Social Media Bootcamp: Learn Key Strategies for Using Top Networks Like Twitter and Facebook

SOCIAL MEDIA BOOTCAMP
Sarah Evans
@PRsarahevans
sarah@sevansstrategy.com
www.sevansstrategy.com

Hashtag: #SocialIRL  @PRsarahevans  @benasmith

Today’s Topics:

•  Key social network •  Case studies
overview

•  PR and marketing in •  Influencers
social

•  HOW TO: Social Media •  Monitoring
News Releases

•  Blogger Relations •  Analytics and ROI

•  Recommendations for •  Exercises and
your business activities


Business concepts to think about

•  Workflow
•  Strategy
•  Tactic
•  Cost
•  Innovation
•  Policy and training
•  Authority/responsibility
•  Voice and identity

Channels for interacting, using accessible publishing
techniques. Social media use web-based technologies to
transform and broadcast media monologues allow the creation
and exchange of user-generated content.” -Wikipedia

WHAT IS IT?


Social media is another tool.


Just like this.

•  Community outreach
•  Marketing
•  Public relations
•  Crisis communications
•  Fundraising
•  Personal
•  Customer service


Billions of page views

Image courtesy of @Jess3, March 2010

95% of online shoppers conduct research
before making a decision

60% of online shoppers always or often
use search engines

(Credit: Compete Online Shopper Intelligence Study)


Image courtesy of @Jess3, August 2010

MY DISCLAIMER:
It might not be a fit for you if...
•  Your staff totals one and you are currently
responsible for all communications
•  In a highly regulated profession with legal
implications
•  Don’t feel comfortable or can’t get buy-in
from executives
•  Not sure if your consumers are on social
media or want to be interacted with via
social media

Know what you want to accomplish.
(This is your goal, your strategy!)

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

3 
STOP Exercise Time.
,
minutes  What is/are your goal(s)?

Goal 1: To _______ (verb) (other parts of
your sentence) (measureable outcome)
by (date).


What social media users want

•  Think about:
–  What platforms you
want to use
–  Who is there
–  How they want to be
reached
–  What you want them
to do

Keep in mind as we review
these networks:
•  ACTION: You see something you like or
have a thought
•  Ask: Do I want to write, audio, video,
etc…
•  Ask: Should it go out now or later?
•  Identify which platform(s)
•  Does it need supporting information
(link to more info?) – Don’t forget to
shorten the URL.

Twitter 101
Twitter in 15 Minutes
http://www.slideshare.net/PRsarahevans/twitter-in-15-minutes


Basic Terms
Tweet Posting a message to Twitter
@ + name The command which allows tweets to be sent;
proceeds username (i.e. @journchat)
Following You choose to receive someone's updates
Followers People who choose to receive your updates
Direct Message Private message sent between two people
Block Preventing someone from reading your updates
Favorites A public area to save your favorite tweets
Fail Whale When too many people are tweeting!
Hashtag The # next to a word allows for conversation
tracking (#tweetup) http://search.twitter.com
Tweetup A face-to-face gathering of those who tweet

It’s all about the retweet.


@RSHotel AWESOME friends in @Mashable
post! @KeithBurtis @Chrisbrogan
@jessicarandazza http://bit.ly/9GnCBm

Best Practice!
• Shares an article where Twitter followers are mentioned
• Recognizes others
• Includes a shortened URL for tracking purposes and ease
• Leave enough characters to retweet


@mattroyse 10 iPhone Apps to Manage Your
Job Search on the Go http://ow.ly/1o3L5u

Best Practice!
• Good informa?on 
• Promo?ng someone else’s blog 
• Shortened URL for tracking purposes 
• “ Top 10” posts typically garner a lot of aJen?on 


Twitter: Promoting your presence
•  Add your Twitter ID to your email signature, website
and resume
•  Download a Twitter application for your Blackberry
or iPhone
•  Send an email to friends, family and co-workers with your Twitter
ID and see if they are on Twitter
•  Embed a Twitter widget on your blog or website
•  Start a hashtag
•  Join a hashtag
•  Put together RSS feeds for your favorite topics on Twitter
http://search.twitter.com
•  When you comment on blog posts, include your Twitter ID
•  Add your Twitter ID to your Facebook and LinkedIn accounts

Twitter: Various Tactics

•  Follow
•  Lists
•  DMs
•  Replies
•  Contests
•  Discounts/deals
•  Polls/questions/surveys
•  Sponsored tweets
•  Repurpose content
•  Sponsor: Top trending topic $$$

What happened?

