1. Social media - @pulsetoday
@psmith
4/7/12

2. HEALTH WARNING

3. The two-minute guide
(er… this isn’t a very good slide. I’ll email the guide and put it on Yammer)

4. Barriers to using social media
1. What’s the point?
2. Don’t have time, too busy
3. Our readers don’t use Twitter and Facebook
etc
4. Don’t have the technology

5. Reasons you should use it
re: What’s the point?
Team-related reasons:
• Get more traffic to the site
– More people to read a specific story?
– “ “ “ “ section of the site?
• More registered users
• Get more signups to newsletters
• Sell more Pulse Learning subscriptions

6. Reasons you should use it
re: What’s the point?
Personal reasons:
• Be a better journalist/sales person
• Get better contacts, sources
• Get better and more stories/sales leads
• Get questions answered quickly
• Have fun (no, really)
*** Real answer = more engaged users ***

7. Real-time conversation
You need to know what readers are saying, so you can:
-- REACT with relevant content
-- ENGAGE them in conversation
-- BE the centre for debate
-- Talk about your PRODUCTS in an organic way
@psmith

8. Tweeting matters!
• Take your official account seriously
• TWEET OFTEN! 10/15 a day minimum
• Have variety, personality, interest
• Reporters should engage and promote their
own stories – there is an audience out there
• Have a policy – even a simple one
– e.g. Humour is fine within limits
– Standard structure for tweeting link
– Spelling/factual errors – don’t do it!
– Be careful mixing personal and professional
@psmith

9. “But our readers don’t tweet”
“Those who believe that Twitter is mainly about “broadcast” for
mainstream organisations are not just wrong, they are wilfully
ignoring the successes and failures of many others… Some
people will work very hard to exclude the experiences of others
that challenge their own preconceptions of their working
environment.
I’ve called this “special pleading” in the past. Every single market
we serve at RBI has given me reasons why social media won’t
work in their market… Every single piece of special pleading has
been proved to be false.”
- Adam Tinworth, RBI, Onemanandhisblog.com
@psmith

10. Strat!
1. Setting goals
2. Measurement
3. Think personality
4. Think timing
5. Think conversation and content
6. Think product

11. Setting goals
• Replenishment or growth?
• Newsletter signups, unique users?
• Set and review targets regularly– just as you
would with site traffic.
– New followers, unfollows, replies,
@psmith

12. Think measurement
** DON’T DO IT IF YOU CAN’T MEASURE IT**
Tweetstats.com

13. Why not say more during
these crucial times?
Drs are busy
working here

14. Big opportunity
for weekend
tweeting
This means
robots are
doing the
talking

16. Measure individual stories
Topsy.com

17. Think personality
** IT’S NOT JUST A NEWSFEED! **
-- Sure, tweet headlines and links but not JUST headlines
-- For every headline, think of something else to say or RT
-- Use the old RT function (sometimes called “quote tweet” to
add comments to links
-- Talk about where staff are and what they’re doing today e.g.
reporting from conferences, what they’re writing.
-- Perhaps consider whether “breaking news” and “exclusive”
drive usage. Trial period of using other words?

18. Think Timing
** TIMED TWEETS ARE YOUR BEST FRIEND **
-- What are you saying to readers at 7am, 1pm, 5pm,
10pm? That’s when people go on the internet.
-- Make full use of the timed tweets
-- Don’t worry too much about overtweeting: people
have signed up for your updates (but 4 or 5 an hour is probably the limit)

19. Think conversation and content
** YOU ARE WHAT YOU TWEET **
-- Not just about your content – send people to good
stuff elsewhere
-- Including your rivals
-- EVERYONE LIKES PICTURES, LISTS, GRAPHS, GUIDES,
REPORTS…. And it doesn’t matter if they’re yours.

20. Think product
** PROMOTE STUFF THAT MAKES MONEY **
-- Collaboration between sales, marketing and editorial
-- Journalists can chip in to help promote events,
subscriptions, signups – it helps everyone.
-- Real missed opportunity not to promote products

21. Ask…
And you will receive!
?
(Apart from this guy)

22. Read these slides in full, plus lots more slides on
journalism, marketing and social media, at…
Slideshare.net/patricksmithjournalist