What are the risks for using tools linking people online?

After a recent webinar I helped present about social media and digital communities, several people quizzed me afterwards about the risks involved with using social media as a catalyst for building such communities. 

When you're not in the conversation, you're not part of the community

I told one inquisitor - I'll call him Alan - that I was at a conference of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) a few years ago and this question was raised several times. I recall that one DCI said his officers had to be responsible for their actions online - "after all they are grownups" - and he warned that if the police were not part of the online conversation, they would not be part of the community and the community would then act without them. A prescient point given that the London riots happened a few months later, fuelled largely off the back of online networks. These days most police forces have comprehensive social media strategies as a result.

I guess the point is that you need to be taking part and that involvement helps you to mitigate risk. If there’s no involvement then you will not be able to:

• a, have a dialogue with your community,
• b, be able to work proactively within your community, and
• c, importantly, you won’t have the established networks or presence to be able to defend yourself and protect your online reputation if you community turns against you for some reason.

Social media networks want your data

The other side of that debate is about big data and how information is used when people get involved with social networks and freely divulge information about themselves online. It should not be forgotten that Google, Facebook and Twitter are private enterprises that want data about you to make money. This often seems to be forgotten when you’re encouraged to go onto Facebook or Twitter by the BBC or ITV.  Also, how is data used by local government, the police, NHS etc? These are debates happening at the moment, ie what about the activities at GCHQ? 

But getting back to the question: there have to be corporate rules around using social media for every organisation, ie what is the name of the Twitter account, who runs it, what is the thrust of the messaging and the conversations etc? Nevertheless, too many corporate constraints will stymie the good work you want to do regarding community building.

How to kill a tweet

I’ve often heard people in local government say that the comms team has to meet and agree on every Tweet before posting them. That level of central control - let alone tedious time wasting - will not allow you to build a network of like-minded souls nor help you to engage in a dialogue with people who live in the streets near your office.

Social workers would, of course, never divulge intimate details of the people they help, nor would doctors of their patients. It’s all about striking the right balance and agreeing this beforehand, but not stifling free debate. It’s a balancing act. But not to act is far more of a risk than to take part.

(Anyone interested in the webinar I co presented with OLM please see the slideshare post below)

Slideshow on how to build a digital community and make it sustainable

Social care & health goes digital - top tips for online success from Adam Ratliff

Digital communities - how we make them work

Today's blog is about digital communities of interest. How people, particularly vulnerable people, can improve their lives by using digital networks, downloadable apps and tools such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube etc.

Videos, podcasts and apps

It's actually worth exploring all these functions in some detail.

Recently I've been working on a website featuring online tools for teaching English as a foreign language. Incredibly, most of the video and podcast tools and apps used by the teachers and students are free, easily downloaded onto laptops, tablets and smart phones. The apps are tools to help people hampered by language barriers to communicate more easily. And it occurred to me that it's only a small step taking these apps and tools from education and applying them to communties. I'll start to explore some of these apps in more details in later blogs, but suffice to say they help create and sustain communities, and these communities are the heart of the matter.

Communities of interest

So what does communities of interest mean? When using this term I refer specifically to people who live in a local community or neighbourhood. People with mental health issues, disabilities of some sort, older people who can't get out, or community activists who seek a better life for all. The in-term among local government employees is co-production. Nevertheless, all digital communities have the similar aspirations of collective problem solving and collaboration and you can just as easily be talking about English language students, businesses or charities. The template suits all.

In England and Wales, the reforms in health and social care have put unbearable pressure on professionals - and the people they serve - to deliver services to local people efficiently and more cheaply. More for less, is the term used. Of course, it's nonsense, but the reality is that people will need to start fending for themselves as local services are cut and professionals' workloads become overstretched and harder to deliver.

Working together

As a result, there is a new emphasis on community and collaboration. Working together. But as this community is at the heart of the evolving social landscape, how can it deliver what’s needed in the future?

The idea is that digital social networks will create vital connections that help people develop relationships within their communities. For health and social care (think doctors, nurses, meals on wheels, home visits to the elderly etc), this needs to be organised and managed.

