Although not many Congressional Offices are using it yet in official communications, staffers from both sides of the aisle were eager to learn more about how mobile technologies can improve their interaction with constituents.  The statistics say a lot in this space.  Over 90% of Americans use a mobile phone.  Even more importantly, according to Experian, the open rate for a text messages is between 90-100%, well above other forms of communication.

Chris Taylor of Tusk Mobile advised Republicans on mobile strategies and statistics, along with David Popp of Congressman Bob Latta’s office, one of the first to embrace mobile technology.  In fact, text “LATTA” to 82442, and you’ll see for yourself how effective mobile can be.

Scott Goodstein of Revolution Messaging shared his expertise from leading Obama’s mobile campaign with Democrats.  Goodstein converted his lessons learned on the campaign trail into a presentation full of actionable strategies for official communications.

Key takeaways:
•    Work with a consultant or provider to set up a “short code.”  You can decrease the costs by sharing the code, but using your own unique keyword to avoid confusion.
•    Grow your list organically.  Just because you have a constituent’s cell phone number doesn’t mean they’ve opted-in to your mobile communications.
•    Text messages are immediate and great for things like alerting people to last-minute appearances, high-profile votes and tele-townhalls.  But stick with email for longer messages.
•    Set up your account to identify keywords, so that you can target an appropriate auto-response.
•    Let your local media know if you’re using mobile alerts.  Even if it’s not a story, journalists will likely sign up.
•    Like other social media tools we’ve discussed in our Social Media for Staffers series, using mobile should feed into your larger communications strategy.

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NextGenWeb’s Social Media for Staffers series continued recently with an in-depth exploration of online video, a medium that is rapidly becoming a staple communications tool in Congressional offices.  We assembled panels of Democratic and Republican experts to share their experiences and best practices for equipment, content and distribution, with their respective parties.

Republicans:
•    Katie Harbath, NextGenWeb
•    Justin Germany, former Director of Online Media at John McCain 2008, Principal of Outlaw Media
•    Seamus Kraft, Director of New Media and Deputy Press Secretary, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

Democrats:
•    Shana Glickfield, NextGenWeb
•    Erick Sanchez, Office of Congressman Tim Ryan (D-OH)
•    Quentin Kruger, Digital Media Producer and Former Director of Photography, New Media, Obama for America
•    Philip de Vellis, Vice President of New Media for Murphy Putnam Media

Overall, our experts agreed that almost every office communication has an opportunity for a video supplement.  Sometimes the biggest challenge with video projects can be getting the Member comfortable with it.  But not only do reporters and constituents increasingly expect video, but our panelists proved that using video is actually easy, low cost and extremely compelling.

The basic tools you’ll need to get going are an HD video camera, microphone(s) and a tripod.  Once you have the equipment, you’re ready to start recording.  And, you don’t have to be perfect.  It’s okay to stumble on your words a bit, lose eye contact or share raw footage.

Some ideas for video:
•    Put your boss on a video stream during a tele-townhall and have staff monitoring the chat during the event.
•    Involve your users by asking them for their thoughts via video.  Post a style sheet that includes technical requirements, so they can submit video, too.
•    Redistribute highlights and clips from TVI’s or C-Span.
•    Feature behind-the-scenes office activities.  What seems mundane to seasoned Hill staff can be very exciting to your constituents.

To ensure your videos get attention from the public, make reporters and constituents aware of your video streams.  Once you post the video on YouTube (or Vimeo, Viddler or any other uploading tool), you can also embed them on your website, and then post them on Twitter and Facebook.

Analytics are great for measuring results and planning to be more efficient as you grow your video base.  You should go back and see where most of your video traffic comes from, so you know where to focus distribution efforts in the future.   You can also see what types of videos generate the most interest and do more on those topics and/or formats.  You can even see what time of day people watch the videos.  Experts warn not to expect Obama-like results.  Sometimes even just 100 views can be considered a big success!

A few more tips and tricks from our experts:
•    Good audio can make a low-resolution video seem 10 times better.
•    Even if your camera has HD capabilities, many videos will look good in standard and will take less time and bandwidth to distribute.
•    Get background music from places like PumpAudio, iStock or Creative Commons.
•    Use Ustream or BlogTV for streaming video, but make sure to test bandwidth
•    Be descriptive in your video title, so people will want to click, watch and share.
•    Treat videos like a press release and make sure all parties involved in the video are aware of it before you distribute.
•    Keep videos organized by archiving them by constituent issue code, date and location.