•  When Conan left NBC, he started a Twitter account,
posting his first few public statements since leaving the
network, quickly incurring 1.8 million followers. Leading
up to the premier, O’Brien ran a Twitter campaign where
fans got to vote on who his first guest should be.
•  As part of his Twitter campaign, TBS bought the
#conanreturns promoted trend on Twitter to help further
the conversation.
–  Currently Promoted Trends are in beta, but are rumored to
cost "tens of thousands" of dollars per day.
•  Conan O’Brien’s new talk show that debuted on TBS in
Nov. 2010 pulled in 4,155,000 viewers overall, outdoing
both Leno and Letterman, with 2,451,000 between the
ages of 18-34. The median viewer age was just 30 years
old. (lostremote.com)

What worked?

•  Conan O’Brien used social media to go
after his Gen-Y target demographic, a
younger demographic than Leno or
Letterman.
•  TBS took advantage of sponsored
social media opportunities to help drive
the viral conversation.

What can you learn from this?

•  Promoted hashtags/trends or
sponsored tweets are tactics. While
these can be a good investment, make
sure that your target demographic
matches that of the social media
platform you’re promoting on.
•  Fans can be receptive to integrated
social media advertising if done
correctly.

HOW are you going to use it?

(Let’s hear from those who already do.)

TOOLS: Twitter Clients

•  Hootsuite
•  Tweetdeck
•  Snaptu (mobile)
•  Seesmic
•  Brizzly (browser based)
•  Twitterific
•  Tweetie (Mac only) hJp://oneforty.com/category/Clients 

•  UberTwitter (mobile)


TOOLS: Twitter Hashtags

•  Tweetchat
•  Tweetgrid
•  WTHashtag
•  HashParty
•  Hashable
•  Backchannel.us hJp://oneforty.com/category/Hashtags 

•  Hashtools


TOOLS: Find People to Follow on Twitter

•  TwitHawk
•  FollowFriday Ranking
•  Listorious
•  Twellow
•  TweepML
•  WeFollow hJp://oneforty.com/category/Find%20People 


TOOLS: Scheduling Tweets

•  Hootsuite
•  CoTweet
•  Twaitter
•  Pluggio

hJp://oneforty.com/category/Schedule%20Tweets

TOOLS: Twitter Monitoring

•  NutshellMail (daily email digest)
•  Twilert (Like Google Alerts)
•  Hootsuite
•  Tweetdeck
•  Social Mention

Basic Terms
Status update Answering the question “what are you doing” on
your profile page
@ + name The command which allows updates to mention
and tag your friends and fan pages;
proceeds username
Wall Your profile page
Friend People you let into your network
Friend request Asking someone to let you be their “friend”
Tag Labeling people in photos
Note A public area to post ideas, information
(similar to a blog)
Comment Posting a thought or comment in response to
something someone has posted on their wall
Like A “like” button. Clicking on it implies you like or agree
with something someone has posted on their wall.
Poke Clicking the “poke” button alerts someone you’ve
poked them. Kind of like, “notice me.”

It’s all about the “like.”

Facebook: Various Tactics

•  Fan page
•  Personal page
•  NEW groups
•  Sponsored fan posts
•  Ads
•  Status updates
•  Photos
•  Videos
•  Tags
•  Messages
•  Questions
•  Interact (“like,” “comment)

What does a fan page do?

•  Share news,
information, links,
photos, videos
•  Status updates
•  Message all fans
•  Customize ads
•  Fan interaction

TOOLS: Facebook Clients

•  Friendly (iPad)
•  Tweedeck and Seesmic
•  Fishbowl

TOOLS: How to Create a Fanpage

“Ultimate” tutorial
http://fbml-templates.net/2010/10/how-to-
make-a-facebook-fan-page-ultimate-guide/

When your use of social media
goes wrong…

What happened?

