Paul Walker, special assistant to the dean on social media, put together a day-long UT Social Media Collaborative event yesterday. Here are some notes from my sketchbook.
S. Craig Watkins author of “The Young and the Digital” asks, Has social media made us TOO social?
Paul Walker, Communications teacher and social media consultant to the Tower, says
- Do a strategy in 6 weeks, be ready for the new year
- In a nutshell: Create a strategy, listen for influencers, engage them, convert them to your mission, and manage the performance of your strategy
- Balance is key. Find the sweet spot in the intersection between
- your unit’s goals
- the channels available (and emerging)
- the conversations going on out there
- Tools like Radian 6 and Watershed are good, but not great at capturing the tone of the conversation
Nyleva, Web Editor for the Office of Public Affairs asks the writer’s questions: who, what, when, where, why?
- Who’s talking?
- What are they saying?
- Where are the people, and the where are the conversations taking place?
- When do they occur?
- Why are people talking?
Brittany Paxman, a student of Paul’s had a lot of great practical advise.
- Make a list of influencers, bloggers using Google blog search and Technorati (which gives an influence ranking)
- Keep asking, “How can I become part of the conversation.”
- Subscribe to Goolge alerts and your influencer blogs with your RSS reader
- Likes Quantcast.com for unique visitor tally, Factiva (available through library) for mainstream media mentions
- Google tip: use “link:[URL]” to see referring sites
- Order of importance: Technorati, Visitors, Media mentions, Referrers
Jen Tisdale and Alicia Dietrich, Public Affairs reps for the Harry Ransom Center, created a campaign for their Poe exhibit “Poe Mania.”
- Began by targeting select media w/presspack teaser
- Scheduled daily reveals (automated ahead of time)
- 3 days of a Facebook add was cheap (~$400) and effective (fans increased by 1/3)
- 60% of the media they targeted ended up covering their event
- The click-throughs from Facebook and Twitter were about the same, 350 from each.
- Worked with local startup Social Agency’s tool Spreadfast. Liked it, continuing to use, partner.
Tim Hayden, CEO of GamePlan.
- “If you suck offline, you’re gonna suck online!”
- The audience isn’t just listening, they’re talking.
- The three screens: live, mobile, online (TV’s gone)
- Best to keep the cat in the bag: say “special guest” instead of “Mack Brown appearance”.
- Mobile SocNetworking: Foursquare, GoWalla (local Austin)
- 90% of word of mouth marketing takes place offline! – Keller-Fay
- Nothing, not TV, microwave, had been adopted as fast as social media
- This is a rising tide.
- There are no social media experts.
- Beware of mobile: the Web in your pocket or purse.
- It’s never too late to start your campaign.
- Formula: data > dialog, surprise, intrigue > ENGAGE: live, mobile, online > dialog, feedback, metrics, content
- Formula: Mobile devices + Online relationships = More happening OFFLINE!
Keene Haywood talked at lunch about what’s coming next.
- The Web is data driven, metadata organization
- Mobility and sensors are driving the Web. ie. Location (see Foursquare, Loopt)
- “The internet of things” is being realized. It’s not cyber, it’s REAL!
- Google’s iPhone app switches from text to voice input when you raise it to your ear. Cool!
- We’re just seeing the tip of the augmented reality iceberg. (ie. Layar overlays info on a location.)
- Online etiquette is a sign of a network’s maturity. Just look at the comments on Flickr v. YouTube.
- Google WAVE: program > platform > protocol. (you can embed in a post)
- Check out, watch out for: Yammer, Present.ly, Plaxo, Brizzly (cleaner Twitter)
Brooke Hovey, Managing Director of Cohn-Wolfe Digital, spoke about Facebook tips for fan pages.
- 40% of people on FB are fans of brands.
- Follow brands that are doing it well.
- Support your fans, be targeted (like gender or geography)
- Top Ten FB fanpage tips
- assign a dedicated, passionate mngr
- use tabs and apps
- use ads
- have a 2-3 conversation calendar
- read and respond to conversations, comments
- give em what they want: exclusive offers, info/entertainment
- contests (use 3rd party sites to get around new restrictions)
- photos: you and them, get them to submit
- create events and groups
- monitor FB Insights
David Cook and Dave Hosten talked about what to measure.
- Ask “So What?”
- By asking questions we establish a mindset > is our investment worth it?
- Understand what the data means and doesn’t mean.
Hi, Jason,
Thanks for this excellent report. I’ve just recently joined the Social Media Collective, so I missed this meeting. DIIA just had it’s first All-Staff meeting via Adobe Connect this morning, as soon as I get it together, I’ll post results/screen shots to the Collective.
Great work on the McCombs SM as well!
Best,
Claudia