Session for How to Measure Social Media in Government, May 1, 2013
http://www.aliconferences.com/conf/measure_social_media_gov0413/index.htm
With social media use on the rise in government, communication efforts require an integrated approach. Supporting marketing efforts with social media messages is a big part of this integration.
Texas.gov, one of the 29 state portals under the NICUSA umbrella, has successfully used this strategy in its efforts to increase awareness and online adoption of the driver services offered on its website. Creating and following a plan that integrates social media and measuring the results of those efforts has helped to bolster the success of an advertising campaign aimed at increasing driver license and vehicle registration renewals.
In this presentation, you will hear how Texas.gov:
- Incorporated social media into their communication efforts
- Determined what to measure to receive the most accurate ROI
- Measured the effectiveness of their social media efforts
3. ROI of Social Media
29 states + 2 federal agencies
2 of the 10 most populous states
$22.5 billion securely processed
200 million transactions
7,500 applications
3,500 federal/state/local agencies
4. ROI of Social Media
Social Media ROI
Getting returns from well-crafted
messaging and marketing.
5. ROI of Social Media
Getting Started? Have a Plan.
• Set Goals.
• Craft Clear Policies.
• Engage > Listen > Monitor.
• Measure.
6. ROI of Social Media
Social Media Plan
10 Questions
Ten questions to get you well on your way.
Goals. Strategy. Tactics. Usage.
7. ROI of Social Media
Goals
1. What do you hope to achieve?
2. Do your goals make sense within
your overall organizational goals?
8. ROI of Social Media
Strategy
3. How will social media complement
your organizational strategy?
4. What types of content will you
provide?
5. What types of content will you solicit
from your community?
9. ROI of Social Media
Tactics
6. What are the steps you’ll take to
execute the strategy you just
outlined?
7. Who will be responsible for
executing the various parts of the
strategy?
10. ROI of Social Media
Usage
8. What tools will you use?
9. How will you develop the content?
10. How often will you update?
11. ROI of Social Media
Pro Tip: Set Achievable Goals
• Promote services
• Engage with constituents
• Provide customer service/support
• Achieve transparency
• Inform and be a news source
• Embrace creativity
12. ROI of Social Media
Pro Tip: What’s Your Mission?
• Don’t conflate strategy with tactics.
• A tool is not a strategy.
• Mission before tools!
14. ROI of Social Media
Provide Clear Rules
• What’s in bounds?
• What’s out of
bounds?
• Who to escalate
things to?
• Overall strategy
INTERNALLY — develop a document that tells employees:
www.texas.gov/en/about/Pages/social-media-policy.aspx
15. ROI of Social Media
Provide Clear Rules
• Be transparent
• Be accurate
• Be considerate
• Be generous
• Use disclaimers
• Respect copyright
• Reveal confidential
information
• Violate privacy
• Breach trademarks
DO DON’T
16. ROI of Social Media
http://socialmedia.policytool.net
17. ROI of Social Media
Provide Clear Rules
• Comment Policy
• Terms of
Participation
• External
Links/Third Party
EXTERNALLY — tell users what to expect and how to act.
18. ROI of Social Media
Follow the Leaders
• facebook.com/USArmy/info
• facebook.com/CDC
• www.whitehouse.gov/ofqtos
• www.nysenate.gov/legal
• newmedia.hhs.gov/standards/comment_policy.html
• www.epa.gov/irmpoli8/policies
• socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php?f=5
19. ROI of Social Media
K.I.S.S.
1. encourage participation
2. declare limited monitoring
3. define what is inappropriate
4. what happens to inappropriate content
5. acknowledgement
20. ROI of Social Media
Engagement
Where to start? Get to know your audience.
Give them what they want.
21. ROI of Social Media
What to Tweet?
• New or existing
services
• Important/timely news
or emergency updates
• Customer service or
helpful info
22. ROI of Social Media
What to post?
• Services you offer
• Helpful info
• Special events
• Photos + videos do well on
Facebook.
• News + local updates get
shared.
23. ROI of Social Media
People love videos!
• Get creative!
• Demonstrate services.
• Talk to constituents.
• Cross-post to other platforms to
reach a wider audience.
24. ROI of Social Media
What to upload?
• Community events
• Service demos
• PSAs
• Testimonials
• Commercials
25. ROI of Social Media
The first rule of Social
Media Club?
27. ROI of Social Media
Monitoring / Listening
Tracking what kind of content resonates.
Trend-spotting.
28. ROI of Social Media
Why listen?
• Gain a deeper perspective
• Find new insights
• Get new ideas
• Justify projects
• Inspire your teams
• Better understand trends
• Keep track of your “competition”
29. ROI of Social Media
Know where to listen.
Twitter Search
Alerts
Trends
$ $
30. ROI of Social Media
Pro Tip – Saved Searches
• Twitter allows
you to save
searches
• They carry over
to desktop and
mobile tools
• Quick way to
monitor
keywords or
follow an event
31. ROI of Social Media
“The hardest part of monitoring is
figuring out what to search for...that
usually takes a little trial and error
finding the best searches.”
