If a crisis strikes your organization, are you prepared?  Do you know what to say when the media shows up knocking on your door?  Do you have everything in place to process and respond to the conversation that erupts virally via social media?  Whether you’ve had no crisis training whatsoever or need a refresher to get up to speed with the digital age, a two-part seminar Bruce Hennes and I are co-presenting would be a great place for you to start.

We will present “Managing the Media: Crisis Communications, Media Relations & Social Media” on Monday, September 12, 2011 at North Central State College in Mansfield.

Thanks to the Mansfield/Ontario/Richland County Health Department, registration is free.  Space, however, is very limited.  If you’re interested, visit http://mansfieldseminar.eventbrite.com/

Bruce will present Session 1 from 8:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.  and will discuss:

• Establishing & maintaining “control of the message”
• What reporters expect; what you should expect
• Defining and creating Key Messages
• The difference between print, TV, and radio interviews and how each requires different skill sets
• What to do when lawyers insist on a strict “no comment”

Bruce is a partner of Hennes Paynter Communications, one of the few firms in the U.S. exclusively focused on crisis communications.  I own and operate Radar Public Relations & Consulting, LLC, which focuses on the strategic use of social media.

My session will follow his, but registration for Session 1 is required for Session 2.  From 1:30- 3:30 p.m., I will focus on:

• Why social media matters during a crisis
• What to do online before a crisis breaks
• How to take control of the conversation when social media discussion goes viral
• Engaging in effective reputation management
•  How to write an effective social media policy

This seminar is geared specifically toward government officials, community leaders, nonprofits, education, business, boards of health, medical providers, fire, law enforcement and other first responders.

This seminar has been approved for 4 Continuing Professional Training (CPT) hours by the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission, Office of the Attorney General.  Application has also been made for Registered Sanitarian hours (3.5 for Session #1 & 2 hours for Session #2).

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at 216-210-3717, and I will be happy to talk to you more about this seminar.

Despite Cleveland's ranking, many organizations in Northeast Ohio use social media, such as Twitter, in a strategic manner.

According to Cleveland Magazine, Cleveland is 51st out of 100 metro areas in terms of social networking. That statistic comes from a Men’s Health report that measured LinkedIn and Facebook users per capita. It also took into account Twitter usage, among many other services.

If the Men’s Health numbers are indeed a valid reflection of how socially wired these cities are, then clearly not enough people and businesses in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio are leveraging social media communication in a strategic way.

Fortunately, if you work for one of these companies that is not yet taking advantage of social media opportunities, it’s not all doom and gloom. Remember: Social media is viral. Information can spread fast. It is possible to develop social media followings that will bring tangible benefits to your business or organization in a relatively short amount of time.

Don’t be fooled into thinking you’re going to have an engaged following of hundreds or thousands of people overnight. That’s simply not realistic for most organizations. Building a following is a long-term process but one that can produce results in the short term.

Take Hattie Lalrham, for instance. Hattie Larlham is a Northeast Ohio nonprofit organization that provides services to 1,500 children and adults with developmental disabilities. In 2009, Hattie Larlham retained my firm to launch and manage a social presence on Facebook and Twitter for the organization. In the two years since, Hattie Larlham has built an engaged following using both of these social media services.

Through its use of social media, Hattie Larlham has:

• Obtained donations of items it needs on multiple occasions
• Received testimonials about its work
• Exposed the positive media coverage it receives to its core constituents
• Promoted its events to increase attendance
• Won awards that require public voting by mobilizing its online following
• Created buzz by conducting contests to promote its social enterprise ventures
• Educated people about issues related to developmental disabilities

More important than the fact that Hattie Larlham continues to grow its following, is that it has built an engaged following. People continually respond to the organization’s calls to action. The reasons for this are many, but here are a few keys:

•  Hattie Larlham responds quickly to comments and questions people make. Don’t overlook the need to do this. Social media is two-way by its very nature and responding to questions and comments in a timely fashion lets your following know that you care about what they have to say. They will therefore be more likely to engage with your organization again in the future.
• Hattie Larlham serves as a resource to its following, often sharing updates and news about the care for people with developmental disabilities. The organization provides information that adds value to the social media experience of its following.
• Hattie Larlham provides actionable information. The organization uses social media to explicitly tell people how they can help and what they can do to get involved. People’s attention spans online are short. Be brief and direct in making your call to action.

