This presentation by Juliann Grant was given at ISA's Automation Week on 10/18/11. This is a general overview of social media's penetration in the automation industry and how ISA is using social media to reach its society members.

1. ISA Management Division
Social Media: Why Do We Care,
How Do We Put it to Work?
October 18, 2011
Juliann Grant
Telesian Technology

2. Who’s in Control Today?

3. Social Media: What’s It All About?
• Producing, consuming, exchanging information
through online social interactions and platforms
• It’s about knowledge & trust
– The Internet is a vast knowledge base
– Search engines, web sites, YouTube, LinkedIn,
Facebook, SlideShare, etc.
• They all have their uses
– Who do you trust more about information on a new
level sensing technology – Google or a fellow worker
with hands on experience?

4. ISA is a Knowledge Rich Resource
• 134 sections representing 26,770 members in
14 districts and 1 region
• 18 Exec Board members
• 28 members of the Board of District VPs
• 16 members of the board of Dept VPs
• 11 Executive Board standing committees, e.g.
conference & exhibits, tech policy, lifetime
members

5. ISA Produces Massive Content
• 14 Department Board-level standing committees
• 5 Department Board-level task forces
– Web Task Force
– Social Media Task Force
• 3 District Board standing committees
• 1 District Board task force

6. ISA Depts Handle Society Business
& Member Information Needs
• Automation & Technology Divisions
• Industries & Sciences Divisions
• Image & Membership
• Professional Development
• Publications
• Standards & Practices
• Strategic Planning

7. Automation & Technology Divisions
• Analysis
• Automatic Controls & Robotics
• Communications
• Management
• Process Measurement & Control
• Safety
• Test & Measurement

8. Industries & Sciences Divisions
• Aerospace Industries
• Chemical & Petroleum
• Construction & Design
• Education (NEW)
• Food & Pharmaceutical
• Glass & Ceramics
• Mining & Metals
• Power Industry
• Pulp & Paper
• Textiles TIG
• Water & Wastewater

9. Management Division
• Leadership, quality, operations, R&D, sales &
marketing, etc.
• 2-3 newsletters per year
– Leadership column
– Marketing column
– Social media column (new)
– Standards update
– Book reviews
– Current topics in Quality, Supply Chain, Education,
etc.

10. Management Division
• 6th Annual Marketing & Sales Summit
• www.marketingsalessummit.com
• Leading edge work in social media tools
• Contributions to Automation Week
• International Management Summit (planning
stages)

11. Social Media is
Word of Mouth Referrals
• Tapping into the referral network helps at a
personal level & a business level
• Succeeds because
– It is believable
– It is self-reinforcing
– It is self-spreading
• Connect with enthusiasts
– Tap into enthusiasts with recommendations and reviews
– Create a community for passionate ISA members
– Participate in and energize online communities

13. Social Media as a Marketing Tool
for Society Growth
• We are ISA’s best marketing channel
• Traditional OUTBOUND marketing
– Pay your way in, preach
• Advertising
• PR
• Commissions
– Interruption based
• Today’s INBOUND marketing
– Earn your way in, share knowledge
• Blogs
• Search engine optimization
• Social media
– Permission based

14. Why Do We Care? Today
• Our current members
– LinkedIn
• All business
• Over 60 million users
– Largest Facebook demographic is ages 35-54
• Fastest growing is 55+
– Raw usage numbers are too big to ignore
• Twitter: over 75 million users
• YouTube: over 100 million visitors per month
• Facebook: over 700 million users
• Compare to Google’s 400 million visitors per month

15. Why Do We Care? Tomorrow
• Our future members
– Teens spend 60% less time watching TV and 600%
more time online than parents (arthur page soc)
– Emory University’s freshman class survey
• 97% had Facebook accounts
• 24% logged on 18 or more times a day
– Boston College no longer issues email accounts to
students
– 64% of online teenagers engage in at least one type
of content creation (pew internet project)

16. The Shift to Social Media
• People want to be with their peers
• Shift thinking to how to serve members online
– Build relationships
– Add value to a member’s day
• Make members and volunteers visible
– Favorably position organization
– Enhance communications
– Enable more effective recruitment

