2. National Capital Chapter
Social Media Tips and Success Stories
for PR Pros
May 10, 2012
Presented by the PRSA-NCC
Professional Development Committee
Live Tweet this event with #PRSANCC
3. Panelists
Cappy Surette, U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and
Surgery, @capster9
Chris Brooks, Manager, Hilton Worldwide, @Chrisobrooks
Julie A. Weckerlein, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, @julies_tweets or @hhsnewmedia
Gloria Huang, American Red Cross, @riaglo
Jennifer Mitchell, BRG Communications, @jenmitch or
@BRGLiving
Moderator – Debbie Friez, BurrellesLuce, @dfriez
Hashtag: #PRSANCC
4. Lever a ging Social Media
in Inter nal
Communication
Campaigns
May 2012
Captain Cappy Surette
Public Affairs Officer
U.S. Navy Medical Department
@capster9 @NavyMedicine
5. U.S. Navy Medicine
• $6 Billion global healthcare
network
• 63,000 people worldwide
• Healthcare to U.S. Navy, Marine
Corps, families & veterans.
• Expeditionary healthcare
on/above/under the water &
on battlefields worldwide
• Cornerstone of Soft Power
mission
7. "Social media is a powerful
communication tool when used
appropriately and in concert with
traditional channels. By using all our
communication assets together and for
a common purpose, we have the great
opportunity to communicate with
greater effect to a wider and more
diverse audience than we can through
use of traditional means alone."
8. Power of Internal
Communications
JFK to janitor
during 1960’s
NASA visit:
Kennedy : "And
what's your job?“
Janitor: "Mr.
President, I'm
helping to put
a man on the
moon."
9. Social Media Enhances Ability to
Communicate
• Increases sphere of influence (“cocktail party”
effect)
• Creates opportunities for employee
conversation in new areas
• Creates opportunity for employee
participation/collaboration
• Opportunity to find advocates
10. Adapt traditional internal tools
• Content can be many things, release, blogs,
quotes, tips, leadership events, etc.
• Traditional communications must still be
maintained (newsletter, etc) but breakdown
these products to smaller nuggets first and
aggregate later
• Blur lines between internal/external
• Get all the juice you can squeeze from your
content
14. Social Media Enabled Participation
• Increase in focus on issue highlighting Navy as
leading voice on topic of Synthetic drugs
• Feedback on Spice from Twitterverse
• Tips, support and feedback
• Requests to help share the word
17. Lessons Learned
• Social media is valuable when part of overall communications
• Social media empowers employees to participate
• Social media enables real time feedback
• It’s never too late to start your social media program
• Quality over Quantity (Start slowly)
• Authentic, credible, responsive voices legitimately humanize
bureaucracies
• You can’t control the sea of public opinion, but you can at least
navigate it
• Content is KING. Keep it coming.
36. Panelists
Julie A. Weckerlein, U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services,
@julies_tweets or @hhsnewmedia
Hashtag: #PRSANCC
37. ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE
How the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention breathed life into a dead topic
38. The Backstory
• Hurricane season was fast approaching.
• The content was already posted online
from previous hurricane seasons.
• The public affairs team wanted to reach
more people.
39. The Great Idea
• The PA team kept tabs on latest social
media trends.
• Realizing that “zombie apocalypse” was
trending worldwide, they decided to
connect their info to the current social
conversation.
40. Timing Is Everything
• Draft was approved on a Friday.
• The post was published Monday with
fingers crossed.
• Got a few hits and positive feedback
Tuesday.
• They tweeted the link on Wednesday.
Crashed the servers within minutes.
41.
42. The Results
• Although only $87 was spent, the
campaign achieved an estimated 3.6 billion
impressions and had an estimated
marketing value of $3.4 million. The
success of the initial blog post has spurred
many other products and partnerships,
allowing CDC to reach a broad section of
the population with an engaging and
important topic.
