social media roundup/online engagement

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Social Media Roundup Online Engagement Connecting with an Online Audience

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This week's edition of the Social Media Roundup examines how to engage an online audience. Social media is more than just a sounding board for command messages and organization information, it's a social community. It's important to engage the population that follows your social media platforms. By starting a dialogue, asking for audience-submitted content and keeping social media posts light and fun, an organization can create a credible and dynamic social media presence.

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Social Media Roundup

Online EngagementConnecting with an Online Audience

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Social Media Roundup

Agenda

This week’s Social Media Roundup will take a look at how to engage online audiences, and how to keep them coming back.

• Introduction• Establish a dialogue• Ask for content• Keep it fun• Listen and learn

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Social Media Roundup

Talk to the audience, not at them Social media is more than just a

platform to push command messages, it’s a social community.

Platforms like Facebook and Twitter, help people bridge enormous geographical gaps to connect, talk and interact.

Using social media can be incredibly valuable to a communication strategy, but it needs to be more than just a sounding board for organization messages.

It’s important to use social media to facilitate the conversation, engage the population and keep people interested in what’s being discussed.

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Establishing a dialogueStarting the conversation and keeping it fresh

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Establishing a dialogue• Social media has taken water

cooler discussions online. Now instead of small conversations among friends and colleagues, social media allows for world-wide discussions.

• In order to harness the power of conversation, it’s important to facilitate discussions. Asking questions on social media platforms helps bring higher visibility to the conversation.

• While the conversation may not always be favorable to an organization, it’s important to be open to different opinions. Online discussions can spark change, inspire leaders and inform the public.

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Social Media Roundup

Establishing a dialogue Creating a conversation online

can be a simple as posting a question to Facebook or tweeting out a link.

It’s important to realize that soliciting individual experience can sometimes outweigh the power of simply distributing links and information.

Asking people to tell their stories allows others to learn from their experiences. Creating dialogues can empower an online community and connect people with similar stories.

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Asking for contentEmpower the audience

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Asking for content In addition to starting a dialogue,

one way to engage an audience is to ask them to submit content for social media platforms.

On the left is an example of how the Army’s Facebook site approached this year’s Army/Navy football game. The Online and Social media team asked for Army/Navy artwork, and then featured it on its Facebook site.

Appealing to the creative side of an online audience can provide fresh and unique content for a social media platform.

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Social Media Roundup

Asking for content The content of a Facebook

site, Twitter site, YouTube channel, Flickr photostream or official blog can be enhanced with audience-submitted material.

Audience-submitted content helps keep social media platforms fresh, but more importantly, it demonstrates a commitment to the audience.

An organization’s online credibility grows when an online community believes the organization is listening.

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Asking for content When soliciting content, it’s important to have an email address prepared to receive the content.

Do not authorize or advise online audiences to post photos, links or videos directly to the wall of the Facebook site.

While most audience members have the best intentions in mind, authorizing or advising an audience to post links, photos or videos can lead to spamming, and the posting of inappropriate photos and videos.

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Keeping it funPhoto naming, trivia and challenges

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Social Media Roundup

Keeping it fun One way to keep online audiences interested in an organization’s social media platforms is to keep the interaction light and fun.

It’s important to find new and interesting ways to engage an audience.

On the right is an example of the Army’s “Name the Photo” feature. The Army’s Facebook site asks the online community to name an untitled Photo of the Day. At the end of the day, the social media team renames the photo on Flickr.

New photo name

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Social Media Roundup

Keeping it fun Trivia and challenges are also a

good way to keep an online audience engaged.

Friendly competitions with sister units or organizations can lead to a spike in audience participation.

On the right, at the top, is an example of a trivia question asked on the Army’s Twitter page. And below that is a screenshot of a friendly competition where the Army challenged its followers to keep pace with the U.S. Marine Corps Facebook page.

While it’s encouraged to keep content light, never provide monetary prizes to an audience. Polling the audience is also strongly discouraged.

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Listening and learningReading comments and asking for audience feedback

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Listening and learning

While it’s important to engage an audience and let them lead the conversation, it’s equally as important to listen to what the audience is saying.

By watching the wall on a Facebook site, or by reading the comments on a blog post, social media managers can get a feel for what the online community wants to hear about.

Sometimes, it’s useful to talk to an audience directly. Ask for feedback and suggestions, and then act on that feedback.

A social media platform accomplishes very little if the online audience is not interested in what’s being said. Listening to an audience can mean the difference between maintaining a successful social media presence or an irrelevant one.

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Social Media Roundup

Summary• Encourage online audiences to participate in the conversation. Ask questions about

topics that matter, and don’t shy away from negative opinions. Social media is a great place for discussion, it’s important to be a part of the dialogue.

• Ask users to submit content. Audience-submitted content will keep a social media platform fresh while at the same time establish credibility for an organization. If an audience knows an organization is listening to them, they are more likely to keep coming back.

• Balance the fun with the medicine. It’s important to put out command messages and organizational information, but it’s also important to have fun from time to time. Don’t be afraid to have fun by posting interesting links or asking trivia questions.

• Listen to the online audience. Comments and wall posts can provide great insight into what the community is interested in. Asking how a site can be improved can enhance the effectiveness of a social media presence.

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Email:[email protected]

To review and download past editions of the Social Media Roundup, visit our Slideshare site at: http://www.slideshare.net/usarmysocialmedia

Contact information

Have questions? Please feel free to reach out to us at the Online and Social Media Division

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF PUBLIC AFFAIRSPENTAGON

12/8/2010