Social Media Actually Done Well

The buzz in the last year for "new" ways to market has all been about "social media". Specifically, Facebook and Twitter and, to a lesser extent, blogs.

I've seen plenty of practices and businesses go this route, with limited success. Here are a few things I've noticed:

1. It takes more time than you think it does. Figure out how much time you think you'll need to spend on this every week (you need to post at least 2-3 times a week on FB or Twitter and at least 8-10 times a month on a blog to be worth it). Now, triple that time.


Do you have that much free time in your current schedule? If not, what are you willing to drop from your schedule to make room for it? I don't recommend dropping "sleep".

2. You need to come up with something new and interesting each time. And it can't be just new and interesting to you. It has to be new and interesting to your reader. Which means you have to have some idea of who your reader is likely to be and what they find interesting.

3. You have to give something of value through your postings. Just posting "hey, look, I'm here!" is fine....for the first few days. And then you have to have new content. New valuable content. Sit down and make a list of 50 topics you'd like to blog/FB post/tweet about. That will get you through the first 3 months (a number of those topics will not pan out once you actually sit down to write about them). Then you have to come up with more!

4. It helps enormously to have visuals to go with your posts. You can use clipart, sometimes and with limitatations. Do you have visuals -- photos, original art, etc. -- to go with, say, 40% - 60% of your posts? Are you willing to start carrying a camera with you? And to think creatively about how to capture good images?

5. Ideally, you've got a multi-tiered social network thang going on -- website, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. and they all point back and forth to each other.

Kinda exhausting, isn't it?


OK, enough with my bitching and moaning. I want to point you to an example of an organization that's using Facebook right now incredibly well: The Queensland Police Service.

During the current flooding crisis in Queensland and, specifically, in Brisbane, everyone has been scrambling to get current information. How far as the water spread? Who's cut off? What roads are open? What roads are closed? When is high tide? What is the peak supposed to be? Who should be evacuating? Where are the evacuation centers? What resources are available? What about this/that/and the other thing rumor that I heard? Where or how can I help? Etc. Etc. Etc.

Several local TV stations have been broadcasting nothing but flood information around the clock for the last several days. But even that isn't fast enough or complete enough. That's where the Queensland Police Service comes in.

So, let's start with the state police's website. If you click over to it, the very first thing you see is a link to their Facebook page. And not kinda over on the side. It's square (and large) in your face.

When you go to their FB page (which I've had up and open full-time for the last few days) notice:

* they post new information 10-20 times an hour. There is somebody typing their fingers off somewhere.

* the information is from multiple sources -- TV stations, their own media department, the premier's (think "governor") office, highway patrol, search and rescue, evacuation centers, the mayor's office, the electric company, everyone. They are clearly wired in to everyone and everything.

That didn't happen overnight. Those connections were well-established before this crisis hit.

* their posts are short, sweet, and to the point. Frequently no more than 1 - 3 sentences. Even their longer notes are very focused, specific, and direct.

* while they can't quite break themselves from the passive voice (they are still a government agency, after all) there is little confusion about what you're to do with the information.

* each post also references their Twitter accounts. They are encouraging you to connect in multiple ways and making it easy to figure out how to do that, without beating you over the head with it.

* they are not using their page to glorify their own efforts. They are honestly using it to keep the public up to date. AND to try to manage their own needs (please quite rubber-necking and get off Coronation Drive!, for example).

* they have a clear idea of what their audience (desperately) wants and needs and they're doing a good job of supplying it.

* they don't only deal with "official" announcements. The address rumors quickly and directly. That's freakin' brilliant!


I can't tell you how grateful I am for this page and whatever nubby-fingered person(s) have been making it happen. It has helped me stay calm during this crisis by helping me stay informed. It's also provded me quite a primer in how to do a public-service Facebook page well.