Social Media Roundup

5 Ways to Market Your Social Media Program

Social Media Roundup

AgendaThis week’s Social Media Roundup offers five ways to effectively market your social media program.

Introduction #1 Static websites #2 Signature blocks #3 Resource cards #4 Cross promote #5 Spread the word

Social Media Roundup

Introduction So you’ve set up your unit’s

Facebook Page, picked a Twitter handle, loaded photos to your unit’s Flickr site and even started drafting blog posts. Now what?

Developing a social media program for an organization is a great step forward in today’s social media-driven environment, but how effective is that program if nobody knows about it?

Here are five simple tips that will help you build a following and help add legitimacy and authenticity to your organization’s social media program.

Social Media Roundup

#1 Static websites Your organization’s official website is quite possibly the best place to link to your

social media platforms and advertise your social media program. People who search for your organization are looking for the official source of

information. Providing links to your social media platforms not only provides visibility of these sites, but it verifies the authenticity and legitimacy of your social media presences.

To learn how to design your organization’s website to include social media information, check out www.Army.mil/create.

Social Media Roundup

#2 Signature blocks Email is a great way to get the

word out about your organization’s social media platforms. Simply including links to your organization’s social media sites can go a long way in getting the word out.

Email is a big part of our professional lives and we send them all over the world, so why not reach out to this audience and tell them about what your unit is doing with social media.

Ask your colleagues and organization leadership to include the links in their signature blocks as well.

Social Media Roundup

#3 Resource cards Today, it seems like everyone has a business

card. It’s not uncommon to leave a convention or conference with a pocket full of them. But what if instead of promoting yourself, you promoted your organization’s social media platforms?

Resource cards not only show where your organization’s social media presences can be found, it also acts as a handy reference guide for those interested in your organization.

Creating a social media resource card is simple and inexpensive. You can hand them out to the media or take them to speaking engagements, meetings and external functions.

It’s also a good idea to provide these cards to your leadership so it can hand them out as well.

The Army’s Social Media Resource card can be found here: http://goo.gl/U2FTh

Social Media Roundup

#4 Cross promote With Facebook as popular as it is, it’s easy for the casual Facebook user to

stumble upon your organization’s Facebook Page. But how do you get them to your YouTube channel or your Flickr site? The trick is cross promotion.

Use Facebook to creatively drive traffic to your organization’s YouTube videos, or create catchy Tweets to drive traffic to a Flickr photo set.

It also helps to list your other social media sites on your organization's Facebook info tab.

Social Media Roundup

#5 Spread the word It may sound simple, but sometimes the quickest

way to build awareness of your organization’s social

media program is by talking about it. Mention your organization’s social media presences

during press conferences and encourage Soldiers in

your organization to tell their family members about

your unit’s Facebook Page and Twitter account. Make sure leadership mentions your organization’s social media presences during

media engagements. Be sure to include links to social media platforms on the footer and header of

press releases. It also helps to ask bloggers to include links in their blogs. Make sure to include links to your social media platforms in installation

newspapers and organization newsletters. Word of mouth is still one of the most powerful ways to move information, so get

out there and talk about what your organization is doing with social media.

Social Media Roundup

Contact information

Have questions? Please feel free to reach out to us at the Online and Social Media Division

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF PUBLIC AFFAIRSPENTAGON

6/29/2011

Email:Ocpa.osmd@us.army.mil

To review and download past editions of the Social Media Roundup, visit our Slideshare site at: http://www.slideshare.net/usarmysocialmedia. All Social Media Roundups are authorized to be distributed to a broader audience.