17. What social media network do you use
the most (for any reason)?
Business
Other, 4% Networking, 1%
Google+, 1%
Facebook, 37%
LinkedIn, 54%
Twitter, 3%

18. If you use Facebook, do you use
primarily for:
Business, 0%
Skipped, 36%
Both, 3%
Personal, 61%

19. Insights
• LinkedIn still strongest social network for engineers
– How are you using it? Are you leveraging that opportunity?
• Facebook mostly used for personal – no surprise
• Twitter adoption still slow
– Requires more time to develop a network and techniques to
participate
– More brands participating than ever before
• 31 percent of consumers follow between one and five brands on Twitter
• 47 percent follow a company on Twitter because it has interesting
tweets.
• Other reasons: getting discounts, participating in contests and speaking
with customer service (http://blog.lab42.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/twitterinfo-final.jpg)
• Google+ a network to watch
– Not clear how business/brands will be accepted

20. Which avenues do you pursue for
product research?
80
70 INSIGHTS:
60
• Customer 2.0 still approaching
50
research business as usual
40
• With Google leading the way
30 • Personal contact still leading
20 ahead of social media
10 • Trade shows holding strong
0 • Blogs growing as a resource

21. ISA Presence in
Social Media

22. ISA’s New Blog

23. ISA Marketing & Sales Summit

24. ISA Marketing & Sales Summit
on SlideShare

25. ISA on Twitter

26. ISA on Facebook

27. ISA Groups on LinkedIn

28. ISA Members on Flickr

29. ISA’s Livestream Video
http://automation.isa.org/livestream

34. Setting the Strategy

35. Social Media Strategy
• Develop strategy
– Listen, watch, gather info, learn
• Establish organization/brand/your own voice
– How can we serve members, industry influencers
better?
– How do we present the ISA brand?
• Individuals, one organization ID, several IDs
– How do I represent myself?
• Determine risks
• Who needs to be involved?
– Staff and volunteers at the
international, national, section, and division levels

36. Social Media Objectives
• LISTEN: seek member insights for use in marketing and
membership benefits (research)
• TALK: extend your current digital outreach initiatives
(marketing)
• ENERGIZE: find enthusiasts to energize (sales)
• SUPPORT: be an indispensible resource (support)
• EMBRACE: integrate members into ISA (development)

37. Start by Listening
• Start small, think big
• Dedicate at least one volunteer to the effort
• Choose a knowledgeable person to interpret
information and integrate with other sources
• Watch other organizations closely

38. Plan First: Internal Processes
• Content is king
– What content?
PPTs, webinars, Videos, technical
papers
– Who is responsible for content
– Establish a content publishing
schedule and flow of information
• How to handle requests or
suggestions
• How to handle support issues
– Prepare for customer
questions, potential problems

39. Blogs: Think Differently
• Tips for successful blogging
– Start by listening
– Determine goals for blog
• Increase membership
• Promote events
• Provide tech info
– Develop an editorial process
• Which members will contribute?
• What topics? Industry insight, how to’s, mgmt
– Design blog and connection to web site
• Link via ISA web site
• Link via social media sites
– Blogging isn’t just writing
– Be honest

40. Tell Stories
• Write in pictures
• Write in first person
• Tell personal experience stories
• Write like you speak
• Keep in brief
• Cite statistics
• Use visuals
• Keep headlines declarative
• Always cite and link to sources
• Invite response

41. Remember, It’s an Opt-In World
• Power is shifting to the member and
communities
• Provide multiple mechanisms to interact
– Voting, surveys, guest posts, comments
• Offer options on media choice to receive
information
– PDF, audio, video
• Want to feel connected to organization
• They want it their way
• Corporate-speak is not welcome

42. ISA Marketing & Sales Summit:
Social Media Structure
• Website/blog, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn Group,
SlideShare, Livestream
• Pre-event webinars
• Planning Committee
– Social Media Sub-committee
– 4-5 volunteers
– Team approach
• Establish a blog posting schedule leading up to event
– Original posts, Abstracts and speaker bios, sponsor profiles,
webinars, Livestream
– Frequency: 1 post/week, more as event got near
• Hootsuite to support Twitter team (3 people - daily)

