DEVELOPING ASOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

Andrew Chavez (@adchavez)Texas Center for Community Journalism (@tccj)

WHY BOTHER?

PEOPLE USE THEM

65% of teen Internet users

35% of adult Internet usersSource: Pew Internet & American Life Project

THEY’RE GROWING = MORE PEOPLE

Feb-

09

Mar

-09

Apr-0

9

May

-09

Jun-

09

Jul-0

9

Aug-

09

Sep-

09

Oct-0

9

Nov-0

9

Dec-0

9

Jan-

10

Feb-

1070000000

80000000

90000000

100000000

110000000

120000000

130000000

140000000

Unique Visitors to Facebook.com

Source: Compete

THEY’RE GROWING = MORE PEOPLE

Feb-

09

Mar

-09

Apr-0

9

May

-09

Jun-

09

Jul-0

9

Aug-

09

Sep-

09

Oct-0

9

Nov-0

9

Dec-0

9

Jan-

10

Feb-

100

5000000

10000000

15000000

20000000

25000000

Unique Visitors to Twitter.com

Source: Compete

MORE PEOPLE SPENDING MORE TIME

Dec-07 Dec-08 Dec-09

Time Spent per Person

2:10:27

5:35:05

Source: Nielsen

MORE PEOPLE SPENDING MORE TIME

Facebook, Jan-10

CNN, Feb-10

Fox News, Feb-10

MSNBC, Feb-10

Gannett, Feb-10

AOL News, Feb-10

Compared to Top 5 News Sites

Source: Nielsen

7:01:41

21:40 16:04

MORE PEOPLE SPENDING MORE TIME AND MORE MONEY

Source: Borrell Associates

Local

Facebook Ad Revenue for 2009

$209 millio

n

WHO USES THEM?

FACEBOOK

400 million active users Each with about 130 friends 50% login every day

Used by 56% of Internet users

Is the No. 3 site for Web users 65+

Growing fastest among 35+

Very personal, lots of infoSource: Facebook, Nielsen, Inside Facebook

11%

29%

23%

18%

12%

7%

13-17 18-25 26-34

35-44 45-54 55-65

TWITTER

15 million active users, 75 million total Average users has 27 followers Active users account for most of

Twitter’s activity

Growing among young people Growing among 24<

Short information bursts, very adaptable

Source: RJMetrics, Business Insider

MYSPACE

Shrinking

BEST PRACTICES

LEVELS OF ENGAGEMENT

Publishing

•Linking to content

Conversing

•Listening

•Passive moderation

Participating

•Asking questions

•Engaging without being prompted

•Moderating by participating

JUST DO IT (THE CLICHÉ STUFF)

Get out there Build a community early Experiment Be honest Engage your users before you need

them… more later

FOR FACEBOOK

Use a Page, not a Profile or Group

Preserves user’s privacy

Allows you to publish into their stream

Gives you analytics data

FOR TWITTER

Find people to Follow

Get staffers on individually

Create “Lists” Make sure you

have a Bio, Photo and Web link

THERE’S AN APP FOR THIS

HootSuite – free at Hootsuite.com – handles URL shortening, image sharing, RSS feeding, multiple accounts, keyword monitoring, etc.

ON YOUR MOBILE

Tweetie Hootsuite Echofon … your suggestions

WIDGETIZE / BUTTON-UP

For Facebook:facebook.com/facebook-widgets/

For Twitter:twitter.com/goodies/widgets

For buttons:socialfollow.comaddthis.com

ADD SOME CIVILITY

Disqusdisqus.com

IntenseDebateintensedebate.com

GAME PLAN

Be consistent, don’t give up Make a minimum six-month

commitment Every post doesn’t have to be a link Don’t just look for ROI Be prepared to give up control

Q&A TIME

RESOURCES

Me Twitter.com/adchavez Facebook.com/andrew.chavez Linkedin.com/in/andrewchavez Blog: explorations.community-journalism.net

Texas Center for Community Journalism Twitter.com/tccj Facebook.com/communityjournalism Slideshare.net/tccj Website: digital.community-journalism.net