Everybody's Talking (and Tweeting) About It

Social media is a hot topic, but you still may find yourself thinking "why would I use social media?" Below are our top five reasons to get involved: 

1. Your online messages help you stand apart from your competitors or make progress toward achieving your professional goals. Social media helps you present expert insight and let it shine. Whether it's through a blog, podcast or Twitter, sharing your expertise is a great way to gain positive attention.
2. Social media tools are perfectly suited to today’s belt-tightening ways. Many social media tools are free or available at a minimal cost, meaning more bang for your buck. While it does take time to participate in this way, the return on investment can be very high because these tools allow you to connect with a larger, more invested audience. Many social media platforms also offer excellent measurement tools to track and monitor key statistics and demographics of your audience.
3. With budgets for traditional newsroom operations also being slashed, the opportunities for coverage that existed 12, six or even three months ago have changed dramatically (see summary of Chicago Journalism Town Hall). Social media provides a new opportunity to fill these gaps and to tell your story. As news outlets continue to move online it will benefit you to follow, especially as the media landscape continues to evolve.
4. A conversation about your brand, product, organization or business is likely taking place online. If you participate actively in this conversation, you can maintain control of your message and contribute in a very positive, authentic way that resonates with members of your target audiences.
5. If the conversation is happening without you, you risk being brandjacked. Take control of your online brand appearance, attention and conversation. This will prevent others from borrowing your ideas or using your image online.

Integrating Social Media into Your Existing Communications Strategy

Between Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, Ning, etc., the sheer number of social media platforms is dizzying. But social media is not just about the tools, scrambling to create a page or competing for the number of “friends” you have. In fact, a thoughtful, complementary strategy and a careful analysis of your audiences will help you navigate your social media options successfully and make the whole process much less daunting.

Because social media integration is a relatively new practice, you may have some questions about developing your plan. Will social media replace traditional outreach? Is it used for just marketing? How is it best incorporated into an existing, more traditional communications plan?

A comprehensive communication plan should be more proactive than reactive, and create multiple touch points with your audiences. As you begin to think through your initial social media strategy, start by focusing on your audiences, and on your primary goals. Social media tools should add to the work you’re already doing, and strengthen (rather than replace) your more traditional methods of communication. Though the landscape and delivery mechanisms are changing, media relations, newsletters and advertising are still important.

As an example of a successful, integrated communications strategy that utilizes social media platforms, take a look at Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network‘s “I am. Are you?” Campaign. CG&A incorporated social media tools into the outreach to supplement traditional press releases, media placements, broadcast interviews and advertising. CG&A connects Gift of Hope with Illinoisans through YouTube-hosted videos, MySpace, Facebook and Ning sites as well as a campaign blog. As the campaign manager, CG&A ensures that each platform contains consistent messaging and branding, allowing Gift of Hope to reach its target audiences across a wide variety of platforms.

Have you considered your social media strategy?

Facebook is one of the first, most simple and popular social media tools out there. Worldwide, Facebook users spend more than three billion minutes on the social networking site each day. With more than 175 million active users, it's no longer just an online social gathering platform for college students or "younger people." More than half of Facebook users are not college students, and the fastest growing demographic of people joining Facebook is the 30+ year-old crowd. Recent statistics point to the growing business value of Facebook.

Whether you’re launching a new product, hosting an event or just trying to raise awareness, Facebook offers tools to help companies and organizations meet specific goals. To help you make the most of this platform, below we distinguish between Facebook Pages, Groups, and Causes:

• Pages: A Facebook Page is a public profile that can be used by businesses and organizations to share information with other Facebook users. A Page allows direct interaction with people who become “fans” by sharing relevant stories, pictures, updates, videos, and more. In addition, users can measure audience interaction with their Page by using the Facebook Insights tool. Facebook Insights enables organizations to track the number of fans, page views, demographic information of fans, video views, etc. Mashable (an online social media guide) recently wrote a post about the redesign of Pages and highlighted some of the important features. Check out CG&A’s Facebook page here.
• Groups: Similar to Pages, Groups are a place for friends with similar interests to share and discuss stories, raise awareness, and create and manage events. Unlike Pages, Groups can be set as private and viewable to group members only or made public for all. Groups are able to send out mass invitations to encourage others to join while Page invitations must be sent individually. However, the Insights analytical tool is not available to Groups. In short, Groups are great for hosting a quick, active discussion and attracting quick attention. The Student Affairs Blog wrote a good post about determining whether your company or organization should have a Page or a Group.
• Causes: Causes on Facebook are established and managed primarily by non-profit groups. By creating a Cause, an organization or campaign can build momentum toward their mission by inviting people to join, implementing online fundraising efforts, and creating and managing real-time events. Facebook users who join Causes are able to make donations, which currently benefit more than one million registered 501(c)(3) nonprofits and major political campaigns. Unlike Facebook Pages, Insights is not available for Causes. However, success can be measured by engagement and/or fundraising statistics. To help increase the number of organ donors in Illinois, CG&A created a Cause page for the Donate Life Illinois campaign.

Now that you’ve got your Facebook Page, Group or Cause set up, it’s time to start engaging with your audience. Here are some “now what?” tips from Buzz Marketing Daily.