In the digital era, member communications are growing much more rich and diverse.  Online video is just one more innovative and compelling example of how broadband can bring citizens and their government closer together.

Photo: Democratic Panel in HC-7 of Capitol Building

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June 5 – Social Networking and Online Community Building
Learn how to use social networking sites to solidify relationships and virally distribute information.

June 26 – Viral Video/Virtual Town Halls
Using live streaming and video distribution to disseminate information and improve connection with constituents.

July 10 – Mobile
How to make the most of connecting with constituents via mobile phones.

July 24 – Government Transparency
A tour through sites that are tracking government activity

August 7 – Wikipedia
Learn the right way to add to, edit and use Wikipedia articles.

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Friday, May 15, NextGenWeb presented the third session of our Social Media for Staffers series on the Hill. After an introductory event where we explored demographics and franking rules, and then a session on monitoring social media, it was time to delve into how to create and promote content on blogs and microblogs (like Twitter).

Aaron Brazell, an expert on blogging known best for his work on Technosailor.com, was a featured panelist for both the Republican and Democratic events. Before his presentation, Aaron shared the thoughts he’d like to leave with staffers on his blog:

In another lifetime, you played the game by talking to the press and hoping that they found interest in your cause. Now, you can go directly to the American people. … Blogs have given us as citizens an expectation for engagement. For conversation. For exchange of information, ideas and transparency. Major media for the most part has not figured this out yet, and that is why more Americans get their news on the internet.

Erick Sanchez of Congressman Tim Ryan’s (D – OH) Office and Matthew Lundh of Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ (R- WA) Office also contributed significantly to the Democratic and Republican panels respectively, by sharing their insider perspectives as staffers who manage blogs and blogger relations for their offices.

Key takeaways from the event include:

• Engage bloggers writing about your boss/issue whether the coverage is positive or negative. Respond constructively, as all of the dialogue is public.

• Get to know bloggers in your district. It’s good to establish a relationship before a crisis. Reach out via email, comment, Twitter or phone.

• Different people prefer different formats of content, so it’s good to use photos, audio and video, in addition to text.

• A lot of journalists read blogs and follow Twitter for story ideas. Social media is a great way to initiate or solidify relationships with reporters.

• Put the human touch on your postings/tweets. Treat it like a conversation, rather than a press release for optimal success.

• If you want to share news with other bloggers, don’t send a press release. Or if you do, carefully personalize it!

• Monitor your site analytics. You’ll be surprised to see how much traffic comes from your blog and Twitter.

• Consider using the iTunes store for regular distribution of audio / podcasts.

• It’s good to have your blog ready to respond to bad stories or promote good news and events. Also, reach out to blogger allies for additional support.

• For a really strong response to something, post a video so viewers can see more emotion and personality.

• Use the popular hashtags for each party to promote content or identify followers on Twitter. (#TCOT for conservatives, #p2 for progressives)

• To easily develop blog content, use:

o Office news clips
o Photos of the Member
o Links to local bloggers’ content from your district (a “hat tip” works wonders for relationship-building)
o Radio interviews (TVI subscriptions help capture radio)
o Reposition other office output, even Congressional Record!
Other tips:

• Use the popular “Washington Post test” (what if this lands on the front page of the Washington Post tomorrow?) to determine whether to post content.

• Secure your bosses’ name across all social media sites, so that you have them for when you are ready and so that imposters cannot use them.

• Post “disclaimer language” and/or “user agreements” on your site to protect yourself if you need to remove destructive content. Electronic Frontier Foundation offers great legal resources for bloggers on their website.

Our next event is on June 5th and we will take a closer look at online community building. Panelists, including Adam Conner from Facebook, will show staffers how they can best use sites like Facebook to solidify relationships and virally distribute information.

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NextGenWeb presented the second session in its bi-weekly Hill workshop series, “Social Media for Staffers.”  While our first session focused on the opportunities and the rules around social media, this time we welcomed guest panelists to demonstrate the best online tools for monitoring the vast dialogue.