•  During a time of mass chaos in Egypt
where millions are cut off from the
Internet and the country has erupted in
violence, fashion designer and major
brand Kenneth Cole issues a tweet –
playfully insinuating that the Cairo uproar
is a result of the release of their new
spring collection.
•  The result: an estimated 1,500 negative
tweets per hour and the emergence of a
Twitter spoof account @KennethColePR

What worked/didn’t work?

•  Shows insensitivity, negating the seriousness of
situation in Cairo by trying to use it as a
marketing opportunity.
•  Using the #Cairo hashtag opened up the tweet
to readers outside @KennethCole fans, serving
as a catalyst to increase the damage of this
tweet.
•  Kenneth Cole appears to be personally
responsible for this tweet, per his initials and
the bio that states “Thoughts that end in –KC
are from me personally; others are behind the
seams insights from my inspiring associates.”


•  Be careful what you tweet. Once it’s out
there, you can’t take it back.
•  Don’t make light of serious situations
on social media, show sensitivity and
respect.

Location-based Apps: Various Tactics

•  Specials/deals/discounts
•  Badges/stamps
•  Mayorship
•  Check ins
•  Analyze audience and habits
•  More than physical locations (e.g. TV)

Social Media 101 Guides

•  Getting started with Facebook
http://slidesha.re/eqIS7n

•  Getting started with
Foursquare
http://slidesha.re/dRhOGJ

•  Getting started with LinkedIn
http://slidesha.re/fNVrVR

•  Getting started with Twitter
http://slidesha.re/hlL3ea

Other platforms and tactics to consider

•  Email distribution and e-blasts
•  Niche social networks
•  Photo sharing (Flickr, Instagram)
•  Video sharing (YouTube, Vimeo)
•  Live streaming (Ustream, Watchitoo)
•  Discussion boards and forums

Who is this dude?

•  Old Spice launched a series of television ads introducing
viewers to a shirtless and suave Isaiah Mustafa, who embodies
all that is man – “Wear Old Spice, or you're not a real man.”
•  Old Spice targeted young adults and used social media to
repost the ads on different social media outlets across the web.
•  To increase two-way communication, Old Spice created 200+
short videos responding to comments/questions directed at
"the Old Spice guy" via Twitter, Facebook and other social
networking sites.
•  The appeal of these customized responses led to thousands of
questions from excited social media users who hoped the Old
Spice guy would answer their questions.
•  The Old Spice Twitter account accumulated tens of thousands
of new followers and the YouTube videos amassed hundreds of
thousands of views.

What worked?

•  Old Spice took a traditional medium, television
advertising, and maximized the impact by
leveraging two-way communication – they weren’t
just talking “at” their audiences through their ads,
they were talking “with” them by responding to
their questions/comments and showing they were
listening.
•  Old Spice created an integrated marketing
campaign that appealed to the Gen-Y audience
(both male and female) dominating social media
platforms.
•  The Old Spice brand was not “shoved down
viewers’ throats” like a spammy commercial.


•  Look for ways to build
two-way
communication with
followers.
•  Social media is not
about talking “at”
audiences, it’s about
engaging “with” them.
If you need a break from me, watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=owGykVbfgUE

7 
STOP Exercise Time.
,
minutes  Let’s practice: At your table…

You just came across news that lists your profession as the number
one profession in the United States. You have a community that
would appreciate knowing this.

How would you share that information via social networks,
specifically your blog, Twitter and Facebook?

Write out the following:
1)  Your 140-character message (Twitter)
2)  Your 160-character message (Facebook)
3)  The headline of your blog post

Using Social Media as
part of your
PR outreach

In the U.S. our relationship with news is:

PORTABLE, PERSONALIZED & PARTICIPATORY

(PEW Research)


Direct messaged (DM)
(4:25 a.m.)

Cell phone rings
(5:04 a.m.)

Jen Preston (@nyt_jenpreston)
social media editor, New York Times

Directs people to MY feed
(5:10 a.m.)

