SOCIAL MEDIA WORKSHOP

MOSCOW – ST. PETERSBURG

USA TODAY Best Practices

Mary Hartney Nahorniak

@maryvale

Social media editor, USA TODAY

July 2014

Approaching social as a platform

It’s an “edition” of USA TODAY, same as print, desktop or mobile

Key successes

Social media makes up 8-10% of digital traffic

12MM-plus social footprint

Reaching more than 1MM daily on Facebook

Facebook is overtaking Google search

Informing new people, in new ways

Engagement is second among competition

Picking social stories and crafting social posts

What's the message?Think: Is there a social way to write this?

What's the intent?The psychology of sharing, liking, clicking

Match the content to the network

Pick the right platform

(Or like it, or retweet it, or click it.)If not, rethink it.

Ask yourself: Would I share this?

What's the emotionyou want to drive?

Put yourself in their shoes

Plan ahead

Pick the right photo

Even the wacky ones.(Especially the wacky ones.)

Holidays are a win

Optimizing stories for social

A great headline goes a long way(on the Internet)

Common themesYou can’t win ‘em all --

but you will win with these no-fail topics

Nostalgia

Identity

Science (especially space)

Animals

… for the ‘bored at work’ network

Inspiration and good news

Breaking news

(And it’s the fun part)

Engagement is key

We’re social creatures

Your best asset: Your people

Let the crowd help

Use (the right) hashtags

They increase engagement 100% for journalists,

50% for brands

Share image, video, Vines

Tweets with photos / video get 3-4 times

the amount of engagement

Not everything needs a link

20% fewer URLs and 100% more @mentions

grows followers 17% more than expected

At the end of the day, we want to make a connection

Use what you know

Talk like yourself

Watch and learn

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MOSCOW – ST. PETERSBURG

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