Republican staff met at the Capitol Hill Club Friday morning for presentations by:
•       Katie Harbath, NextGenWeb
•       Patrick Ruffini, Engage DC
•       Nick Schaper, Office of Rep. John Boehner (OH-8)
•       William Beutler, New Media Strategies

Democratic staff met in the Capitol building later that afternoon for presentations by:
•       Shana Glickfield, NextGenWeb
•       Alan Rosenblatt, Center for American Progress Action Fund
•       Brad Bauman, Office of Rep. Tim Ryan (OH-17)
•       William Beutler, New Media Strategies

Staffers were guided through key definitions, the anatomy of a blog, and how to discover other blogs on their issue or district.   Panelists were unanimous that Technorati, Google Blogs, and TwitterSearch are key search engines for discovering discussion and recommended that staff set up RSS feeds so that updates are easy to track.     See below for a full list of recommended tools and resources.

Alan Rosenblatt presented his new theory of Reverse Advocacy to Democratic staff.   Rosenblatt recognizes that staffers are overwhelmed with emails, many of which are form letters, but nonetheless representative of constituent sentiment.   Rosenblatt proposes that the social web presents an opportunity for even more meaningful engagement with constituents by monitoring and engaging in these online social venues, like Facebook, Twitter and blogs.

Staffers from both sides of the aisle were eager to talk with William Beutler, an expert on Wikipedia.   Beutler warns that although Wikipedia says that anyone can edit the site, it’s not quite that simple.   As staffers are well aware, their Members’ Wikipedia pages are often top search results.     So it’s important for them to monitor the content of the entry.   If something is blatantly libelous or if there is a grammatical error, then it’s okay to edit, but anything that could be considered controversial should be approached more cautiously.   Beutler recommends registering transparently and beginning with the talk section of the entry.

NGW Social Media for Staffers Resources

Tracking Trends
Search: Google Insights- http://www.google.com/insights/search/

Twitter: Twit Scoop- www.twitscoop.com

Twitter: Hashtags- http://hashtags.org/

Blogs: BlogPulse- http://www.blogpulse.com

Facebook: Lexicon- http://www.facebook.com/lexicon/

Content Searches
Blogs: Google Blog search- http://blogsearch.google.com

Blogs: Technorati- http://www.technorati.com

Twitter:   TwitterSearch- http://www.search.twitter.com

Ranking Blogs/Twitterers
Blog: Technorati Authority- www.technorati.com

Twitter: Twitter Grader- http://twitter.grader.com

Twitter: Twitteraholic- http://twitterholic.com/

Twitter: Twitalizer- http://www.twitalyzer.com/twitalyzer/index.asp

Site stats: Compete- www.compete.com

Site stats: Alexa- www.alexa.com

URL Shorteners
TinyURL: www.tinyurl.com

Twurl: http://twurl.cc/

Is.gd: http://is.gd/

Wikipedia
Tutorial: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_tutorial

Hyperlocal Sites: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/technology/start-ups/13hyperlocal.html

Everyblock: http://www.everyblock.com

Outside.in: http://www.outside.in

Placeblogger: http://www.placeblogger.com

Patch: http://www.patch.com

Other resources
David Karpf: Stability and Change in the Political Blogosphere in the 2008 election

SocNet for Senior Citizens: Eons- http://www.eons.com

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Broadband allows many of us to connect to our government in new ways. Issues ranging from health care, to education, to our economy are being debated each and every day and it is important for Members of Congress and their staffs to be able to hear from their constituents online.

One of NextGenWeb’s missions is to help the public, lawmakers, policymakers and their staffs learn how networks make the new, exciting applications and tools around broadband possible. That’s why we have joined with leadership in both parties to hold a series of interactive, educational workshops for Hill staff on how social media can help advance our digital democracy.

We were thrilled that the kick-off to the series was so well received! Hill staff have hard jobs. They are expected to do a lot within very tight budgets and timelines. They want to be able to handle constituent issues as quickly as possible yet within a prescribed series of rules. In the introductory session, staff got the opportunity to discuss the “do’s” and “don’ts” of the use of social media tools within House rules. They also had the chance to hear first- hand how various offices use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, tele-townhalls and other applications.

These workshops will continue through the spring and summer and feature panelists that include prominent bloggers, new media experts and best practice users from the Hill. The series will also include conversations about the network and practical demonstrations of how online communications are being used to:

• Monitor issues and districts
• Blog and microblog
• Build and mobilize online communities
• Conduct virtual town halls
• Leverage mobile technologies

We are pleased that the initial workshops went so well and are looking forward to more knowledge sharing and vibrant discussions!

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