Blogging & Social Mediafor Local Gov’t Leaders

Leveraging your influence in a hyper-connected worldGriff Wigley, Wigley & Assoc

League of Minnesota Cities2013 Leadership Conferences

Ray Cox & Scott Neal

Ray Cox, MN House – blogger, 2002-08

Scott Neal, City Mgr, Eden Prairie/Edina – blogger, 2003-present

Scott Neal

• 1995 – Northfield City Administrator• 1996 – Online panel: State of the City• 2003 – Eden Prairie City Manager - Blog• 2010 – Edina City Manager - Blog

Blogging for Civic Leaders

Scott & Griff – UK connection

Scott & Griff – UK connection

What to expect today

• WHY you should start a leadership blog and supplement it with social media, esp. Twitter & Facebook (leveraging your influence)

• WHAT the content of good leadership blogging and tweeting looks like

• HOW to be more effective at it; what to avoid• NO technical how-to• NO blogging or social media 101

Who’s here?• Elected/appointed officials?• Administrators/staff?• Read blogs more than once/month?• Added a comment on a blog?• Have/had a blog?• Follow others on Twitter?• Have tweeted/retweeted?• Have a Facebook personal profile?• Have used the like, commented or share features on Facebook?• Have a Facebook page or have admin access to one?• Have a smartphone and use it with social media?

Types of local gov’t blogs

• Leadership blog• News/Department blog• Project blog• City of Edina (leadership, dept, project blogs)• City of Northfield (

Downtown Parking Management project blog)

A tale of two blog posts:The good, the bad, the ugly

• City Manager Rick Cole, Ventura City, CAHonoring the ultimate sacrifice at Ivy Lawn on Memorial Day

• Mayor Mike McGinn, Seattle, WAWeekend in pictures

Why leaders avoid blogging & using social media in their jobs

Why leaders avoid blogging & using social media in their jobs

Fear and Loathing in the Executive Suite: Why Leaders Avoid Blogging and Other Social Media

Lack of time/Tyranny of the urgent

“My days are packed, and increasingly, work is encroaching on my evenings and weekends.

Why would I add regular blogging or tweeting to my to-do list?”

Fear of an increase in the flood of electronic messages

“My email inbox is overflowing. I’ve got umpteen voicemails piled up waiting for me. I’ve got no choice on dealing with the onslaught of text messages on my mobile phone. If I start blogging or tweeting, it will just encourage people I don’t know or care about to contact me.”

Social networking seems to require pointless socializing

“I don't see the value in constantly socializing with people I don't know. And I don't see how it would scale: the more I'd interact, then the more people would expect me to interact. And from what I’ve read, people are nasty online. Why would I subject myself to that?”

The literary skills required seem too demanding

“I can handle giving a speech and being interviewed. But writing isn’t one of my strong suits. I don’t need the aggravation of staring at a blank electronic page, wondering what to blog or tweet about. And trying to craft meaningful stuff all the time would take more time than I'd care to devote.”

The technical skills required seem too demanding

I’m fine with email and Microsoft Office apps. But I’m no techie and I don’t have the time to learn to blog and tweet and whatever else is the technology du jour, especially when one little screw up can get broadcast to the whole world.”

Fear that once you blog or tweet something, you can't

change your mind

“If I take a public position now on something that I may change my mind about later, I’ll look like I’ve flip-flopped.”

Blogging & tweeting seem narcissistic

“Too many people think they’ve got so many important things to say to the world so they decide to start blogging and tweeting. Most of it’s drivel. I’ve got no such delusions of grandeur. My musings aren't that important.”

Why a leadership blog?

Strategic, near real-time, short storytelling used to more effectively leverage

your influence

Why social media? Your audience has audiences & they use social media

Why use blogs and social media?Leverage your influence to get important things done

Interactive Circle of Influence graphic

Blogging and social media for leaders

Strategic, near real-time, short storytelling used to more effectively

leverage your influence with your audience who has audiences

What to blog & tweet?

Answer the question:

“What’s going on with my work this week that’s significant?”

