Can you hear me now? Tools for developing effective communication Todd McGee, NACIO First Vice President N.C. Association of County Commissioners Communications Director

NACIO volunteers Jessica Beyer Blue Eearth (Minn.) County Communications Manager and Business Analyst Dave Rose El Paso (Colorado) County Public Information Officer

What is NACIO? NACo affiliate group – county PIOs – search for National Association of County Information Officers

Workshop mechanics Split into groups Each group will be given a unique controversial scenario Each group will be led by a moderator from NACIO Each group will develop its talking points Each group will appoint a spokesperson

Goals for this workshop Message development Message delivery

Message Development A message is not:  A goal  A statistic  A fact  About you

Message Development A message  Communicates a benefit  Describes a shared value  Is short, concise, clear  Is worded carefully Concentrate on your top 3-5 points Always come back to them – stay on point Don’t ramble

Hitting a home run with the interview Know the media:  What type of reporter? Investigative? Features writer?  Television – think visuals when deciding where to conduct the interview Follow The Boss: Check your look in the mirror Know your message Look at the interviewer Answer questions with complete sentences – no infant quotes Talk clearly, slowly and in short, concise answers.

Can you become the next media mogul?

Social Media - Why do it? Takes you where the people are – more than 76% of U.S. households have Internet Access More than two-thirds of Internet users report using at least one social media site Americans spend more time on-line on Social Media sites than any other activity Facebook and YouTube attract more than 100M unique users per month in U.S. Social Media sites dominate Web site rankings Voters will visit candidate sites Top Web sites in U.S.1 Google.com2 Facebook.com3 YouTube.com4 Yahoo.com5. blogger.com9. Twitter.com18. Wordpress.com17. LinkedIn.com

Social Media – It ain’t free, but it’s pretty darn close Sites are free Do require dedicated resources Integration is key (and easy) Equipment and software not expensive

The Case for Facebook Facebook - 150M registered users in U.S. ; nearly 500M worldwide More than 50% of mobile users have the Facebook app Mobile users spend twice as much time on Facebook than others Average Facebook user spends one hour per day on Facebook Most Facebook users visit the site at home – evening

Facebook Do’s and Don’ts Set up a Fan page – do not use your personal Facebook page as a campaign page Great for two-way communication – but be careful! Find other Community Facebook pages that are relevant and become a fan Engage in the conversation on those other pages – helps boost your profile and draw traffic back to your page Do not post personal attacks or other negative comments about opponents, fellow board members, etc. – the media is watching

Don’t be a Twit, be a Tweeter Media follows Twitter – makes it easier for reporters to track what multiple newsmakers are doing 19% of adults on-line use Twitter Twitter users tend to browse during the day – from work Twitter traffic has grown by more than 2,000 percent in past two years Great for posting and re-posting newsy types of information – keep it formal, but engage your readers!

Don’t be a Twit, be a Tweeter Don’t just re-broadcast what you’ve posted on other sites Use hash tags to help your tweets reach a larger audience TweetDeck to update your Twitter page ( Follow multiple tweeters or hash tags Search for tweets about specific subjects or people Pops up tweets of people you are following automatically Shortens URLs automatically

Don’t be a Twit, be a Tweeter

You, too, should be on YouTube More than 2B videos watched each day on YouTube More than 300M accounts on YouTube Average American spends 3.5 hours a month watching videos on-line Video is the most engaging content on the Web YouTube offers great viral potential (think Phil Davison, candidate for Stark County, Ohio, Treasurer) Create a YouTube channel (vs. just uploading videos)

Steps to becoming a multimedia sensation Sign up for all the various accounts: Link your Facebook, YouTube and Twitter accounts through your YouTube account – automatic video updates Link Facebook and Twitter accounts – status updates

Content is key Update sites regularly (at least 2-3 times per week, but more – especially if you are allowing comments) Links to news articles or TV reports, press releases, etc.

Content is key Update sites regularly (at least 2-3 times per week, but more – especially if you are allowing comments) Links to news articles or TV reports, press releases, etc. Drive traffic to county Web site whenever possible Post Twitter feed on Web site Post links to YouTube and Facebook on Web site

Content is key Update sites regularly (at least 2-3 times per week, but more – especially if you are allowing comments) Links to news articles or TV reports, press releases, etc. Drive traffic to county Web site whenever possible Post Twitter feed on Web site Post links to YouTube and Facebook on Web site Get creative Don’t disable commenting (takes the Social out of Social Media) Free speech issues (sogweb.sog.unc.edu/blogs/localgovt/?p=1970) No PIO? No problem.

Additional Resources Use Picasa Web Albums (Google photo-sharing albums) Blogger.com BSR Screen Recorder ( Skype ( Gmail (

Can you hear me now? Tools for developing effective communication Todd McGee, NACIO First Vice President N.C. Association of County Commissioners Communications Director