 These are just of a few of the many ways Hattie Larlham effectively uses its social media channels. What this brief case study illustrates is that for all of the organizations in Ohio that have yet to adopt social media, there are others such as Hattie Larlham that are setting the standard for the effective use of social media. Be smart and strategic in the way your organization approaches social media, and you can create a similar success story.

Google’s “Circles” allow you to segment your following so that certain things you post only go to certain people.  For example, one “Circle” might be Coworkers, while another might be High School Buddies.   The type of content you share with your High School Buddies is likely going to be much different than what you share with your Coworkers.  Instead of having all of your content disseminated to everyone, only people in a given “Circle” will see what you post to that “Circle.”

This has the potential to make it easier for casual social networking users to share content in a private, segmented way without having to be as privacy-setting sensitive as they might need to be on Facebook.

The real strength of Facebook, though, is its enormous user base.  Will people who are already invested in and comfortable with Facebook see enough benefit in Google+ to migrate to that social network?  Is there enough room for both social networks to thrive?  The early demand to get an invite to Google+  is promising and might indicate Google has a hit on its hands.  Only time will tell if Google+ will flop or flourish.

Have you ever had an image and you need another one like it or are wondering who the person in the photo is?  Google’s new Search by Image provides an easy solution.

Now, instead of just entering text into the search bar to conduct an online search, you can actually use an image to run a search on Google.  How’s it work?

First, go to images.google.com.  Once you’re there, you can drag an image off your desktop and drop it into the search bar.  It’s that easy.

Google will then return a search for the photo’s subject and will provide similar images.

Alternatively, users can click on the camera icon next to the search bar and either upload an image from the computer or paste an image url.

If you’re using the Chrome or Firefox browsers, there are extensions that offer shortcuts to run a Google search with a given image.

A site called TinEye also provides reverse image searches but Google’s incorporation of this functionality will bring this capability to casual web users who aren’t familiar with specialty sites. 

Below is Google’s official video about Search by Image.

As controversial as it may be, I believe this is the correct direction to go. There are appropriate spaces on sites such as Facebook for teachers to interact with their classes in a public space rather than with individual students via individual profiles.

Aside from that, this professional advisory also wisely recommends that teachers monitor what content others post to their social media accounts and remove anything that may be inappropriate.  This is one subject the social media policies of most schools overlook. Most social media policies focus on the actions of the teacher, not the actions of the teacher’s online friends. Swearing, a crude remark, an off-color joke or a number of other things a teacher’s friends can post to the teacher’s profile will reflect negatively on the teacher.

Therefore, it is crucial that teachers understand how to restrict who can view comments made on their Facebook Wall by their friends. To set this Facebook Wall setting, users need to visit Account >Privacy Settings once logged in to Facebook.

On the main privacy settings page, users then need to click on the blue “Customize Settings” link.

On the next screen, under “Things Others Share,” users can select the appropriate privacy for posts made to their wall by clicking on the drop down box next to “Can see Wall posts by friends.”

Another guideline from the Ontario College of Teachers’ professional advisory worth noting is that parents should be notified before their child’s class uses social media for educational purposes and that teachers should consider giving parents access to such social media pages used for the class.

I agree that it is a good idea for teachers to notify parents before engaging their students in social media classroom learning activities, such as a Facebook Group for the class. I would even go so far as to suggest teachers obtain permission forms signed by parents permitting their child to participate in social media classroom learning activities.

I disagree with the recommendation that teachers allow parents to have access to the class’ group page. Doing that will make it possible for students to interact with adults online that they may not know. Even if a teacher closely monitors the interaction on a group page, problems can still emerge. For instance, what if an overbearing parent is given access to the class’ Facebook Group and makes a comment that belittles another student? Giving parents access to such a classroom page is opening a can of worms better left alone.

The Ontario College of Teachers’ professional advisory has other shortcomings as well.  Even so, it takes a strong stand in deciding what direction schools should take with their social media policies. 

 If you would like Radar Public Relations & Consulting to draft your social media policy or review your current one, please contact President Scott Juba.