Category: Social media

How lobbyists can use social media

Posted on by Brian Lee

I recently gave a presentation on social media at an Association for Wisconsin Lobbyists meeting. I’ve worked on campaigns that are based on getting various legislation passed or defeated, so I’m familiar with the process. I showed in my presentation that social media is a necessity for lobbying, as it goes hand-in-hand with other tried-and-true tactics.

Looking at this chart, you can see how social media and digital marketing can be used in conjunction with traditional tactics in achieving lobbying and/or political objectives:

ObjectiveTraditional TacticsSocial Media or Digital Tools
Generate AwarenessEarned media coverage, op-edsTwitter, PPC ads
Educate AudiencesCampaign website, handoutsSlideShare, YouTube
Engage, Stay in ContactPublic meetings, direct mailE-newsletter, blog
Call-to-ActionPhone calls, canvassingText messages, Facebook page

While these tactics are often executed by a PR practitioner working with a lobbyist, it’s important for the latter to know about the tools out there to best reach constituents. Remember, getting their support will always make it easier to get the support of the elected official.

Create your own newspaper

Posted on by Brian Lee

I often talk about how personalization and customization have become more prevalent through social media. If you think of traditional broadcast media such as TV, newspapers or radio, there’s no real choice by the consumers in the content they receive.

For example, I can’t turn on the radio to an oldies station and pick the next 20 songs. Now, with a tool like Spotify, I can create my own playlist and even share it with others.

Let’s talk about creating your own newspaper. You’ll need an RSS reader, like Google Reader (and in this case, a Gmail account; both are free). From there, you can pick the sections from any newspaper, magazine, blog or online publication and subscribe to its RSS feed.

Maybe you want the New York Times Dining section. You can either click on the orange “Subscribe” button in Google Reader and type in the URL of the section (note: Google Reader doesn’t always locate the RSS feed correctly), or better yet, find the “RSS” link on the actual site. In the case of the New York Times, it’s at the bottom of the page. Now, locate the Dining & Wine link under “Style,” and it’ll take you to a subscribe page. As you’ll see, there’s a Google button you can click, and you’re done!

Finally, sort your “newspaper” in one of two ways. You can either create subfolders based on sections (e.g. news, sports, business, etc.), or you can create a folder just for your one newspaper that includes all the sections you want. You can manage folders in the “Feed settings …” menu.

You can now read your personalized newspaper through a browser or even an app on your smartphone.

The definition of Facebook creeping

Posted on by Emilie Buckman

I feel like a creep. Social media and technology made me and everyone else into creeps.

With a constant stream of accessible information, I know too much about people and their private life. It’s not necessarily that I am seeking this information out. Rather it’s a constant presence and that is too prevalent to ignore. I certainly don’t want to know the girl I had in English class freshmen year is married with a kid and currently trying to potty train said kid.

What’s tech/social media savvy girl to do! Defriend people? I don’t think so. (It should be noted I fear I will run into those people I’ve deleted and that awkward hypothetical isn’t worth defriending.) To be a part of this generation you kind of have to participate in common modes of communication:  texts, tweets, status, direct messages, etc. And you are going to be an inadvertent creep.

But there is a new creep feature to all of this mess I refuse to accept. It started this summer with Facebook messages and has moved to the iPhone. (If it’s on iPhone it won’t be long before it’s on Android.) That feature is “Seen” notification. It tells you the exact time someone reads your message or text.

Well that couldn’t possibly lead to crazy or obsessive behavior, could it? “Oh, I see read y text at 8:37 a.m. and now it is 4:13 p.m. Why haven’t you responded?” This feature will move you quickly past creep and right into crazy. I just don’t see any good from it. It just too bad none of this developers realize there is such a thing as too much information.