My colleague Steve Mays and I have begun a new podcast focused on the use of social media by government agencies. This is a companion to our short weekly news headlines on the same topic, which I’ll be recording. On this version, we’ll go into more depth about issues faced by government agencies.
On this episode, we just lay the groundwork for what we’ll be covering. If you have 10 minutes to listen,
Download Episode 1
I do a lot of work with small government agencies, helping them understand and use social media. So I’m going to spend some time each week putting together a short podcast with headlines from around the country on that topic. I hope to make it a good resource for government workers who are looking to use social media to communicate better with the public.
Reason #27 to set up a Twitter account for your organization: journalists are using it to research stories. The Online Marketing Blog reports on the study, which says 65% of journalists are using social media to find information about stories.
The study looked at social networks more broadly, but from my own experience, most newsrooms have at least one reporter who frequently checks Twitter for story ideas. Many of them are following local nonprofits, government agencies, and companies — and will follow up when a bit of news from the Twitter feed piques their interest.
Setting up a Twitter account is free and easy, and there’s really no excuse not to have one. If you do nothing else with Twitter, set up the account, search for your local news organizations, and start following them.
Meredith, the publisher of Better Homes and Gardens and several other big magazines, is getting into the branded-content business. The Wall Street Journal has details.
Called Meredith Integrated Marketing, the operation has created custom publishing, email, social media and mobile campaigns for major marketers, including Kraft Foods, Chrysler and Wells Fargo. It recently recruited digital-ad veteran Martin Reidy to lead its marketing arm, and says it is on the prowl for more acquisitions.
I have a hard time putting into words how brilliant this is. And not just because it’s so similar to the work I’ve been doing for Learfield Communications, another major media company.
As I wrote in a comment over at Buzz Machine, advertisers are shifting a lot of marketing dollars toward producing engaging, valuable content for their customers. That content’s not advertising, but it’s marketing. So it makes perfect sense that they would turn to people who’ve been producing content for a living for decades: magazine publishers, radio companies, local TV stations. Workers in those places know how to tell stories, to engage audiences, to inform and entertain people.
My job at Learfield InterAction is built on this premise. Journalists are the best people to create content for audiences of all types — whether it’s the general public listening to a newscast, or a group of 75 donors to a small nonprofit. Why not take some of our journalism expertise and put it to good use for clients? As long as we don’t intermingle that content with our straight-news product (and we don’t), it’s simply another way of engaging audiences.
Disclosure: My employer, Learfield Communications, has a business relationship with Meredith involving one of its magazines. I don’t work on that project.
There’s another great reason to have a Facebook fan page for your organization. Google has struck a deal to incorporate Facebook page status updates into its real-time search results.
This is a major development for your business, nonprofit, or state program. Real-time results are listed by Google at the top of their search results. It means your status updates will rise to the top of results for the key topics your organization covers. And it means more people will see what you’re up to, in real time, as you post fresh content to your Facebook page.
Will this change the way you use Facebook status updates for your organization, or change the priority of your Facebooking?
I'm David Brazeal. I'm a journalist and marketer, and I help small organizations create original, engaging content for the people who matter to them most.
