+ how social is your web site? getting started with social media optimization and metrics
TRANSCRIPT
+
How Social is Your Web Site? Getting Started with Social Media Optimization and Metrics
+Darlene FichterUniversity of [email protected]
www.twitter.com/fichter
www.facebook.com/people/Darlene-Fichter/122200386
Jeff WisniewskiUniversity of Pittsburghhttp://profile.to/jeffwisniewski/[email protected]
+Game Plan
Why be social?
Social Media Optimization (SMO)
Developing your Social Media Plan
Measuring success
Photo by computerjoe
+Why Be Social?
‘cause everyone else is doing it and talking about it at conferences and stuff…
‘cause kids think it’s cool
‘cause my boss told me to
‘cause my boss told me NOT to
+Why Be Social?
Social media provides innovative ways for libraries to connect with users we may never see face to face
To encourage, promote, innovate, learn, adapt
To discover and deliver what users want
To improve customer service
To “market” without marketing
Photo by Riot Jane
+Why Be Social?
Your Google page rank is influenced by it
People are anxious to interact with you online
85% of Americans using social media think companies should have an active presence in the social media environment. What's even more interesting is that those users actually want the companies to interact with them while there. http://www.coneinc.com/content1182
+
Over a third of respondents also said they used Facebook to discuss academic work with other students on a weekly basis, and more than half responded positively to the idea of using Facebook for more formal teaching and learning – although only 7% had actually done so.
“Facebook is 'social glue' for university freshers”
http://www.physorg.com/news143200776.html
+Primary Obstacles
Staffing constraints
Fear of loss of control
Inadequate metrics
Organizational culture (membership)
Photo by pigpogm
+Social Media Optimization (SMO)
SMO is the process of implementing changes to optimize a site so that it is more easily linked to, more highly visible in social media searches on custom search engines (such as Technorati), and more frequently included in relevant posts on blogs, podcasts and vlogs.
-Rohit Bhargava, Influential Marketing Blog
+Increase Your Linkability
Write great content online which will force others, in one way or another, to take notice and link back to you. Blog posts Original content Doing things remarkably
Give to get: link to great outside content Pay it forward
+Make Tagging and Bookmarking Easy
http://addthis.com
+Make Your Content Movable and Mixable Create concise, well written, fresh content
Use portable formats:P
DF, video files, audio files
Add social bookmark links
Tag your own pages on delicious and other social bookmark sites
+Examples
Specialized book lists
Subject resources guides
Topical guides (copyright, foreclosure law, genealogy research)
Staff reviews of books, videos
Information literacy tutorials
Story hour videos
+Encourage User-Generated Content
Denver Public Library has a YouTube contest
Gail Borden Public Library's Storypalooza
Next gen OPACs that allow for tagging rating, reviewing, sharing
+Exercise
Does your site have any original, “link worthy” content?
If so, how visible, movable, or re-mixable is it?
+Encourage the Mashup
Open up your web content: catalog, repositories, digital archives
RSSify your content http://profy.com/2007/09/30/7-tools-to-make-an-rss-feed-of-any
-website/
+Participate: Join the Conversation Wherever Your Users Are
Social media should be a two-way conversation:
Blog and enable comments
Create Facebook/Myspace pages and encourage feedback
Upload photos to Flickr and allow comments
Mention active community members
+Be Honest, Be Real and Be Friendly
Social media requires:
Authenticity
Openness
Transparency
Giving up control to a certain extent
Putting out the welcome mat
Be these things online AND offlineBe these things online AND offline
+Developing a Social Media Plan
1. SMART Objective(s)
2. Target Audience
3. Integration
4. Culture Change
5. Capacity
6. Tools and Tactics
7. Measurement
+SMART Objectives
What do you want to accomplish with social media?
Restate this objective so it is “SMART” – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-based
Describe how your social media objective supports or links to one or more of your organization’s goals
+Increase Traffic
Why?
Are you trying to create awareness of your products and services?
Do you want to enhance your library's brand online?
Do you want to foster and develop stronger ties with the community as a whole or a sector of your community, leading to increased participation?