Digital story telling - let the people talk

Using social media for community, consultation and service development has huge advantages, so long as we engage in more egalitarian forms of conversations with the people around us - and let the people talk about themselves and what they want. A problem shared is a problem solved, and most people in their own communities are the best ones to solve those problems.
 

Blogs, Facebook, Twitter

The overwhelming means of communications  on these digital networks is through the written word, texting, blogging, then come images, videos and audio podcasts. Blogs, Facebook posts, Twitter updates, Pinterest pins. They are all forms of content through digital story telling and conversations.

People and their communities have stories to tell and the best way to engage is to listen and act on what they have to say. Their dialogue is now through social networks and increasingly on mobile phones.

Technology – and social media in particular – is changing the way everyone communicates. That's large and small organisations with their employees, partners, stakeholders and customers.

The test for us all is how we use the new digital tools and how we manage and teach communities to use them in a sustainable way. A way that will build digital communities of interest, while solving the painful issues of government cuts in funding and closures of local services vital for people to live relatively enjoyable lives.

Helping professionals to help themselves and the people who they live among; it's an attractive proposition - and we can make it work. In the next post I'll try to answer this last conundrum, while in future posts I'll examine some of the apps that are suitable for using in your professional and personal life.

And, of course, I'll post a few blogs to promote clarity in writing for bloggers.

Bye for now

Andrew

 

 

 

Your blog plan and structure

A disgracefully quick post about writing, structure and how your blog post should look on the page. It's worth keeping this simple structure in mind if you want to appeal to a broad audience.

I'll flesh out each section during the next few updates. But this will highlight the rules of engagement - if you like.

Planning and structuring your blog post

·         Write the headline – with keywords in mind.

·         Write the first par summary. The first paragraph should summarise what the article is about and should also include primary and secondary keywords. It’s crucial the first par has the hook that will entice people to read on.

·         Write notes on the key points. Write key points of what you want to express and then build your article around those points, making sure you include keywords.

·         Write each par.  Fill out the gaps with the above points. Once you’ve reached this stage the article often writes itself.

·         Other aspects of blog structure

§  Cross heads – with keywords

§  Calls to action

§  Images

§  Videos

§  Comments

§  Contact details

§  Linkbuilding with other writers and bloggers

Sir Richard Branson, blogs and government u-turns

For your social media content strategy, remember that in the age of viral communications you need to earn influence and trust. You can't buy it - well not all of it.

This loyalty, unlike traditional awareness marketing campaigns, can take time and effort to develop and it has its roots in the trust, familiarity and respect that stems from frequent conversations/interactions. Think story telling down the pub. Punters will always return if they like your tales.

Essentially we're talking about editorial rather than straight advertorial/marketing. The buzz word used by marketing professionals is "content marketing". But in reality that still involves straight marketing/sales techniques and people in networks are very wary about being sold to. Just ask any Facebook user about the latest moves by Facebook to dump random ads into their timelines. Not good. I bet you're one of them.

Content is king is a vile cliché
So, whatever business, organisation, government dept etc you work in, create a dialogue and make it interesting. ‘Content is king’ is a vile cliché (it turns my stomach just keying in the foul term!), but it’s also the cornerstone of your social communications programme.

Simply put, you need to create intelligent, shareable content and lots of it in many different ways – that’s written text, visual, audio and video. Google any stats about this and you'll find a plethora of infographics about how inventive content pushed through social media platforms will drive traffic to your website.

Virgin's blog and the world according to Sir Richard Branson
Bewhiskered, aeronaticalpreneur Sir Richard Branson has this content plan nailed.

He writes umpteen blogs a month - many about Virgin, many about a mishmash of topics - and sends them forth through social media channels. It's clever and it's won him a big following across the digital landscape. But make no mistake - it's his regular blog that has won him that following, not simply because he knows how to use Twitter. Content is king - there, I said it again!

So it's worth having a brief look at how he's done it.

Screen shot 1 - Richard Branson’s blog on the Virgin website. He updates this as often as twice a day. Generally the blogs are short, commenting on issues in the media, lifestyle, business etc and are often self referential, ie they refer back to Virgin but in an engaging way, provoking comment from readers. Much of it is essentially subliminal marketing and PR. But note it’s more about engagement than forcing through messaging.


