04 brian giesen pandemic flu case

A C T I V A T E • D E M O N S T R A T E • P A R T I C I P A T E

Social Media for GovernmentHow To Make Communication Contagious:

Blogging To Get Your Message Across

Agenda

• Pandemic Flu Blog Case

• 7 Gov 2.0 Lessons

• 4 Great Examples

• 1 Secret Weapon

Campaign Objective

Develop a public education campaign to increase knowledge of pandemic influenza among key audiences so they can take steps to protect themselves, their families and their

communities before, during and after a pandemic.

Social Media Research

• Created a “Conversation Map” about Pandemic Flu– Volume of conversation– Topics being discussed– Tone of the discussion

• What Did We Find?

The Flubies

Our Research

• The digital landscape of pandemic flu is known as “flublogia,” and the people who diligently contribute to and lead conversations are known as “flubies.”

• Flubies are deeply passionate about pandemic flu and address the issue from both scientific and non-scientific perspectives.

• Flubies often cross-reference each other and share information.

• Because they didn’t feel government was ready for a pandemic flu, flubies were often critical of government efforts in the area of preparedness.

Flu Wiki

WIKI

• Flu Wiki is one of the most influential resources on pandemic flu, with referrals from most pan flu resources and mainstream media.

• It boasts a prominent preparedness section on individual and community needs, as well as workplace continuity. Topics include anticipated problems, fictional scenarios, speculative models and preparedness guides.

• Flu Wiki ranks highly in Google search results for “pandemic preparedness” and “avian flu.”

www.fluwikie.com

Insights & Data Points• 13,300 inbound links

• 10,734 monthly visits

• Flu Wiki is home to the FluWiki Forum

• Flu Wiki’s main editor is Greg Dworkin, a.k.a “DemFromCT,” the most prevalent pandemic flu blogger on DailyKos.

Daily Kos

BLOG

• 404 posts about pandemic flu– 10 – 420 comments per post.

• Topics of discussion include public health, budget, risk communication and health care.

• Posts & comments are often written with skepticism and criticism towards the government’s approach to preparedness.

www.dailykos.com

Insights & Data Points• Daily Kos is ranked as the 12th most popular, influential blog in the world.

•Most posts about pandemic preparedness are by Greg Dworkin, a.k.a. “DemFromCT.” Greg is also the editor of FluWiki.com.

FluTrackers.com

MESSAGE BOARD

• Preparedness comprises 15% of discussion threads and 9% of posts.

• Government preparations comprise 71% of conversations related to preparedness (1,393 threads).

• Preparedness is also emphasized for individuals, families, and small business, including nonprofits (566 threads).

www.flutrackers.com

Insights & Data Points• 30 forums | 12,447 threads | 65,961 posts

• 1,279 members

• 5,690 inbound links

• Over 2,450 monthly visitors

Insights -> Action

Applying Insights

• “Inside the Beltway” Leadership Forum about pandemic flu preparedness in Washington

• Communicated that the government is willing to have an open and honest conversation about the issue of pandemic flu.

• Opportunity to engage a captive audience (the Flubies) and others who are talking about Pandemic Flu online

Blog Summit

• Five week Blog Summit from May 22 – June 27, 2007

• Group blog featured 15 bloggers representing influential voices within the field of pandemic flu:

– Health– Business– Community– Faith-based

• Each week, the participating bloggers were given a specific question to answer.

• Comments were allowed, but were moderated, with criteria for unacceptable comments clearly stated.

Blog Summit

• Promoted awareness of the Blog Summit through outreach to the “influencers” identified through an Influencer Audit, search engine marketing and traditional media relations.

– Pandemic Influencers: those already discussing pandemic flu - and in some cases, preparedness - within social media.