Article goes live
(5:15 a.m.)

Cell phone rings AGAIN
(6:15 a.m.)

Katie Hawkins-Gear,
associate producer, CNN iReport

Directs people to MY iReport
(6:30 a.m.)

Updated report with quote
(6:40 a.m.)

Front page, CNN.com
(6:40-ish a.m.)

Resulted in:
(as of 3:42 p.m. February 10)

Ultimate result?

5 new (and viable)
business inquires in 4
hours.

Connecting with media
•  Find out where they “live” online
(some journalists have personal outlets in addition to their day job)
•  Read, watch and/or listen to their blog, column, site
•  Comment and respond when appropriate
•  Monitor citizen and hyperlocal journalists
–  Patch.com
–  CNN iReport
•  Participate in online industry chats
–  #journchat
–  #PR20chat
•  Create or join Facebook groups
–  Social journalism (Craig Kannally)
–  Rocket engine (Maybe created by you?)

TACTIC: Set up a Twitter dashboard to
identify opportunities

hJp://prsarahevans.com/2010/01/how‐to‐set‐up‐a‐free‐online‐monitoring‐system/

What is a social media release? A new
format of writing press releases that
incorporates web-based tools for people
to share and discuss the information of
the release with one another.

Straight from the expert.

•  You cannot make a press release social.
- Associated Press (AP) format is not conversational or
social.
- If you start by opening Microsoft Word, you're probably
missing the point.
•  Share buttons do not make a press release social.
- Just because you have the option to share a link to a
bunch of text, doesn't mean you should.
•  Multimedia does not make a press release social, it
makes it more engaging.
- I applaud those people who take the time to make their
content more engaging and the services that enable them
to do it (affordably).
•  Social means it should be living and in real-time.
- It shouldn't "die" once you send it out through a wire
service with no ability to edit, add to or create
conversations.

SEO for Social Media Releases

•  Hotlink and bold critical words (and
phrases)
•  Use a keyword search tool
•  Ensure that keywords are not too far apart
from one another in the headline
•  Update the quotes regularly so it
resurfaces in search engines
•  Don’t use jargon
•  Anchor text appropriately

hJp://mashable.com/2008/11/04/how‐to‐make‐press‐releases‐seo‐friendly/

Things I wish someone would have told me:
Anchor Text and SMR

1.  To rank higher in search results, use the keyword(s)
you are trying to rank for
2.  Link to relevant pages for the product/service that
you're talking about - not always home page
3.  Set links to open up in a new tab/window so you're
not pushing people away from your content
4.  Research Google Trends and Insights for what people
are looking for right now

Keyword tools: Google AdWords, Wordstream, Wordpot

Design, manufacture and service of aircra1
should link back to hJp://www.utc.pw.com 

PraJ and Whitney is a world leader in the 
design, manufacture and service of aircra1
engines, space propulsion systems and 
industrial gas turbines.

Industrial gas turbines should link back to 
Space propulsion systems should link back to  speciﬁc services or overview page 
speciﬁc services or overview page

51% Get News From
'People They Follow’

(Pew Survey)


Case Study:
Community-driven stories

How a Facebook Photo Went International

Courtesy of Jason Kintzler, Pitchengine
@jasonkintzler

What happened?

•  Received about 300 comments in a
little over an hour
•  Verified authenticity of photo
•  Post shared and reposted by
thousands of people via Facebook
and Twitter
•  Contacted LOCAL news first

“1 in every 3 online Americans is a
conversationalist, someone who updates
their status on a social networking site such
as Facebook or posts updates on Twitter at
least once weekly.”

(Credit: Forrester)


Results
•  Most viewed story ever in the MTN
group (Montana Television Network)
with a total of over 350K.
•  Shared on Facebook more than 10K
times the first day.
•  Picked up by all major news
networks and was read in all 50
states and 136 countries.

Didn't take a producer to determine
what was newsworthy, it took a few
hundred people.

Blogging and
Blogger Relations

Why blog?

•  Generates content
•  Establishes expertise
•  Businesses who regularly update their
blog generate more leads (Hubspot)
•  Anyone can do it – levels the playing field
•  Offers a place for people to engage
(comments)
•  Helps your search ranking
•  Gives you information to share via social
networks

So, what do you post? And when?