43. The Results
• This campaign increased awareness of
preparedness activities. The success of this
campaign demonstrates the importance of
listening to your audience and harnessing
the power of social media to deliver your
message globally
• Public Affairs team earned the HHS
Innovates Award from the Secretary of
Health.
44. The Lessons
• Content is key. Your content MUST be
engaging.
• Know your audience.
• Establish a strong, trusting relationship
with your leadership.
• Timing is everything.
• Don’t be afraid to take calculated risks.
46. G iv in g t h e P u b lic
a S eat at Our
Ta b l e :
Social Engagement as an
Agent of Organizational
Change
47. T h e F u n d a m e n t a l S h if t
Social sites are not another media channel
A fundamental shift in the way people
communicate
Changing expectations from the public
48. O u r S o c ia l E n g a g e m e n t
G o a ls
Carry out the organization’s mission online.
Give the public a seat at our operational table.
49. T h e S o c ia l E n g a g e m e n t
Te a m
3 person national social engagement team
Responsible for:
Devising and implementing social strategy on the
national level
Providing strategic support for chapters and lines of
business
Creating content for online audiences
Reading and responding to thousands of posts every
day
50. T h e R e d C r o s s S o c ia l
C o m m u n it y
Local chapters
Volunteers
Donors
Students
Enthusiasts
51. How do w e e mpow e r our
c o m m u n it y ?
Relationship building on
individual level
Helping make connections
Building tools to help them
share and mobilize
Social Engagement
Certification
Digital volunteerism
54. S o c ia l M e d ia B e c o m in g a n
In t e g r a l P a r t o f D is a s t e r
Re s pons e
Growing trend in U.S. and across the world in disasters to
use social media to seek help.
Survey finds more people using social media, mobile
technology and online news outlets in emergencies.
Trying to learn more about the disaster
Asking for help
Sharing information about well-being with family and friends
54
2
55. R e q u e s t s f r o m t h e p u b lic
( A l a b a m a T o r n a d o e s 2 0 11)
56. R e d C r o s s D ig it a l O p e r a t io n s
C e nte r
Visualizes information
from social sites
Coordination center for
social engagement
with the public during
disasters
Helps us better
manage data so it will
be useful for decision
makers
57. E n g a g in g d u r in g t h e M id w e s t
T o r n a d o e s 2 0 12
58. R e s u lt s a n d t h e P a t h
Forw a rd
Since Jan. 2010, we’ve increased our Twitter following from
30k to 689k. Facebook following has increased at a similar
rate.
Increase from roughly 400 mentions of Red Cross online a
day to 4,000.
Nearly 280 local chapters are active on Twitter.
Internal enthusiasm and interest has greatly increased.
20 trained staff members in various departments who can
use software to monitor, deal with day to day issues.
Established as leader in nonprofit sector when it comes to
using social engagement to change humanitarian services.
Committed to embracing social engagement at all levels
and using it to improve Red Cross services.
59. Th a n k yo u
G lo r ia
Hua ng
@ ia g lo
r
g lo r ia . h u a n g @ e d
r c
ro s s .o rg
62. Social Media Tips and Success
Stories for PR Pros
BRG Communications Case Studies:
Walmart and Pure Matters
63. About BRG Communications
About BRG:
Public Relations agency focused on safety, health and wellness. We believe in
communicating for better living.
Social media is a lot like Fight Club:
• First rule: You don’t talk about Fight Club
• Second rule: You don’t talk about Fight Club
Brands succeed when they engage with customers
in addition to promoting the brand
People still read the news; where news is read is
evolving
Social media is a new platform for
A
communication; not a replacement for ‘old’ C
platforms
Personal relationships are more important than ever; B
people do business with people
64. Walmart: Fighting Hunger Together Holiday
Giving Campaign
Objective:
Generate ongoing visibility for Walmart’s $2 billion commitment to fight hunger and
empower Americans to take actions together to fight hunger during the holiday season.
