Strategic Communications Planning

How to Better Keep Track of the News Important to You

August 9, 2019 By Patrick L. Burns 1 Comment

For decades, people have used news monitoring to track issues that affect them, their business, their association, or their cause. In the past, this was done with a process called “clipping” which was scanning local and national newspapers for stories related to these categories and cutting them out to keep a tab on issues at hand. This form of news scanning was an essential practice in nearly every aspect of life, from politics to business to advocacy. It allowed one to keep up with new developments in a campaign, on an issue, with a market, or with a competitor. In today’s online world, this process still exists; it has simply gone to the online world and covers a much larger scale. This can be overwhelming, and it can seem impossible to keep up to date with the 24/7 news cycle and nearly immediate news updates. There are many tools and strategies you can use to help make this process easier while increasing effectiveness.

Google Alerts

Google is a search engine that grants people quick access to information. It can be quite time consuming to search each term or phrase that relates to your issue and try to sift through countless stories and websites trying to find the most recent developments. This is where Google Alerts can be used to help save time and increase the efficiency of your news scanning.

Google Alerts is a free-to-use service in which you can add all of your key terms and phrases to a list and Google will send you email alerts whenever a news story or update is released that relates to that term or phrase. You can schedule a set time that all of your alerts come into your email. You can choose morning, afternoon, or evening or even multiple times throughout the day, if you have an issue that needs constant monitoring.

It is also good practice to add a Google Alert for your name. Doing this will allow you to be alerted anytime your name appears in a story or somewhere online. Also, if you own a business or brand, you should have an alert set up for these as well for the same reasons.

Feedly

Feedly is a news aggregator application for your web browser that allows you to bookmark and organize all of the websites you regularly check for updates. You can categorize these based on your needs so you can keep track of different sites for different topics. The feed allows you to scan RSS feeds, news and updates from your tracked sites by date and popularity all in one place. Having all of your news sources together saves you the time of having to go to each site separately looking for updates.

Feedly is a free-to-use platform which includes most of its features, but also has a paid pro option that will allow you to incorporate your Google Alerts into your Feedly feed as well as give you access to unlimited feeds, sources, and premium customer service.

Following Social Media

Much important news is shared these days through social media. A good practice to have is to make sure you follow your news sources on social media platforms such as Twitter and activate notifications for any that you need to track closely. This way, when something new is posted or updated you can be in the loop. Sometimes news and updates will be posted to social media before they are released on news sites; this way, you can keep on top of important issues that affect you and your business or association.

Following specific hashtags is also a great way to keep up on trending news related to your cause or industry. You should do research and find if there are any highly-used hashtags that fit to your needs and follow them as they tend to lead you to updates and news quickly as well. Though social media can get quite noisy at times, it is still a great source of updates for news, causes, and events if you can develop a system for aggregating the news important to you through notifications and hashtags.

Stay in the Loop

There are many options for staying on top of news related to your specific needs. In today’s world of quick, shortened news cycles and instant 24/7 news updates, it can seem impossible to keep up with everything at once, but these tools help make it easier and less stressful. Of course, there is nothing wrong with reading the local newspapers or doing Google searches for news updates. These suggestions are simple tools that will make monitoring news much more productive while giving a broad scope of resources all at once in an organized way. Keeping on top of things is essential for many businesses, causes, and just day to day life, and with these tools, you’re all set.

Need More Help?

For more information, visit us at www.arc3communications.com or contact Patrick Burns at pburns@arc3communications.com. We look forward to working with you to acheive all of your content, digital, and advocacy goals.

Ten Ways to Post Political Views On Facebook Without Being Unfriended

May 26, 2017 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

Facebook messages have been shown to be an effective tool in get-out-the-vote political efforts. In the prestigious journal, Nature, political scientist Dr. James Fowler found that a single get-out-the-vote message could produce a 2.2 % bump in voter turnout. More importantly, 80% of the impact came from users sharing the message with their friends.

However, sharing your political views online can come with the risk of being unfriended if not done in the appropriate way. Here are some simple tips for sharing your political views on Facebook:

1) Be humorous. Humor disarms and is a powerful weapon to articulate a point of view to someone who may not agree with you.

2) Comment on timely topics and events. Remember the “Query Deserves Freshness” (QDF) rule of Google search which ranks fresh content on timely topics higher. Be relevant in your discussions, especially with those whom you may disagree.