What to blog & tweet: Your (mainstream) media diet

Leverage your media diet

Leverage your media diet (small group; print)

Leverage your media diet

Email attachments, small group

Leverage your media diet(email links, small group)

Leverage your media diet(disadvantages of using email for it)

• Viruses• Spam filters• Forwarding chaos• Comment chaos• Exacerbates your email overload• Others can’t link to it• Others can’t search for it

Leverage your media dietUse a blog post

Scott Neal

• DOING WHAT WE DO BEST

• “I DON’T WANT THAT TO HAPPEN TO HERE.”

Leverage your media dietUse Twitter

Newark, NJ Mayor Cory Booker Tweet, May 17, 2009

NY Times article on NJ Foreclosure: http://bit.ly/3KcSY8

Leverage your media dietUse Twitter

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinnRetweet Aug. 6, 2010

RT @Aaronpickus: Scary article in @nytimes today about deep cuts in gov't services around the country http://tinyurl.com/2g7s2wj #newseattle

Leverage your media dietUse Twitter & a blog post

Shakopee Mayor Brad TabkeTweet: Jan. 2, 2013Dog park moving forward for #Shakopee in 2013!! http://ow.ly/gtEVw

Blog post: Shakopee Dog Park (Dec. 21, 2012)(image link to Shakopee Valley News story)

Leverage your media diet(Advantages of a blog post/tweet)

• Linkable (permalinks don’t expire)• Social media-ready: Easy for others to link to,

retweet, ‘like’• Search engine-friendly• Appreciated by other sites (pings/trackbacks)• Comments optional; contained, archived,

linkable

Leverage your media dietSocial media sharing

Article sidebar, footer, pop-up

What to Blog: Provide recognition

Scott NealDeb Fields, roof damage Robert Lawton, volunteer photographerThree staffers

Paul Levy (CEO Hospital)Caller-outer of the month

What to blog: Illustrate your values, mission, goals

The mission of the Northfield Police Department is to enhance the quality of life in Northfield by developing a close partnership with our community to solve problems, preserve the peace and provide a safe environment for all…

What to blog: Illustrate your values, mission, goals

• Typical government (Scott Neal)

• Lights, cameras, silver paint (Rick Cole)• Vacant stores, where we shop, how we

support city services

What to blog: Illustrate your values, mission, goals

• Let’s have (urban) fun in 2012 (Northfield Councilor Betsey Buckheit)

• Tuesday Night’s Marriage Amendment Debate (Shakopee Mayor Brad Tabke)

What to blog: Teach the complexities of an issue

• Funding of a pedestrian bridge or not (Scott Neal)

• Public pay disconnect and the magic of dialogue (Rick Cole)

What to blog: Teach about services, programs, departments

• Hose testing (Scott Neal)• Edina PACE - Property

Assessed Clean Energy

What to blog: Explain a decision

• Fire Department Decisions (Brad Tabke)

• Financing the Public Safety Center-what and why (Betsey Buckheit)

What to blog: Chronicle the unresolved & undecided

• Chase the money (Scott Neal)• Golf dome decision• Passive enforcement • Meth problem (Ray Cox)– Blog post 1– Blog post 2– Blog post 3– Blog post 4

What not to blog

• How you plan to vote• Anything about quasi-judicial functions

(property, licenses, land use, etc)• Anything about your ex

What to blog:Chronicle a slice of life

Putting a face on the faceless bureaucrat (Scott Neal)• Ultimate sunburn• Annual First Day of School• Turner’s heart birthday

How to blog effectively:Use a voice of authenticity

How to blog effectively:Use a voice of authenticity

People tune out:

• Memos• Press releases• Brochures• Reports, minutes

“A meeting was held with representatives from Xcel Energy. The purpose of the meeting was to introduce Xcel’s new Community Relations Representative and to explore what Xcel could do to advance numerous initiatives that are being explored in town. The more detailed review of the proposals for the business and industrial park continues. The review committee will meet again next Wednesday. Staff also attended several meetings related to the review process of the proposed Land Development Code.”