– Sector-Specific Influencers: online influencers in the health,

business, community, and faith-based sectors

Determining Influence

• Blogs– Number of inbound links– Frequency and timeliness of

posts– Number of comments– Affiliation of author– Traffic– RSS feed subscriptions

• Videos/Photos– Number of views– Number of comments– Ratings/peer assessment

• Directories (Information Portals)– Traffic– Affiliation– Breadth of coverage– Number of inbound links

• Web Sites– Number of inbound links– Traffic– Breadth of coverage– Affiliation

• Social Networks/Message Boards– Number of members/users– Number of groups/threads– Frequency and number of posts– Traffic– Affiliation– Credibility/Transparency– RSS feed subscriptions

• Wikis– Number of members/users– Breadth of coverage– Affiliation– Number of inbound links

Site visits = 39,162 (6 continents, 113 countries, 50 states); Page views = 132,619; Inbound links = 344 links (from 110 blogs), 811 RSS subscriptions

3,000+ Comments! Less than a dozen could not be published.

flutracker Says: Sec. Leavitt: Thank you to you and the HHS and the Ogilvy staff for this blog. It has been interesting and enlightening. I hope HHS and other federal and state agencies and legislators will take from this experiment the idea that direct communication with the citizens in this manner works well and benefits everyone involved.

Goju Says: Mr Secretary,The WHO labs are withholding the sequences from the world’s scientists. We respectfully request that these samples - all of them - are released allowing for many more studies and possible solutions to the problem at hand.

http://secretarysblog.hhs.gov/

Lessons Learned

•Find & Engage People Who Are Influential– Is there already a captive audience?– Give them a role (flublogia) to participate

•Commenting Guidelines Can Protect You– Set expectations & clearly state the goal– Otherwise visitors could get the wrong idea

•Set Expectations for Participating Bloggers– Clarify how often people should post, respond to

comments– Be ready to provide technical assistance

• Remember it takes time to do all of this!

7 Learnings From Obama for America

What You Can Do:

1.Write Web copy around words people are entering into search engines

2.Develop a social media strategy to get people talking (and linking!) to you online

3.Supplement with paid keyword marketing (e.g., Google AdWords)

Lesson #1:Own Search Engine Results

www.google.com/insights/search

www.google.com.au/grants

Lesson #2:Build a Social Media Team

What You Can Do:

1.Identify a social media champion in your organization

2.Embed them and social media in all strategic planning

3.Setup an internal training program to build capacity and understanding

Lesson #3:Create a Presence Off the .GOV Domain

What You Can Do:

• Listen. Map where your audiences are online and what they’re saying about:

– You

– Topics that matter

– Competitors

• Plan. Create an audit of influencers – those people who are driving the conversation – who are most likely to be supportive

• Engage. Develop a strategy for getting those influencers to start talking about your organization

Lesson #5:Be Fast, Nimble & Willing to Try New Things

What You Can Do:

• Adopt the iterative, faster approach that’s required to succeed in a Web 2.0 world:

– New sites go up online in hours/days

– New content goes up in minutes

• Establish benchmarks for success online at the beginning of the program

– Define crisp, clear measurement criteria

– Evaluate success based not only on reach – but preference, and action.

MyBarackObama.com

Lesson #6:Offer a Ladder of Engagement to Your Audience

E-Newsletter

Donate

Join a Community

Attend an Event

Create Content

Knock on Doors

Lead a GroupWhat you Can Do:

• Offer multiple ways to connect:

– Signing up for an email newsletter

– Sign up to be a Facebook fan or group member

– Attending offline events

• Create Buzz Kits that provide the tools for talking to their friends and peers:

– Badges/buttons for posting on social networking sites

– Micro-contests for individual blogs

• Offer Social Capital:– Invite bloggers for roundtables

– Share “insider” or “sneak peak” information with influencers

– Invite bloggers to be part of an advisory panel where they can give feedback

Lesson #7:Find Influencers & Make Them Fans

What You Can Do:

• Don’t be afraid to invite people in for conversation!

– Host blogger breakfasts or weekend events

– Outreach to existing fan enthusiast sites and schedule chat sessions with relevant experts

• Embrace your stakeholders – and allow those who aren’t close to continue.

4 Examples of the Lessons in Action

www.cdc.gov/socialmedia

www.epa.gov/pick5

Google: “Air Force Commenting”

@CDCHep

1 Secret Weapon to Stay Smart

Secret Weapon:www.thedailyinfluence.com

THANK YOU!

Brian Giesen

Director | 360° Digital InfluenceOgilvy Public Relations Worldwide

p 61 2 8281 3853e brian.giesen@ogilvy.com.au

@bdgiesen