Facebook campaign:
Take the fight against hunger beyond an announcement
Activate the public to get involved
Create mass visibility about the issue of hunger in America
A
C
B
65. Walmart: Fighting Hunger Together Holiday
Giving Campaign
How the Facebook campaign
worked:
Facebook users were encouraged to vote
to help their community of choice to win a
$1 million (grand prize) for hunger relief
grants. Five runner up communities
received $100,000 each.
Didn’t need to be a Walmart Facebook fan
to vote
Chose from 100 communities with the
highest rates of food hardship
“Like” to vote A
Walmart encouraged participation via C
traditional media coverage, Facebook wall
posts and Tweets B
66. Walmart: Fighting Hunger Together Holiday
Giving Campaign
Results:
More than 10 million Facebook votes
Traditional media coverage
– More than 250 million media
impressions
– More than 3,500 placements in
national, local and print publications
Increased awareness about the
issue of hunger; positive
A
differentiation from other holiday C
giving initiatives B
67. Pure Matters: Facebook Engagement
Objective: Increase Facebook engagement
As one tactic to create brand awareness, Pure Matters has focused on increasing engagement
on Facebook. The short term goal for Pure Matters is to create brand awareness and buzz.
The long term goal is to increase traffic and conversion.
How:
Craft messages with EdgeRank in mind
– Encourage fans to communicate with the brand
– Consider the weight of each interaction
– Stay current A
Engage with fans in real-time C
B
68. Pure Matters: Facebook Engagement
1. Enable fans to interact with promotional content
– Example: “LIKE if you love this deal!”
2. Ask customers what they want to know
3. Provide customer service
– Respond within 24 hours
– Don’t forget to say thank you
4. Ask fans to do something
– Like
– Comment
– Share A
– Click C
Food for thought: You get what you ask for.
B
– If you ask fans to “like” they often will
– To increase “shares” ask them to share
70. Tips
Pair traditional public relations with social media
campaigns
– Pitch national media
– Pitch local media
– Consider drafting press releases and/or media alerts that teach fans
on to vote and share on social networks
Develop a social media release to accompany your
news release
– Written in English, not business-speak
– Includes some piece of information not contained in the news
release A
– Media rich: Images and videos C
– Links B
– Sharable
73. Meet the Assignment Editors
Thank you!
We’ll see you at “Pitching
Reporters on Twitter”
on June 12!
Editor's Notes
Navy Medicine is a thriving, global health care system fully engaged and integrated in providing high quality health care to beneficiaries in wartime and in peacetime. Our highly trained personnel deploy with Sailors and Marines worldwide - providing critical mission support aboard ship, in the air, under the sea and on the battlefield. At the same time, Navy Medicine's military and civilian health care professionals are providing care for uniformed services' family members and retirees at military treatment facilities around the globe. Every day, no matter what the environment, Navy Medicine is ready to care for those in need, providing world class care, anytime, anywhere.
Only difference now is you have to use social networks channels to help reach your audience where they are THIS IS POWERFUL!! Many employees want to be your advocate – give them the comtent that they can share with their family, friends and associates. People need to hear something 7 times before it sinks in. Content is king. You need to keep putting fresh information out in new an interesting ways. But ensure your messaging is clear, concise and present. The old adage of needing to know who you are trying to communicate with to what effect applies even in social media world. Remember, social media should only be viewed as yet another channel of communication. You just need to know how to speak the language and know the rules and etiquette.
Ensure you take these pieces of content you create and push them via all appropriate channels (old and new). Once you’ve created content for traditional means, repurpose it for social media by tweaking it as needed to make it credible in that sphere. It’s a bit cyclical. Write a newsletter piece, tweak it for social media as a blog post, tweet and FB it and then put into your daily clips package for added bounce again in front of your employees. (1 piece of content used for multiple channels for diverse audiences). Later aggregate many pieces of content and put them in the company newsletter. Than take the entire newsletter and share that as a piece of content on the web and promote it via Facebook or microblogs once again. Squeeze all the juice you can from a piece of content to maximize your manpower and resources.