Use a voice of authenticity

• “I”• “Me”• “Mine”• “My”• Active vs passive voice

How to blog effectively:Frame it with near real-time words

• “Yesterday”• “Last week”• “On Monday”• “Tomorrow”• “Next week”

How to blog effectively:First-person, near real-time

How to blog effectively:Tell stories

(The Sunday sermon)

Why Sharing Stories Brings People Together: Our brains sync up when we tell stories

The Science of Storytelling: Why Telling a Story is the Most Powerful Way to Activate Our Brains

How to blog effectively:Introduce a post with very simple stories

• "I ran into a citizen in the hallway yesterday and she asked me…"

• "My colleague, John Smith, handed me the latest issue of Minnesota Today this morning and suggested I read the article on…."

• "On my way home from work last night, I passed the park near my house where…“

• Small Town (Scott Neal)

What to blog & tweet?

Answer the question with a little story:

“What’s going on with my work this week that’s significant?”

How to blog effectively:Link, link, link

• It allows your readers to easily go deeper and broader

• Search engine spiders come back more frequently when they see links in your posts, as their algorithms depend on them

• Those you link to generally appreciate it and are more likely to link back

How to blog effectively:Use images

• Draws reader attention• Breaks up the text• Another way to inform (infographics)

• Chase the money? (Scott Neal)• National Police Week

How to blog effectively:Take your own photos & insert them

• Edina heritage: Convention Grill (Scott Neal)• Good stuff from good staff

Taking photos is hard. Tips:

• Get close • “Fix your hair”• Allow for retakes

How to blog effectively: Use it to answer your email

“Can you repeat the question?”

How to blog effectively: Optional interaction via comments

• A blog is a bully pulpit, not a roundtable• A good speech is still a good speech without

Q&A• Contact Me form• Comments occasionally enabled• Time-limited comments• Your participation is optional

Open Meeting Law considerations

• I think blogging by an elected official is fine; it’s the comments attached to a blog post that poses some risk because a quorum could end up commenting and thus, it could be seen as an unannounced public meeting under MN Open Meeting Law

• My suggestion: Put your comments on ‘moderate mode’ so that you have to approve all comments (two clicks)

• I think a post on a project blog by a local unit of gov’t could be done in such a way that a quorum could participate and not violate OML. Example: Northfield Public Schools Transformational Technology discussion

How to blog effectively: Create a culture of civility

Broken windows and a safer and cleaner Ventura (Rick Cole)

Griff Wigley’s civility guidelines

• Avoid sarcasm• Addressing a person directly by first

name when disagreeing with them • Public enforcement

How to blog effectively: Reference comments in a post

• Broken Windows II: Making a difference one neighborhood at a time (Rick Cole)

How to blog effectively: Alert people when it’s updated

• Email subscription• RSS Feed • Twitter feed– Scott Neal blog post example

• Facebook Page wall post– Scott Neal blog post example

Using Facebook

• Use a Page, not your Profile• Kenyon, MN Police Dept Facebook page with

Police Chief Lee Sjolander

Promote your blog/Twitter feed

• Email signature file• Business card• City website link• Bottom of letters to the editor/columns• Tweet all new blog posts• Post all new blog posts to appropriate

Facebook page

The Problems with a Group Blog

• A leadership blog is a different tool than an information blog or a project blog

• A group blog undermines individual incentive to excel and be acknowledged for it

• If the group blog is neglected or done poorly, no one is accountable

Misc Other Cautions

• A blog is not a journal; be selective with your truths; picture a reporter with a live mic

• Avoid deletion but make corrections and make them obvious

• Reveal conflicts of interest• Beware your own ego if your blog becomes

popular

Group critique

• Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak– Twitter: @MayorRTRybak– Blog: The Mayor Blog– Blog post:

Pushing forward in the fight against gun violence• Shakopee Mayor Brad Tabke– Twitter: @MayorTabke– Blog: Moving Shakopee Forward– Blog post: Very productive meeting – 1/22/13

Creating a blog: Blogger

Blogger.com

Creating a blog: WordPress

WordPress.com

Follow-up

• My business blog: WigleyAndAssociates.com• My online course: SocialMediaForLeaders.com

Blogging & Social Mediafor Local Gov’t Leaders

Leveraging your influence in a hyper-connected worldGriff Wigley, Wigley & Assoc

League of Minnesota Cities2013 Leadership Conferences