Screen shot 2 - Nevertheless, some of his blogs

are much longer and more thought provoking and even combative. This is a blog he wrote (picked up by the London Evening Standard newspaper) regarding the failure of the British government to award Virgin a transport contract last year, instead awarding it to First Group. Branson initially used his blog to highlight what he saw as the inaccuracies of the tendering process; this was taken up by the media, then talked about within government circles. Eventually the award was overturned and Virgin now has an extension on the current transport licence and the tendering process is to resume. So through his blog, Richard Branson managed to change government policy and save his company millions in the process.

Screen shot 3 – This is Richard Branson’s LinkedIn page. On this page he posts mainly to business professionals about entrepreneurial issues. He was recently the first CEO to reach 1 million followers.

 

 

Screen shot 4 – Richard Branson has thousands of Youtube followers who watch his video blog updates on business, media, lifestyle etc.

 

So when you have time it's worth looking out for all the Richard Bransons out there who use blogging and social media tools to create a space for themselves in an information-saturated universe.

Next time - when I have time - I'll write about blogging platforms (a hint, I'm not particuarly keen on wordpress), mobile blogging, the best social media tools to use and how to use them properly. I'll also focus on another successful blogger and their writing and engagement techniques. None of it will necessarily be in that order. Of course.

Toodlepip

 

 

 

 

 

 

What to write about - telling tales

Once you know the community you want to connect with, you'll need to start writing interesting, relevant stories. And make no mistake - blogging is all about story telling.

So why tell tales?

Blogging is a craft you need to understand and use if you're going to build a rapport with your community. This applies to sole-traders, owner-managers of small firms, corporate giants, charities, community action groups, local govt services etc. The list goes on, but the principle is the same. You build the community around you. That community then follows you.  

What you offer your community

Contrary to what most people - particularly marketing professionals - think, blogs and social networks are about dialogue with your community, not simply sales tools. Or to think of it another way, they're sales tools only if used in a subliminal sense. For example, financial journalists talking in the pub after work about an inside scoop on the imminent collapse of a multinational are selling themselves, their newspapers/websites and their work as writers. But they're clearly not selling advertising space for the newspaper.
 
For a blog to work, you need people to follow your blogs, talk about them, bookmark them and share them. That won't happen if you're constantly trying to hard sell or simply using Twitter, Facebook etc as response mechanisms to answer complaints or for general chitchat. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ etc are only as good as the info surging through them. The rest, as Henry Ford would say, is bunk.

So without wanting to labour the point (which, of course, I have) blogs are about stories, about connecting, about conversations. A story has to be interesting. Has to be written well. Has to be succinct, short(ish) and has to mean something to  the reader. Try to be anecdotal. Use real lives. Make it funny. Sad. Informative.

I'll go into more detail on all this later, but for the time being here are a few tips on what to write about and what content could interest your audience.

§  Tips

§  Case studies

§  Your history

§  Your company’s history

§  Debates

§  Reviews of products

§  Review a book

§  Build lists

§  Interview experts

§  Write an A-Z guide

§  Comment on a survey

§  Write about your own survey

§  Use a quotation

§  Make a video

Why you need a weekly blog?

What’s in it for you? What benefit do you have by creating a regular blog?

§  A well-maintained blog, in terms of SEO and timely content, is one of the most effective ways to capitalise on the benefits of real-time visibility in a search and social world.

§  A combination of a timely, popular blog and a wide group of followers and friends in networks is one of the quickest ways to get published and distributed.

§  Communities of interest are created through the comments on your blog.

§  Blog posts and articles can be shared in real-time via links, likes, retweets Google+ and LinkedIn shares, among other types of shares. Frequency and timeliness of blog posts and news updates indicate to a person and a search engine that the blog has a live presence, is relevant to the moment, and is fresh.

§  A well-maintained and trusted blog can go from published post to live in Google search results in as little as one minute.

§  Overall, blogs serve as a method of delivering your messages quickly and in real-time to your audience. Whether you are providing fast news, sporadic updates, full-length articles, or instant updates to your audience, a blog should be fundamental to every content strategy.