Series introduction (October 12, 2011)

Part 1: startting from scratch (October 23, 2011)

Part 2: Setting objectives and measurement (October 23, 2011)

Part 3: Choosing your first social network (November 2, 2011)

In the fourth post in this series, we look at moving toward an "interactive use of social media" in your emergency management program. As social networks become more and more popular in Canada, the US and across the globe, EM use of SM becomes an imperative. This is step three in the six-step process described earlier:

interactive use of SM: now we move a bit further down on the engagement spectrum. We are into the realm of using more than one SM platform, integrating it into a good web-based information strategy. More importantly, we have convinced our bosses that we need to monitor SM because we can find very quickly what's being said about us. We know who some of the key "influencers" are, those who help shape public perception of our response.

 We have already seen that Twitter is a good place to start because of its benefits as a crisis communications and emergency information/public alerting tool. But, how do you chose which social networks to add to your arsenal?  Oh, are you still wondering why you should?

My contention here is that Facebook should be the second site you adopt and integrate with Twitter and your website to augment your reach on social networks during emergencies. Here are a couple of reasons why:

• Since Facebook is rather resilient during disasters, you can mirror a lot of the information that is on your website. If that goes down, chances are your organization's Facebook page will stil be up.
• You can reach lots of people. Hang on, I'm not saying that you have an audience of 800 million but, Facebook does allow you to reach a critical part of your audience during a disaster.
• Twitter and Facebook are easily integrated on your main website. This allows seamless navigation between your different channels. This works well in all pillars of emergency management, from preparedness to recovery.
• Facebook offers many functions/utilities/tools that can help you extend your reach and content distribution.

Here are some tips, from the Emergency 2.0 Wiki,  on what to do when you establish a presence on Facebook for your organization. More info on how to get started on social networks.

Emergency managers and organizations should also consider other social networks when integrating social media into their program. The key again is making it easy for audiences to find content. Therefore, your website needs to become sort of a portal to all your social content.

Some of the social networks you could add include:

• a Youtube channel: it's a great way to convey your story effectively. From preparedness tips, to disseminating emergency information and providing insight on your response to an incident, Youtube allows you to reach a vast audience directly. FEMA understand the power of videos, very well. It's also a very useful professional development tool.
• Flickr: this social networks offers you a solid and popular repository for your organization's pictures. Whether to show the extent of damages or give a glimpse of your people in action, pictures help convey a sense of action and help frame the story.

Other social networks offer great advantages as well:

Another growing trend is hyper-local social networks such as Nextdoor and Localblox. These could give emergency managers the ability to tap into local communities in their areas and get feedback from the citizens on the ground, almost street by street, thus improving their outreach and enhancing their situational awareness.

The key in all those efforts though is for an effective integration with your website. Organizations that do this well can really multiply the ways to increase their audiences. The Centers of Disease Control takes that approach admirably well and comes up with "sexy" topics to drive the interest of its stakeholders and raise their preparedness message.

A well thought out strategy using web and social networks can really increase an organization's visibility with specific audiences. Adopting a mobile friendly web and social networks really helps. This has proven effective in academic institutions.

Now, organizations that do this earn kudos from around the world. It's certainly proven to be the case for the Queensland Police Service in Australia following the terrible floods and cyclone earlier this year and in late 2010.

A final note of caution: this success can only be achieved in you still pursue all your other communications activities and use other channels. Furthermore, the only guarantee of success on social networks is your ability to LISTEN, LEARN and ENGAGE. Social monitoring and engaging with your audiences are at the heart of any successful program and that will be the topic of the next post in this series.