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Presentation to the National Association for Interpretation Annual Workshop, presented 11/17/2012
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An Introduction to SocialMedia for Park Professionals
Nancy HeltmanVisitor Services ManagerSocial Media Evangelist
Staci MartinVisitor Services Specialist
Social Media Choir Member
Virginia State ParksDepartment of Conservation and Recreation
What we’ll cover
• Why bother with social media?• Get started – Pick the Channels that work for you
• Time saving techniques• Have a policy and use it
One Way Communication
Sender Receiver
Message
Noise
Two Way Communication
Sender Receiver
Message
Noise
Feedback
Social Media Communication
Once Upon a Time ….. (1996)
First there was the web
The internet expanded the public’s access to news, information, entertainment
Web 1.0, or web, refers to the first stage of the World Wide Web linking webpages with hyperlinks. (1993)
Wikipedia
Then there was Web 2.0
The public was empowered to comment on and share that content and their opinions of the content with their friends. Since 2004, Web 2.0 has been the term used to describe social web, especially the current business models of sites on the World Wide Web
Wikipedia
Social Media is all about sharing content and relating with your
fans.
Your fans share your content with their friends and it creates a new
dynamic to advertising.
Are you going? I’ll meet you there!What time does it start?
Do I need a ticket? I’ll tell my friends! Who wants to car pool?
Can’t go this time
Last time it started late
I bought shoes today
Are kids allowed? Wish I had a babysitter.
I’ll do it! How much do you pay?
I love Virginia State Parks
Social Media Revolution Video
Video: http://youtu.be/x0EnhXn5boM
In one minute…
• 100,000 tweets sent• 648,478 pieces of content shared on Facebook• 2 million search queries on Google• 48 hours of video uploaded to YouTube• 47,000 apps downloaded• 3,600 photos shared on Instagram• 571 new websites created• $272,000 spent online
Source: the socialskinny.com
By the numbers…
• 91% of adults use social media regularly• There are more devices connected to the internet than people on earth
• 8 new people come online every second• 61% research products/events online• Companies with blogs have 55% more website traffic than those without a blog
• 3.2 billion likes/comments are posted on Facebook everyday
Source: the socialskinny.com
• 65% of adult internet users now say they use a social networking site like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn.
• under age 30: 61% use social networking sites on a typical day.
• Ages 50-64, 32% use social networking sites on a typical day.
• The number of those using social networking sites has nearly doubled since 2008 and the population of SNS users has gotten older
• 75% of all American adults are active in some kind of voluntary group or organization and internet users are more likely than others to be active: 80% of internet users participate in groups, compared with 56% of non-internet users.
• Moreover, social media users are even more likely to be active: 82% of social network users and 85% of Twitter users are group participants.
• “One of the striking things in these data is how purposeful people are as they become active with groups.”
• “Many enjoy the social dimensions of involvement, but what they really want is to have impact. Most have felt proud of a group they belong to in the past year and just under half say they accomplished something they couldn’t have accomplished on their own.”
How to get started
1. What do you want to accomplish? Set goals.2. Start with the tools that best match those
goals.3. Poke around the social media sites on your
own.4. Find an evangelist or team.
What Channel?
• Blogging generates web traffic and gives you space to tell a story
• Statistics show that Facebook has the most interactions, but…as always..things are fluid and ever-changing.
• Average user spend 6 hours 30 mins on Facebook per month
• Average user spends 12 minutes on Google+ per month• Photos are worth 1,000 words• Tweets are short, sweet, on point, fast and easily shared.
Social Media Tools
• Blogs
CONTENT DRIVES THE CONVERSATION
Blogging Tips
• It’s not all about YOU – think about your audience
• Develop a schedule or calendar• Push blog to other Social Network Sites• Create a blogging personality• Blog about things not found on your website (Behind-the-scenes interviews with staff, A Day in the Life of a Maintenance Ranger, unique location in the park, trivia/facts about the park)
• Social Networking
• 92% of SNS users are on Facebook
On a given day: 15% of Facebook users update their status. 22% comment on another’s post or status. 20% comment on another user’s photos. 26% “Like” another user’s content. 10% send another user a private message
Profiles represent individuals and must be held under an individual name, while Pages allow an organization, business, celebrity, or band to maintain a professional presence on Facebook. You may only create Facebook Pages to represent real organizations of which you are an authorized representative.
Profile vs. Page
Page or Group?
Pages allow real organizations, businesses, celebrities and brands to communicate broadly with people who like them. Pages may only be created and managed by official representatives.
Groups provide a closed space for small groups of people to communicate about shared interests. Groups can be created by anyone.
Local, Regional or Nationwide
• Setting up individual Facebook page for each of your locations means that much more social media management and a fans spread over many pages
• Setting up regional or nationwide page means fans from all over might be inclined to go to different parks in your area and means your fans are concentrated in one place.
• Facebook may make this easier
Profile or Business Account
Business accounts are designed for individuals who only want to use the site to administer Pages and their ad campaigns. For this reason, business accounts do not have the same functionality as personal accounts. Business accounts have limited access to information on the site.