+Examples
Listen and Learn: You're monitoring what stakeholders are saying about your organization, services or programs
Build Relationships: You’re interacting with key audiences on the social media channel in order to foster and develop stronger ties with the community as a whole or a sector of your community.
Improve Reputation: You want to improve how others think about your organization or issue and are responding directly to feedback through social media channels.
Increase Traffic and Page Rankings: You're using social media tactics to drive traffic to your organization's site or improving search engine results or using social media channels to spread your content.
+Exercise
Answer the following:
What do you want to accomplish with social media?
Make sure your objective is “SMART” – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic,
and Time-based
+Target Audience
Who must you reach with your social media efforts to meet your objective? Why this target group?
What social media tools are they currently using?
Determine type of relationship you want based on what they’re ready for and where they are
+
http://business.rapleaf.com/company_press_2008_07_29.html
+
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/275/report_display.asp
+Social Technographics
http://www.forrester.com/Groundswell/profile_tool.html
+
+Blogging
73% of people read blogs worldwide
184 million people blog worldwide
34% post opinions about brands
36% think more positively about companies that have blogs
+TIP: Common Blogging Mistakes
Writing for PhDs (ie. Using big words)
Making the post too long (over 800 words)
Hard selling
Repackaging info
Not including facts
Using full paragraph format
Not using or numbering lists
Photo by net_efekt
+Podcasts
2009 audience: 38 million
By 2012 projected audience: 65 million
Age
18-29 = 27%
30-49 = 20%
50-64 = 15%
65+ = 8%
Source: eMarketer
+YouTube
100 million streamed videos viewed each day
65,000 new clips uploaded per day
13 million unique visitors per month
Average user spends 30 minutes
58% of videos are watched on YouTube
Largest demographic is 18- 35 year olds
Source: Startup Review
+Flickr
Over 2 billion images as of Nov. 2008
3 – 5 million photos are uploaded daily
Visitors, no college education: 44%
Households with children aged 6-17: 66%
Average Age:18-24: 18%25-34: 23%35-44: 21%45-54: 19%55-64: 13%65+: 7%
+Exercise
Who are you trying to reach with social media? Which tools do you think would
be most successful in reaching this audience?
+Integration
What is the relationship between your social media efforts and the offline activity of your organization?
Is what’s happening offline supporting or undermining your social media efforts?
+Exercise
Identify one offline activity that is supportive of your social media objectives, and one that is not supportive of them.
1. Decide how to tie the supportive activity to your social media endeavors.
2. Decide how you might address the obstacle.
+Culture Change
Once you have an initial strategy, how do you get your organization to own it?
How will you address any fears or concerns?
How quickly can your organization change and adapt?
Photo by kevindooley
+Culture Change: Common Concerns
Loss of control over your organization's branding and marketing messages
Dealing with negative comments
Addressing personality versus organizational voice
Not being successful, fear of failure
Perception of wasted time and resources
+SM Requirements
Authenticity
Openness
Transparency
Giving up control to a certain extent
Sense of humor (optional but highly desirable)
Photo by Phong Nyugen
+Tips for Selling SM
Show examples of successful SM in other libraries
Be honest about the positives and negatives
Have a plan
Manage expectations
Mention that’s it’s free
Establish policies
+Exercise
Do you think your organization is culturally ready for social media? Why or why not?
Which concerns about social media are most likely to resonate? How might you address them?
+Capacity
Who will implement your organization’s social media strategy?
Will your content updates depend on any other resource or person?
Do you need additional tools, expertise or software to get started?
+Your Social Media Person/People Should Be:
Comfortable using the tools
Informed and passionate about your organization's programs
Should enjoy interacting with other people
+Exercise
1. Do you need any additional tools, expertise, personnel to implement your social media strategy? If so, identify source(s) for these.
2. Identify a person/people who would be ideal candidates for your social media team
+Tools and Tactics
What tactics and tools best support your objectives and match your targeted audience?
What tactics and tools do you have the capacity to implement?