What to post? Suggested routine
•  Added commentary or •  Develop an editorial calendar
insight on local or •  Assign blogging
national issue responsibilities
•  Guest post opportunities •  1 to 2 blog posts per week
from other experts or •  Check comments 1 to 2
clients times, daily
•  Trends or industry •  Share blog posts via other
insights social networks (as
appropriate)
•  Reblog/post content (as •  Share blog posts in
appropriate) appropriate business
•  Do not repurpose memos communications (repurpose
or press releases as blog content)
posts

Blogging tips

•  Know in advance what •  Use descriptive titles for
you want to write about your posts
(e.g. editorial calendar) •  Include images (or
•  Be authentic other interactive media)
•  Create original content •  Link to other related
•  Your post is not a press posts
release •  Promote one another’s
•  Use language your posts
audience uses •  Leave comments on
•  Share about timely and other blogs
relevant events •  Respond to comments
on your posts

Do you or will you review products on
your blog?
TOOL: FTC Disclosure Whitepaper
http://www.slideshare.net/PRsarahevans/ftc

It takes, on average, five activities to draw
an audience to your site.

-State of the Blogosphere 2009

Becoming a content or subject matter
expert through blogging

Who is @problogger?

•  In the past decade, Darren Rowse of
Problogger.net has become the “go to” on the
topic of blogging, helping others with their
blogging skills, sharing exeriences and
promoting the blogging medium.
•  What started with a personal blogging hobby in
2002 transformed into an income-generating,
fully-fledged business as a full time blogger or
“ProBlogger.”
•  Rowse ranks forth on Google search engines
for the keyword “blogging,” has 118,000+
Twitter followers and 20,000+ Facebook fans.

What worked?

•  Darren jumped on the blogging
bandwagon early and carved out a
niche teaching others how to generate
income through blogging.
•  Darren constantly creates new content
– whether it’s on his blog, his
problogger.com blogger community,
Twitter or other social media assets.

What can you learn from him?

•  When creating content for a blog or
other social media account, identify a
need or look for ways to benefit/help
out your key audiences.
•  Use an editorial calendar to keep track
and schedule content creation.

How do you find them?

•  Research, research and more research
–  Search engines
–  Blog rolls
–  Sevans Strategy uses Cision
–  Social searches

How do you connect with them?

•  First: HAVE A STORY that matters to
them and their audience
•  Read their blog
•  Write a kick a$$ pitch
•  Include a Twitter pitch
•  Get creative: vitch
•  Create a package and offer assets
•  What else?

What is a “good” pitch?

•  Timely
•  Targeted
•  NOT generic, form
letter or BCC:
•  Personal

EXAMPLE from HARO

•  “We are looking for suggestions for 5
awesome, unique experiences fathers can give
their daughters. These adventures/
experiences should be under $100, realistic
and most of all fun for BOTH of them.
•  Dad’s should not have to turn in their ‘man
card’ in order to enjoy this! So Libby Liu’s or
American Doll outings are out!
•  The goal is to deepen the father/daughter
bond without being too girly.”

When reaching out to bloggers WORKS…

What happened?

•  In 2009, SHIFT Communications helped to launch
MobileSphere’s Slydial, a free service that allows users to
leave a voicemail message on someone else’s cellphone
— without actually ringing them.
•  Targeting the blogger community, the team created
unique angles and pitches for each and every blogger
based on their reader community, developed a social
media news release with catchy video content.
•  In one month of outreach, the Slydial service was covered
in 381 blog posts (the results of SHIFT’s blogger relations
combined with the viral effect of initial high-profile
posts), including TechCrunch, Perez Hilton,
U.S. News & World Report: Dave’s Download, GearCrave
and ShinyShiny.

What worked?

•  SHIFT personalized blog posts and
looked for an interesting angle that
would appeal to each blogger.
•  A social media news release was used
to provide additional content in
addition to the pitch.

What can you learn from SHIFT?