SPICE is not a natural product but a “designer” drug manufactured under unknown processes and quality control. With a notable increase in reported emergency room visits nationwide for SPICE intoxication, these synthetic products have demonstrated that they are far more dangerous than marijuana . The key ingredients in spice are compounds that mimic the effects of THC in marijuana and are available for order online from factories in China. It’s not clear what’s exactly inside packets stamped with names like Happy Daze and Blue Majic as the Drug Enforcement Administration reports that there are no control systems on these products which are mostly produced by underground chemists. Manufacturers label the products “not for human consumption,” so they don’t have to list ingredients per FDA regulations. They can alter a drug’s chemical structure to any of more than a 100 permutations to get around new laws. People have no idea what they are putting into their bodies when they use these products. Users cannot assume the same effects from the same product the next time they use it. Thus, there is potential for overdose should a person use a particularly strong batch or a synthetic compound with particularly high potency. There are several key physical effects between real and synthetic marijuana. Unlike marijuana, the synthetic chemicals in spice-type products are more potent to the brain and other organs because they bind themselves more permanently to receptors and have had long term effects that have lasted a week or longer. I t has been estimated that Spice-like products are conceivably 5-200 times more potent than THC found in marijuana . Marijuana most often causes a calming effect with lowering of blood pressure and heart rate but Spice products produce the opposite effect by extremely elevating blood pressure and heart rates accompanied by extreme agitation and anxiety. Several episodes of heart damage, including heart attacks have also been reported. In fact, earlier this week a woman is Dallas told me via the Navy Medicine Twitter account that a 16-year old boy there died of a Spice induced heart attack. Other adverse physical symptoms that have been reported include difficulty breathing, vomiting, abdominal pain, and seizures. One of the most concerning differences is that Spice products may have a higher risk for psychosis, as they lack a naturally occurring substance (cannabidiol) found in marijuana that has anti-psychotic properties that counter the psychotic effects of THC in marijuana. Simply put, as we don’t know what underground chemists are putting in their products, people don’t know what they’re getting when they purchase it. As such, experimenting with Spice and other synthetic designer drugs is like playing a game of “Russian Roulette” with your physical and mental health.
Social media push has been good with some interesting feedback. The Navy is leading the communication efforts of communication the dangers of Spice. This is especially becoming evident in the social media sphere as we are starting to receive feedback and information from people around the nation thanking us for the information and sharing stories about the negative health impacts of Spice in their area. The conversation is ongoing and growing.
Tweet from twitter about DEA action leading to targeted navy times story that included quotes from recent Navy medicine blog Woman from Dallas Kids who have used it Doctor who graded our communication efforts
An employee oftentimes has more credibility with fellow employees in the trenches than leadership so if they advocate for you, it is more powerful - measurable Social media has helped us identify influencers inside the system that we would previously not have known about. If you demonstrate that you provide value (good content) in social media spheres, they will approach you and ask how they can help (participate) in telling the story ETSN Breedwell contacting me via Twitter to show his personal puppet movies than communicate a message and asked how he could help. A deck plate seaman would not normally contact a Navy Captain to show him his puppet movies but social media enabled this communication to good benefit. The movies has since been seen by CNO and the seaman has now made a movie that carries the water but in his own style which resonates more with his peers. Andy Baldwin - A long time influencer in social media worlds, he saw growing credibility of Navy Medicine’s presence and has been an advocate and PARTICIPANT in Navy medicine communications that has been mutually beneficial. (Different circles of influence) Dr. Kevin Bernstein – a social media influencer among young doctors saw our growing online social presence and approached us about doing a monthly blog which has become very successful. These types of folks continue to expand the credibility of our message with key audiences—many of which we would not normally be able to reach. Much like at a cocktail party, they have introduced us to their circles of friends and have vouched that we are credible thus expanding our sphere of influence. Our charter is to now maintain that trust by continuing to provide timely, credible and frequent quality content. You can get this content from many sources including what you’re already doing. Just adapt much of what you’re already doing for the social web to maximize your time and manpower in the content creation. Just squeeze all the juice you can from it. But what if I’m not interested in communicating with those outside of my organization? This is the price you pay for use of social media tools but it can greatly benefit you if your communications are credible as outsiders who support and advocate for you will only help solidify your message and intent inside your organization. When people outside the organization are reinforcing what you say, you have greater credibility inside your organizations as you are just a “Google search” away from being reinforced or shot down.