+Tools and Tactics: Four Broad Tactical Approaches
1. Listen Beginners start here! Use what you hear to inform decision-
making
2. Participate Engage in conversation via blogging, twittering
3. Share Your Story Blogging, podcasting, YouTube, Flickr
4. Build Community Online communities for knowledge or skill sharing: Ning,
Facebook, My Space
+Exercise
Which broad tactical approach do you think is best suited for your
organization, and why?
+Measurement
+Gosh, This is Hard!
Prospero's Social Media Survey asked large corporations about their social media return on investment (ROI), and while 35% reported positive ROI 41% said that ROI was “unknown”.
+What You’re Not Measuring…
Friendship
Happiness
Karma
Enlightenment
Girl power
+Measurement
Quantitative
Qualitative
+Exercise
Briefly note the assessment efforts at your organization currently under way. What tools are used?
Is social media measurement any part of these efforts?
+What You Are Measuring…
The “Trinity Approach”*
Behavior
Outcome
Experience
*developed by Vinash Kaushik
http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2006/08/trinity-a-mindset-strategic-approach.html
+Behavior
The “what”
Quantitative Number of blog posts Number of Facebook friends/fans Views/visits
+Outcome
The “tangible benefit” of your social media activity
Higher satisfaction
Fewer help desk calls
More searches
Increase in funding
+
+Experience
Put on your listening ears!
ListenEngage
ConverseTake action
+The Experience Metric
Experience can be measured and evaluated:
Stars, scars, or neutral?
You LIKE You LIKE me, you me, you
REALLY like REALLY like me!me!
+Five Things to Get Started
Monitor general search engine results
Monitor social media search engine results
Create alerts
Analytics: Google and Clicky
Assess the nature and sentiment of activity
1111
2222
3333
4444
5555
+
+Monitor Search Engine Results
Use Google: best job of the big three search engines in indexing and integrating social media sources like blog posts, videos, and Flickr photo sets
1111
TIP: In addition to including social media, other ways to boost your page rank include using good descriptive page titles and
properly using HTML heading tags <h1>, <h2>, <h3>
+Google Results – Hennepin County Public Library
+
+
+Monitor Social Media Search
Engine Results
Why?
Used by high value, highly connected, highly influential userso Pays great dividends if they are fans of the library
Choose the specific social media search engines that match your media efforts
2222
+Technorati
For blogs and feeds
Authority score: the number of distinct blogs linking to you in the past six months, favorites (i.e. your fans) and your blog's rank (Quantitative)
Qualitative: Which blogs are linking to you? Are they blogs that your target audience reads and respects? Are readers able to see the blogger as someone "who is like me"?
technorati.com
+delicious
Is your content bookmark-worthy?
Use delicious built-in statistics to monitor links to your content, tags and notes.
Go to delicious, search for your library, project, or service, and see how many people have bookmarked it (quantitative), when, and see what if any comments have been posted (qualitative).
delicious.com
+
Do you show up? How often?
A search for Seattle library, for example, returns 31 tweets, many among them are "stars".
Advanced search features a local search option: find book sale near "place name" or DVD near "place name".
twitter.com
+ Create alerts
Check standard web logs for refers from search engines. What terms do people use?
Set up a Google Alert
Use quotes “
University of Pittsburgh” library
Pitt library
Choose “comprehensive” to get results from news, blogs, web, video and groups
Be notified “as it happens” or daily digest
3333
+ Google Analytics and Clicky for Social Media
Google Analytics - Create conversion funnel to measure a social media action chain
Look at referrers.
Are users coming to your site from social media sites where you have some sort of presence? Does this change over time?
Clicky’s dashboard reports social media traffic by aggregating referrers from 20+ social media sites
4444
www.google.com/analytics/ getclicky.com
+Clicky Chart
+ Assess the Nature and Sentiment
What is the strength and tone of the social media activity? “deep” commenting vs. superficial users staying vs. bouncing quickly Repeat commenters vs. drive bys
5555
Photo by Funkyah
+Questions? Discussion?
+
THANK YOUTHANK YOU