Bob Spieldenner, Public Affairs Director with the Virginia Department of Emergency
Management
32. ROI of Social Media
Who should be listening?
• interns
• support staff
• PIOs
Define the team, divide duties, and give everyone the tools.
33. ROI of Social Media
Know how to listen.
• Agency or department name
• Relevant URLs, keywords, & #hashtags
• Campaigns, initiatives, events
• Public figures, leaders, or key stakeholders
• Critical issues
• Nicknames, abbreviations, or misspellings of
any of the above
Develop a stack of keywords and saved searches that include:
35. ROI of Social Media
Measuring Social Media Activity
• Exposure
How many people are you reaching?
• Engagement
How many people are you engaging?
• Influence
Is your content influencing the conversation?
36. ROI of Social Media
Measuring Exposure
• Track growth of followers as
percent of total followers
• Compare month to month
Tactics:
37. ROI of Social Media
Measuring Engagement
Track the number of people that click on links,
the number of messages retweeted, or hashtags
used.
Track the number of “likes,” the number of
comments and wall posts.
Track the number of comments on a video, the
number of times it was rated, and the number of
new subscribers to your channel.
Tactics:
38. ROI of Social Media
Measuring Influence
• Track the “sentiment” of comments, mentions,
shares — “ugh” vs. “awesome”
• Rate each engagement as positive, negative,
or neutral in tone. Assess.
• Watch influential community members and
see if they are engaging in or reposting your
information.
Tactics:
39. ROI of Social Media
Tools of the Trade
• TweetReach
• Google Analytics
• Facebook Insights
• Radian6 $$$
• Sysomos $$
• Scout Labs $
41. ROI of Social Media
Return on
Engagement
Time and investment spent participating or interacting
with social communities, and in turn, what transpired
that’s worthy of measurement.
http://socialmediatoday.com/index.php?q=SMC/176801
42. ROI of Social Media
Quality > Quantity
• Status measurements alone
(Fans, Followers, etc.) don’t tell
the right story
• The Case of 4,000 Twitter
Followers Who Don’t Care
43. ROI of Social Media
A Framework for
Measuring Social Media
• Attention. The amount of traffic to your content for a given
period of time. Similar to the standard web metrics of site
visits and page/video views.
• Participation. The extent to which users engage with your
content in a channel. Think blog comments, Facebook wall
posts, YouTube ratings, or Twitter mentions.
• Authority. The inbound links to your content – what users
are linking to a blog post, video, or other URLs.
• Influence. The size of the user base subscribed to your
content. For blogs, feed or email subscribers; followers on
Twitter; or fans of your Facebook page.
http://j.mp/measuring-framework
44. ROI of Social Media
A Framework for
Measuring Social Media
• Attention. The amount of traffic to your content for a given
period of time. Similar to the standard web metrics of site
visits and page/video views.
• Participation. The extent to which users engage with your
content in a channel. Think blog comments, Facebook wall
posts, YouTube ratings, or Twitter mentions.
• Authority. The inbound links to your content – what users
are linking to a blog post, video, or other URLs.
• Influence. The size of the user base subscribed to your
content. For blogs, feed or email subscribers; followers on
Twitter; or fans of your Facebook page.
http://j.mp/measuring-framework
46. ROI of Social Media
Texas.gov
Key Components
• Integrated approach
Ad campaign Texas.gov/Driver
Press release Social media
• Be more social
• Editorial calendar
• Leverage each platform appropriately
• Measure results
47. ROI of Social Media
Integrated Approach
2300visits/day
Up >1k visits/day vs 2011
Texas.gov/Driver landing page
Average
conversion rate
in 2013 is 60+%
2012 – 35%
2011 – 14%
Link to demo videos on
YouTube
48. ROI of Social Media
Social media
• Press release
distribution
• Media pitch call-to-action
• Commercials
on YouTube
Integrated Approach
49. ROI of Social Media
Ongoing application
promotion
Listen & respond
Have fun
Be Social
50. ROI of Social Media
Provides direction
Application
seasonality
Other
considerations
Editorial Calendar
51. ROI of Social Media
Measure Results
Exposure
• Interaction with Texas.gov
• Increase in followers
• “ShareIt”
Action
• Clicks and conversions
52. ROI of Social Media
1818clicks
(Facebook/Twitter)
13transactions
187click-throughs to
Texas.gov apps
284original posts
60
Share-Its
5172followers
up 40% over 2011
Measure Results
53. ROI of Social Media
Measure Results
Texas.gov/Driver Link Clicks Transactions
Conversion
Rate
Driver License Renewal (Quick Links) 52,031 20,381 39%
Driver License / ID Card Renewal 90,010 30,018 33%
Driver License Address Change 18,087 6,025 33%
Driver Records 97,511 18,956 19%
Driver License Reinstatement & Status 186,573 5,149 3%
Vehicle Registration Renewal 21,097 Not available N/A
Referrals from
/Driver = 80,529
transactions
Average conversion
rate for target services
is
35%...
up from 14% in 2011
Texas.gov Conversions: Jan-Dec 2012
54. ROI of Social Media
Here to help!
