Archive for September, 2009

Your Agency’s Social Media Hub is far and away the most important aspect of your Social Media Presence since all of your other efforts will direct your audience back to this central location.

Blogger As A Hub

Blogger is the free platform for blogging owned by Google. It recently reached it’s 10 year anniversary, having launched in 1999, and it continues to be a relevant platform in the blogosphere through continued innovation and improvements.

Using Blogger as your Social Media Hub is as good an option as you can get for the price – free. It offers the required ability to provide dynamic content, and it does so right on the front page. The service has implemented a Label system, similar to what other blogging platforms refer to as Categories or Tags. Since it will reside on the reliable servers of Google, bandwidth is not an issue should you receive an inordinate amount of traffic in a short period of time.

Most importantly, it will allow you to use your own custom domain name. Allowing the use of your own domain name by Blogger is a huge win for you from both a marketability and search engine optimization standpoint.

Although the LAFD News & Information Blog that is hosted on Blogger isn’t the Agency’s Hub (LAFD.org is) it still is designed to function like one with links to all of the Agency Spokes

How Difficult Is Customization?

Blogger‘s customization options have greatly improved over the years. There are a large number of basic templates to choose from and you no longer need to know advanced HTML to make changes to your template since they introduced widgetized themes:

Another huge improvement over the years is Blogger‘s template color management system. Instead of having to hand edit and code a CSS file, Blogger offers a simple scrolling menu option with a live preview:

This makes changing the colors of your blog on Blogger quite literally the easiest of all the other platforms.

Award winning Cross Blog is hosted on Blogger and, as we’ve already pointed out, have customized their template extensively to connect with their audience on a personal level therefore enhancing the effectiveness of their communication

How Do I Start A Blogger Blog?

Starting a blog on Blogger is really easy:

You can either sign in with your Google Account or create an account to create a blog. Of course this is just the first step, because after you establish the blog now the real work comes in creating reliable media in the format of your choice.

Anyone can have a blog. What you do with the blog is really what matters most.

The San Bernardino City Fire Department uses Blogger to provide information formatted for the media about fire calls in the city using a standard template that also links out to their Social Media Spokes which makes them a trusted source of information across multiple media platforms

Blogger Platform Resources

Here are some resources for using the Blogger Platform:

• Blogger Buzz – The Official Blogger Blog
• Blogger Status – Service issues are announced here
• How To Back Up Your Blogger Blog – A headache saving tutorial
• K2 WordPress Theme For Blogger – A popular WordPress Theme cloned for use on the Blogger Platform
• Free Templates – If it’s free… it may just be for me

To get the most out of this series it is highly recommended that you sign up for our Free E-Mail Social Media Bootcamp if you haven’t done so already since we will be referencing techniques and terms introduced in that program

Let’s be honest, times are tough.

Unemployment is up, tax revenue down, there are more patients while fewer have insurance and budgets have had to be cut. With all of this going on your Chief, Director, or Administrator probably scoffs at the idea of establishing a Social Media Presence while being so financially strapped.

The truth is that if you have a computer with an internet connection, the cost to set up an effective Social Media Presence is $25 or less per year.

This series of blog posts will cover the following topics:

• Using Blogger As Your Social Media Hub
• Using WordPress As Your Social Media Hub
• Using Facebook Fan Pages To Tie Your Audience To Your Hub
• Using Twitter To Spark Discussion
• Using MySpace As A Spoke
• Becoming A Trusted Source Of Information
• What You Actually Spend The $25 On

Empower yourself and your Agency with Social Media using these no-frills and minimal cost methods that can fit into the budget of ANY agency.

To get the most out of this series it is highly recommended that you sign up for our Free E-Mail Social Media Bootcamp if you haven’t done so already since we will be referencing techniques and terms introduced in that program

A news story about a cyclist that fell off a bridge during a group training ride is much more compelling because of the video recorded and shared with the television station by a retired firefighter. The television reporter thanks the retired firefighter for providing high quality video.

This video is an excellent example that anyone that is involved in or witnesses an incident can act as a Social Media Public Information Officer (PIO). After watching the video answer several questions about posting and commenting on social media content.

1. Would you embed this video in your department’s blog? Why or why not?

2. Do you feel permission from the cyclist is needed before you could post this video of your department’s patient on your official blog (he is clearly visible entering the ambulance)?

3. Do you have a social media policy in place that gives guidance to the personnel on this incident about posting and commenting on this video on their personal Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter accounts or even their own blogs?