-Status Updates -Up to two updates per day
Leave some of these phrases at the door when you’re thinking about your social strategy: “send a blast out”, “leverage the audience”, “promote on this channel”. The key to doing social media well is to see it as a way to relate to people – whether they are customers, donors, employees, volunteers. The phrase “social media” sometimes makes us think that social platforms like Facebook or Twitter are media channels, like TV channels or radio stations. Social tools like Facebook, Twitter and blogs have helped bring about a fundamental shift in the way people expect to communicate with each other and with organizations like the Red Cross It is a way to deliver services, get feedback, and manage our reputation.
Explain the social philosophy.
We are the National Headquarters social engagement team. Our role is to devise and implement social strategy on the national level, while serving as a resource and providing strategic support for chapters and lines of business. We read and respond to thousands of Red Cross related mentions on social platforms every day. We create content for national American Red Cross social accounts and interact with online audiences and communities.
We want to empower all Red Crossers to use social tools to not only talk about what they do, but also to make connections with others on behalf of the organization.
When the Haiti Earthquake hit in 2010, we were at a point where we had been doing social engagement for about 4 years. Had the blog, disaster newsroom, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, everything. social SOPs for disasters (i.e. acknowledge across platforms, pledge to keep updating with info So we’d been through lots of disaster operations, so even though this one had many more eyes watching us, we didn’t do anything all that differently from the way we had been doing it. ONE BIG DIFFERENCE: we had been concentrating on getting our info out to the hungry public but we hadn’t made any plans for what to do with incoming social information. Haiti touched the hearts and lives of so many people, and there was a surge in our traffic, donations to our disaster relief, and connections from people who wanted Red Cross to help them. Will explain more in a minute.
Online now third, after TV and local radio most popular source of news in an emergency One in four would go online to seek help if unable to reach EMS More than 1/3 rd expect help to arrive in under an hour if asked via social site DomPrep survey in 2010 of disaster response practitioners and opinion leaders found that nine out of 10 respondents said they are not staffed to monitor social media applications and respond in a major event . Social media is not a surrogate for 9-1-1. Dialing 9-1-1 is still the best option when people need emergency help.
These are all requests for help that the Red Cross page on Facebook received in the aftermath of the devastating tornadoes that hit Alabama in April 2011.
Red Cross Digital Operations Center – four key points For one, it provides a single snapshot to DOC workers of what’s happening on the social web during a given disaster. 2, the technology powering these visualizations gives us a bigger picture of situational awareness 3, we can begin to anticipate the needs of an affected community, whether clients, donors, or others 4, it gives us the ability to decentralize – it doesn’t make much sense for the 3 of us to be the only ones engaging – so we will be teaching SMEs in the DOC to use the engagement console to engage themselves and we will be building our base of digital volunteers.
These are all screenshots of actual interactions that took place during the severe storms and tornadoes on April 14 th and 15 th , 2012. The social engagement team watched tweets from people in the areas affected by the band of storms and found opportunities to help people by offering mission critical information and emotional support.
Twitter following has increased from 30,000 to 689,000
Why social? Because it helps raise awareness about a real world problem
FOOD RESEARCH AND ACTION CENTER’S FOOD HARDSHIP REPORT
Walmart could have just given $ to these organizations, but by creating a campaign and encouraging votes they were able to create awareness about the issue of hunger.