Back in late 2005 or so, I went to a Communications Community Office presentation on blogging. The CCO is a government communicators network, and the speaker was one of the leading experts on blogs as an emerging communication medium. I remember watching the presentation and thinking, man I’d love to have that gig some day.
Fast forward to 2010, and I have that gig! Today, I’m doing a presentation at ALI’s Government and Social Media conference downtown. How cool is that? I’m going to be talking about how the Army multimedia team is using YouTube, Twitter, Flickr and some of the other tools of social media. Here’s our abstract:
Social Media Is Not One-Size-Fits-All: How To Choose The Right Tool For Your Audience, Your Message, And Your Organization’s Goals
The secret is out – and now many government departments and agencies are considering launching their own YouTube channel or Facebook fan page. But how do you choose which tools are the right ones for your organization?
The Army News team in the Department of National Defence has posted more than 1000 videos to YouTube over the last two years and those videos have been viewed nearly 1.5 million times. Their channel is currently ranked within the top 75 YouTube channels for Canadian news and reporting. They’re also using Twitter, iTunes and Flickr to release information, and have plans to launch a Facebook fan page soon.
Social media is not one-size-fits-all. Not every tool is appropriate for each situation. In this session, you will learn how to choose the right tool for your audience, your message and your organization’s goals.
You’ll also review some common issues to consider when using social media tools in a government environment, including:* Tweeting in both official languages
* Managing comments – and responding when necessary
* Giving your organization an authentic “voice” and personality through social media
* Developing content that is relevant, interesting and timely
It’s funny to think back to the days when I was first evangelizing social media in the workplace, and how I got an early opportunity to ghost-write our Minister’s blog (that was eventually strangled before birth by the approvals process) largely because I was one of the few people in our organization who had even heard of blogs, let alone who was actually sustaining one. Back in the day, I was really on the cutting edge with this whole government / social media movement. But the year I was at home on maternity leave with Lucas was the year that the social media became mainstream in the government communications community, and I fell out of the loop entirely.
And now I’ve come back full circle. How could I have guessed that my obsession with blogs, tweets and sharing pictures of my boys online would have helped me in my professional career? And how convenient that I learned the ins and outs of Photoshop just a few months before I found myself using it at work.
Funny how life works, isn’t it?
That’s awesome! That’s totally the kind of job/work I would love to do when I go back to work. Congrats and enjoy! 🙂
I’m so proud :o)
Go DaniGirl Go! Your social media club of fans is supporting you!
very cool. i just went to a social media in the government conference a couple week ago put on by the conference board. they are always looking for speakers. you should totally approach them!
hope it went well today!
hee! not only are you mom, blogger and photographer extraordinaire…but now a presenting personality as well;)).
well done, dani!
too awesome when what you love becomes what you do…
:)))
Congrats! Important for the people who actually know how to do the stuff to be the ones out there doing the educatin’. We don’t need evangelists or self-proclaimed experts: we need people who are actually doing the work to be doing the talking.
Great Read! Good luck! RT @DaniGirl Heading out for this: http://tinyurl.com/2ejpcpj #Nervous!!
In the neighborhood we say: take care of what you wish, because It may come true.
Congrats, it is great to see how your passions(photos, your family and running this blog), take you to a place where you are recognized. Being recognized for taking care of what you love.
Nice Dany, as a reader of yours, I feel proud to read this post.
Maybe in a early future I could’ve the chance to hear you in person.
amazing – good luck! 🙂 RT @DaniGirl: Heading out for this: http://tinyurl.com/2ejpcpj #Nervous!!
Awww, thanks you guys! You should know, Ian K up there is my first and favourite social media in gov’t hero, the one who inspired me way back in 2006.
The presentation went SO well! You can see some of the twitter feed here: http://twitter.com/#search?q=army%20%23smgov Fun!!
It’s so important to have people inside gov’t who actually use these tools outside of the office and who really really understand them first hand. Congratulations on the presentation – I wish I could have been there but I used up all of my training dollars!
That is so awesome Dani. I would have loved to catch your presentation!!