An individual with a business account can view all the Pages and Facebook Ads that they have created, however they will not be able to view the profiles of users on the site or other content on the site that does not live on the Pages they administer. In addition, business accounts cannot be found in search and cannot send or receive friend requests.
Facebook Tips• Provide what your users are interested in• Facebook is Visual – never post without a picture
• Frequency and timing of posts will be specific to your fans
• Multiple advertising opportunities for a small investment with great targeting
• Investigate Tools for creating tabs like heyo.com
Is Facebook Really Free?
• Micro Blogging
• 15% of online adults use Twitter 6/2012, (up from 8% in November 2010 and 13% 6/2011), 8% use Twitter on a typical day.
• 95% of Twitter users own a mobile phone, and half of these users access the service on their handheld device.
• African Americans and Latinos continue to have high rates of adoption of the service.
• 25% of online African Americans use Twitter at least occasionally, with 11% doing so on a typical day.
• Twitter use by internet users ages 25-34 has doubled since late 2010 (9% to 19%)
• Usage by ages 35-44 has also grown significantly (from 8% to 14%).
Twitter the allure of 140
characters
Twitter Tricks• Shoot for 120 characters• Use Hash Tags when they make sense• Share what interests your followers• Grow your followers by following the followers of Twitter accounts in your niche
• Following limitation• Refollow.com – free for non profits
New retweet – the original tweet shows in your feed even if you don’t follow the account.
Old retweet (also just ‘ or MT). Shows your followers you are sharing the content with them. Also gives you a chance to add comment.
ReTweets
• Picture Sharing
Flickr• Photo Sharing Site• Can also post short video• Tagging allows for easy search/sort for social media management and for viewers
• Can handle high resolution files• Free or subscription options• Many people can upload to one account
Virginia State Parks Flickr Page
VSP Flickr Site
Flickr Advice
• Train your staff on upload requirements and tagging protocol
• Keep your page public so anyone can view your pictures
• Allow other places to use your pictures with photo credit
• Buy a few cheap cameras so staff have them available while in the field
•Video Sharing
71% of online adults now use video-sharing sites
• Streaming
Time Saving Techniques
•Cross Posting•Desktop Applications
•Scheduling•Teamwork
Content posted to Blog
• Desktop Social Media Monitoring
• Scheduling Tools
Building a Team
• Reallocate existing marketing funds. You don’t need ‘new’ money.
• Hire interns• Assign current marketing team times when they manage the pages
• Use your existing volunteers and employees to help generate content—everyone has a story to tell
Social Media Policy
Comments and posts on our site• We in DCR's Virginia State Parks believe in transparency and engaging the public. Public comments made on our blogs and other social media portals are valuable. However, we reserve the right to restrict comments. We consider the following when restricting comments:
• Inappropriate, vulgar and offensive comments will be deleted. Parks are family friendly venues, and comments and posts must pertain to their users.
• Comments meant to belittle, demean or bully others will be deleted, as will personal attacks, hate speech and comments that promote, foster or perpetuate discrimination, inflammatory remarks and those that are spiteful or discourteous.
• Posts and comments that are spam or irrelevant to Virginia State Parks will be deleted. Our social media account administrators determine which comments, photos, videos, posts and other user-submitted content are inappropriate or offensive. Administrators also decide when to remove or disapprove user-submitted content pertaining to places and attractions outside Virginia State Parks or of no general interest to park visitors. Our admin team is the final arbiter on relevancy.
• We welcome criticism and the opportunity to address complaints in public forums. Continued comments regarding the same complaint or made on posts that are unrelated to the complaint's topic, however, will be deleted. We provide a forum for complaints, but complaints must pertain to the given post or blog.
Twitter Follow Policy
• We generally follow those who follow us on Twitter. We reserve the right to not follow accounts that seem to be for spamming, are not identified with an avatar, or have descriptions that aren't adequate for us to tell whether or not the account is family friendly.
• We won't follow those with lewd or inappropriate avatars. Accounts focused on topics irrelevant to Virginia State Parks or our mission may not be followed. For example, accounts with a description that implies ways to get more followers, forex currency trading, or get-rich-quick schemes, etc., would not be followed even if those with such accounts mention family and similar interest as well.
• Our decision on whether or not to follow a Twitter account is often based on limited information so those who feel we were wrong about not following them should send us a message.
• We also reserve the right to discontinue following those with accounts we deem to be not family friendly or in violation of the above criteria. We also may block accounts that "spam the timeline" or persist in sending us messages even though we are not following them.
Important Considerations
• Social media is all about being SOCIAL. That means your staff need to share content and interact.
• While most of the tools are free – you have to spend time adding content, monitoring, responding, SOCIALIZING
• Start with a plan. Coordinate branding with other media.
• Pick the social media sites that will have the most impact reaching your audiences
• Doing social media badly is worse than not doing it at all
When Complaints Happen
• Don’t hide them, respond quickly and professionally
• Try to take the conversation off line
• Use your policies when folks hijack your page
Social Media Will Kill• Source:
www.socialnomics.com• Used by permission from Erik
Qualmann
Video: http://youtu.be/Nwwq3l39lqk