3) Use an image, preferably one that promotes empathy or sympathy for your cause. Social media is about images. Without them your message is ineffective.

4) Avoid ad hominem attacks on those who do not share your views online.

5) Rely on facts and figures and data to support your position. Utilize infographics. Social issues especially are helped along by sociological data to support your position.

6) Listen and learn and engage your audience. Your audience must first know that you listen to them, before they will entrust you to persuade or lead them.

7) Timing of posts; the best time to post on Facebook is between and 9 and 10 p.m. EST. People are more receptive to messages at this time.

8) Be a consensus builder. Find small issues that you can agree with those of different political viewpoints first.

9) Be conversational. Facebook is a large cocktail party; act as though you were talking with your friends in person. Social media is a conversation and it helps to be pleasant and engaging.

10) Keep you content consistent and interesting. Facebook is not a graffiti wall in which you just post information for the sake of posting. Give thought to your overall posts. Once posted, it is out there. Even if you delete your post, chances are someone may have taken a screenshot photo of it.

The most important rule of all in discussing politics on Facebook is to use your common sense and be civil. Just as in real world conversation, civility and tone can go a long way in your online conversation.

Meet Chris Shattuck – Arc 3’s Social Media Management and Analytics Intern for Summer 2014

July 20, 2014 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

Chris Shattuck is a summer graduate of Georgia State University with an honors degree in public relations and marketing.

An Atlanta native, he currently lives in Decatur, enjoys traveling and is passionate about photography and digital media.

Last year, Chris served as editor-in-chief of The Signal, Georgia State’s nationally award-winning student newspaper, and led the paper’s print and digital rebranding campaign.

Chris oversaw all aspects of weekly content, design production, marketing & advertising for The Signal. During his tenure as editor-in-chief, The Signal was recognized as the “Best College Newspaper” by the Southeast Journalism Conference.

Chris has also worked as an intern for The Carter Center‘s Office of Public Information and as a full-time reporter for Global Atlanta, covering local business and culture in Atlanta from a global perspective. [Read more…]

Content Marketing and Social Media Case Study: Cherokee County, Georgia Government

March 19, 2014 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners is the local governing body of one of the fastest growing counties in Georgia and the Southeast. The county is home to one of the lowest tax rates and the highest SAT scores in the state.

One of the fastest growth segments of Cherokee County’s population was an influx of the first wave of the millennial generation who were purchasing homes and building families. Increasingly, these millennials were turning to online and social media as a primary resource for news about local issues and events. The county felt that their traditional marketing efforts were not reaching and informing this audience.

In addition, county leaders were becoming increasing concerned about the county’s digital and social media presence online and the impact that it may have been having in the economic development competition with other local communities across the country in attracting new businesses and large employers to the county.

Arc 3 Communications worked with Cherokee County Board of Commissioners to develop a plan for creating content for their website and social media networks to educate and inform stakeholders, constituents, businesses and c-level executives.

Through the development of a content marketing plan which included an identification of key messages, audiences and content buckets, the county was able to launch a new website and social media program that reached key audiences. Training was provided to county department heads and staff on key social media channels and tactics; content tips and the content marketing ideation process.

Cherokee County’s new content marketing and social media program has resulted in a 53% increase in fans on Facebook; 241% increase in followers on Twitter; and 40% follower growth on LinkedIn. Cherokee County has also established a strong presence on Instagram in anticipation of the visual growth in social media. Cherokee County has seen its Klout Score, a measure of social media influence, increase by 300%.

However, a successful content marketing and social media campaign is not just measured by the number of likes and followers. More importantly Cherokee County has seen an increase in citizen engagement and civic reporting, greater citizen awareness about their local government, and more economic development leads. Cherokee County was just recently awarded the location to the county of Inalfa Roof Systems, an economic development win that was recognized by Governor Nathan Deal and the Georgia Economic Developers Association as the “Deal of the Year” for 2013.

7 Ways to Use Facebook Hashtags in Politics

September 6, 2013 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

With the introduction of hashtags and graph search by Facebook, hashtags have grown in their effectiveness as an advocacy and mobilization tool. Hashtags have long been an effective tool on Twitter, helping to organize people by shared interest. Facebook, which has organized people by shared connection, had an inability to mobilize people by shared interest. With hashtags, