on about your issues are on Twitter. Blogs lag. Facebook is closed, sometimes blocked.

90. Tips: On Twitter, you can take immediate action. For key conversers, investigate the Twitterer’s # of followers and if they have a blog. Have a strategy to engage / respond if needed.

92. Tips: Have surrogates pen for the web – links, photos and embedded videos are excepted.

93. Sample sites:Huffington Post, Medical News Today, Health Bolt, My Family Doctor

94. Have Farmers maintain a daily / weekly “diary.” Basically a blog, but in established communities with lots of activity. More efficient; good workaround.

95. Tips: If your content is consistent and strong, and you’ve made contacts with the site administrator’s, you can get “front paged” (i.e., have your content featured on the homepage). To build credibility: make sure to comment on posts by others.

97. © 2009 | New Media Strategies www.newmediastrategies.net Thank you. Questions? Leslie Bradshaw Blog: www.lesliebradshaw.com LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/lesliebradshaw Twitter: www.twitter.com/LeslieBradshaw Email: lbradshaw@newmediastrategies.net Phone: 703-253-0050 x 187 Alex Redmond NMS Blog: www.newmediastrategies.net/blog LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ajredmond Twitter: http://twitter.com/AlexRedmond Email: aredmond@newmediastrategies.net Phone: 703-253-0050 x 195