Hillary Hartley
hillary@egov.com
415-573-2487
@hillary
Notas del editor
We’re doing business in 33 states -- running 29 state portals, including 2 of the 10 most populous states -- Texas & Pennsylvania.
The transaction numbers are double what they were just two years ago. Adoption of online services continues to rise year after year.
Be specific.
PolicyTool is a 12-question wizard that spits out an internal social media policy for your employees. In a word, it’s awesome.
Click— In case you can’t read that URL, it’s...
My two cents: develop more strategy than policy. A twenty-page policy doc will be outdated by the time it's completed and approved. Instead, create "Terms of Participation" and focus on specific unwanted behavior.
Bottom line: policy is no longer sidelined and there are many great examples to follow. The last link is an online database of social media policies.
The New York Senate’s Terms of Participation document is basically five paragraphs.
1. we encourage you to participate and contribute
2. all posts are subject to limited monitoring
3. this is what’s inappropriate
4. this is what will happen to inappropriate content
5. acknowledgement that by participating you agree to these terms
There are many topics to choose from when composing a tweet. For example, you can use twitter as a way to promote your services (as you can see here, the Travis County Tax Assessor regularly tweets when the vehicle registration renewal deadline is approaching. You can also inform the public of local news or emergency updates by posting links to the full story, or even to address customers most frequently asked questions.You can also tweet about special events, your agency’s press releases, relevant news stories, and awards or recognition that your agency may have received.
Listening is a catalyst. It can feed your efforts.
Listening can help attract followers and stimulate conversation. Helps diffuse frustrations by being able to identify the issue and respond.
Notice “competition” in quotes. You probably don’t have competition in the corporate sense of the word, but in this realm the rest of government is your competition. Use social media to see how your initiatives, websites, or online services are stacking up.
Demographics, popular topics, keywords, events, other agencies/organizations
Listen and analyze before jumping in with new content.
You can google around for calculations and equations that might turn all of those measurements into a usable ROI dollar amount. But I think for most government organizations, a better use of time is to take all those measurements and consider it your “Return on Engagement.”
The important x-factor when looking at all these numbers is sentiment. The “ugh”s versus the “awesome”s.
The important x-factor when looking at all these numbers is sentiment. The “ugh”s versus the “awesome”s.
With the ultimate goals of increasing transactions and building brand awareness, Texas.gov uses an integrated approach in its marketing efforts. What does that mean? For every strategic goal we’ve set, we try to tap into all of our marketing channels to ensure success. An example of that is our advertising campaign which we use primarily to increase driver-related transactions. Social media is a big part of that integrated approach.
We use an editorial Calendar to keep us on track and help us in our efforts to be more social
We’re still learning about when to use which platform and how to best utilize each platform
Twitter – Quick short way to broadcast a message widely
Facebook – Can go a little more in depth, but still have to keep it short and sweet
LinkedIn – Our platform for reaching out to current and potential partners
YouTube – Increasingly popular; use for a variety of purposes – demos, webinars, ad campaign commercials
Pinterest – Fun way to connect with citizens
To talk about ROI or ROE , I’ll use our advertising campaign as an example.
Our ad campaign focused on driver services (primarily our top two revenue producers – DLR & VRR)
Consists of interactive banner ads and video commercials aired on TV and Hulu
Equally important is our supplemental promotion:
Driver landing page (having a centralized page helps us funnel traffic and enable us to measure traffic from ads)
Press releases
Additional driver services are promoted
Links are tagged with GA (if they are one of our applications) or Bitly (if we don’t host the application) to measure
Include a “Tweet This” call to action
Social media
Press release messaging
Promote applications themselves
Videos added to YouTube channel
Measuring success
Press releases – Links are tagged using GA (if we host the application) or Bitly (if we don’t host the application). We can measure:
Clicks on the links
Conversions (for hosted applications)
Social media messages – tagged links
Clicks on the links
Conversions
Videos
Views
Equally important is our supplemental promotion:
Driver landing page (having a centralized page helps us funnel traffic and enable us to measure traffic from ads)
Links to demo videos on our YouTube channel
We use SM platforms to promote our advertising campaign, i.e. driver services
Press release distribution via SM – General tweet about press release; tweet directly to bloggers and post about it on FB and LI
Media pitch – include “Tweet This” call to action
Upload the commercials to our YouTube channel
We promote services other than our driver-related ones
We try to humanize our sm messaging by adding photos and by including some fun, non-application related messages
Listen to SM conversation
Respond to opportunities to promote
Examples of the dialogue we’ve had with followers