43. Using the Tools

44. Start Listening

45. Don’t like RSS? Use Email

46. LinkedIn: The Business Network
• Engage the business community
– Create a personal profile
– Join relevant groups
– Establish closer relationships with contacts
– Contribute expertise
– Find a job, advertise a job
– Create a corporate profile

50. LinkedIn Groups

51. ISA LinkedIn Group

52. Participate in Discussions

53. Answer Questions

54. Twitter: Headline News Network
• Ages: 62% 25-54
• More than 90% of visitors are moderate or heavy
Internet users
• Engage influencers, establish brand, respond to
questions
– Customer service
– Member leads
– Brand building
– Personal connection

55. Changing Communications
Like it or not, Twitter is quickly revolutionizing the
way our entire news ecosystem operates, from
journalist to consumer, and blurring the lines in
between,"
Andrew Lipsman
ComScore

56. Twitter’s Top 2 Power Tools
1. Search
2. Hashtags
 Search for
keywords
 Search by
#hashtag
 Monitor
competitors
 Catch a
conference
you could not
attend

57. Automation #Hashtags

58. Participate, Be Visible

59. Choose follows wisely
Rules of the Road
1. You don’t need to follow back
everyone who follows you.
2. Beware of Spammers
– High following rate
– Low tweet and follower count
3. Evaluate every profile
4. Do not set up Automatic
Direct Messages for new
followers that are overly
promotional.

60. Respond Quickly
Most
social
media
black eyes
come from
a slow
response

61. Building your Twitter Brand
Live tweet an event: Participate in a TweetChat:
Tweetchat schedule:
http://bit.ly/9NlzoE
• Great for finding like-minded
people to follow

62. Twitter Listening Tool

63. Set up a Facebook Page

64. YouTube: The Popularity of Videos
• Develop an organization channel
– Create and upload interesting content
– Learn lifecycle of your videos
– Promote your videos
– Review where embedded

67. Profile Management: Hootsuite
-Multiple Twitter profiles
-Facebook
(personal and Pages)
-LinkedIn
-WordPress
-FourSquare
-Teams
-Analytics

68. Social Media: Summary
• Actively listen and observe before starting
– Blog(s)
– LinkedIn
– YouTube, Slideshare
– Twitter, Facebook
• Establish objectives
• Create a unifying concept or theme
– Division, section, department, technology
• Set up accounts
– Blog: Wordpress or Blogger
– Others are local to the community

69. It’s Social & Interactive:
Keep Visitors Coming Back
• Develop a Content Plan
• Capture interest, interact with readers
• Engage with dialog and surveys, find out
what they want
• Build on core pieces like how to
articles, videos, success stories
• Need a balanced media mix
– Text, audio, video

70. Social Media: Summary
• Cross-link your social media assets
– ISA web site
– Other ISA organizations
– Other industry organizations
• Integrate into all efforts
– Event promotions, programs, training
• Monitor and respond to member
discussions
• Nurture the community

71. Social Media As a
Search Engine Optimization Tool
• Create shareable content
– Encourage links
• Make sharing easy
– Embed buttons & widgets
• Reward engagement
– Use promotional or content offers

72. Ten things to avoid in Social Media
1. Set up a social media profile and then ignore it.
2. Set up a blog and ignore it.
3. Use social media to broadcast your message
only.
4. Using a formal, stodgy corporate tone.
5. Not establish a Listening Strategy first.

73. Ten things to avoid in Social Media
6. Ignoring information gathered from Listening.
7. Not share other relevant industry information
8. Take false credit for information or links
9. Not be transparent
10.Defend against negative comments, tweets
- Use the opportunity to have a discussion

74. Questions?
Thank you!!
Juliann Grant
Director-Elect, Management Division
julianng@telesian.com
Blog: http://blog.telesian.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/julianng
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/julianng