•  Blogger outreach takes a lot of
preparation time – it’s not just writing a
news release and blasting it out. It’s about
identifying and researching the
appropriate audiences to reach out to,
creating unique story angles and building
relationships beforehand.
•  Before reaching out to bloggers, think
about what’s in it for them or in it for their
readers and make sure that what you’re
sending out is newsworthy.

EXERCISE TIME!
At your table--

Write a social media release headline and a
targeted pitch to a well known FEMALE
blogger who talks about balancing
motherhood and a career. She often writes
about her TRAVELS for work and the
adventures with her children’s CARPOOL.

Your product: a new device that changes a
tire with the push of a button…no strength
needed.

Influencers

•  Who are they?
•  What do they do?
•  Where do they live?
•  Are they important? Why?

Who are “they?”

•  They’re the “talkers” not the “walkers”
•  Subject matter experts
•  Communities
•  Audiences
•  Bloggers
•  Everyday people
•  Targeted networks

Influencers

•  What do they do?
•  Where do they live?
•  Are they important? Why?

When the “right” one notices you…

Who is Scoble? What is Quora?

•  Robert Scoble, arguably one of the most influential social
media bloggers, initially embraced his usage of Quora,
calling it “the biggest blogging innovation in 10 years.”
Scoble’s recommendations helped bring massive
discovery to the site and its potential use as a
crowdsourcing tool for bloggers/journos. In the process,
Scoble gained more than 18,000 followers on Quora and
people looked to him as a thought leader on the subject
and a superuser.
•  Scoble later blogged publicly about the way his responses
were treated on the site – comparing it to more of a
Wikipedia than a blogging tool, creating a massive wave
of social media conversation on the topic, an increase in
negative sentiment and ultimately influencing the way
people viewed Quora.

What worked/didn’t work?

•  One of the most highly regarded social
media/tech influencers latched onto a
site, became a superuser and essentially
influenced thousands of others to join and
use the site while creating massive social
media conversations.
•  While Scoble helped others to uncover the
site, his endorsement changed and his
messaging couldn’t be controlled,
influencing sentiment of how others
viewed Quora.

What can you learn?

•  You can’t always control messaging –
not in the media or with online
influencers
•  Despite the negative sentiment, Quora
continues to be a hot topic and is
highly used.

Social Monitoring,
Analytics and
Reporting

How do you monitor? <for free>

•  Set up Google Alerts
•  Think about every term you need to monitor as part of
your communications and public relations efforts. This
may include:
–  You
–  The company name
–  Company CEO and/or executive team
–  Company spokespeople
–  Competitors
–  Highly visible employees
–  Key stakeholders/shareholders/investors
•  Google Alerts may not pick up every mention of your
keywords.
•  Use Nielsen’s BlogPulse - http://blogpulse.com

How do you monitor? <cont>

•  Set up Tweetdeck to manage syndication,
schedule tweets and gather Twitter
analytics.
http://tweetdeck.com
•  Set up Twitalyzer. It’s the most
sophisticated Twitter analytics tool
available.
http://twitalyzer.com
•  Monitor BlogPulse.com for additional
online mentions

EXAMPLE: Monitoring Report
My favorite tools: Alterian, Radian6, ViralHeat

9 Ideas to Measure R.O.E.
1.  Use a URL shortener like bit.ly to show how much traffic you
are driving and from where.
2.  Follow your tweets and retweets on Twitter to see how far they
travel http://tweetreach.com/
3.  Track positive, negative and neutral along with # of comments
posted on your sites
4.  Don’t make it all a numbers game. a goal of “X number of
fans” won’t prove anything
5.  # of RSS subscribers and your repeat traffic (demonstrates
loyalty)
6.  Develop specific tactics which improve your ranking on
popular search engines
7.  Track number of SMR views
8.  Determine your “share of conversation” vs. your
competitors http://bit.ly/Gjxgg
9.  Read this: “Calculating the ROI of blogging”
http://bit.ly/Z6xqP

Questions?

Sarah Evans
Sevans Strategy
@PRsarahevans
sarah@sevansstrategy.com

Social Media Bootcamp: Learn Key Strategies for Using Top Networks Like Twitter and Facebook

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