Transcript Slide 1
Testing New Approaches
Delivering CIS through Social Media
Channels
Martin Ledwick Cancer Research - UK
Some Learning Objectives
• Become familiar with the ICISG social media
guidelines
• Develop an understanding of the uses for different
new media channels
• Become aware of some of the pitfalls and advantages
of different channels
New approaches, what do we
mean?
• Traditionally CIS have been delivered through phone,
face to face, by letter and email
• People are using social media more and more to seek
and find information
• Social media channels pose particular challenges and
opportunities to get information to people
New approaches, what do we
mean?
•
•
•
•
Forums
Blogs
Chat rooms
Social Networking
Social media Guidelines on the
ICISG website
http://www.icisg.org/resources/socialmediai
ndex.html
Social media Guidelines on the
ICISG website
Do we need a
website, can’t
we just use
Facebook
Surely running
a forum is no
different to
answering
email enquiries
Can’t we answer
people’s
questions though
twitter
We need to
change with the
times, who still
uses the phone?
Planning social media some
questions to ask yourself
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Are there any legal issues, are you liable?
Are there any privacy issues to consider?
What are the workload considerations?
How much work might this channel generate over time?
How does it fit in/ link with other services we offer?
How do I coordinate using social media across the
organisation?
What do I want to achieve and which is the right medium to
use?
Which channels are right for my audience?
Which channels are right for my organisation?
Have I got an exit strategy if something unexpected goes
wrong?
Forums
• How visible will posts be, registered users only or to
everyone
• To moderate or not to moderate
• Terms and conditions
• What to do if users post bad/harmful/marketing
information
• What about users “sailing close to the wind” to push
their own agenda
• Information, support or both
• How do you keep the community vibrant
• http://cancerchat.cancerresearchuk.org/index.jspa
Blogs
•
•
•
•
•
•
Have to be interesting, newsworthy and chatty
Use to highlight news and stimulate discussion
Myth-busting
Can you sustain regular blogging?
Can you use it to respond to detailed questions?
Have you a policy for whether or how to respond to
comments posted?
• http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/news/science-blog
Twitter
• How much can you realistically say in 140 characters?
• You can link through to other stuff
• Great for giving a running commentary or reporting on
events
• Great for promoting other activity
• But you must be genuine, the twitterati don’t like tweets
that are not real time, topical, interesting…and they can
smell a fake tweet really easily
• http://twitter.com/CR_UK
Facebook and other social
networking sites
•
•
•
•
•
•
Promoting your organization and its services
Engaging with the social network community
Peer to Peer Support
Can you use it for detailed answers to questions?
What are the privacy issues?
What are you going to do if lots of people ask you questions
through your facebook page?
• What are you going to do if people criticize your organization
through your facebook page?
• http://www.facebook.com/cancerresearchuk
Visiting other online spaces rather
than starting your own
• Yahoo answers
• Be a visiting expert on other forums
• Become a Wikipedian
Issues common to all channels
• Have a coordinated approach and ensure lots of different
parts of your organization don’t do their own thing without
coordinating what everyone else is doing
• Being prepared to keep channels engaging with plenty of
coordinated “genuine” activity on them
• Being prepared and adequately resourced to respond (or not
respond) to questions posted through each channel
• How will you respond to messages posted that are critical of
your organization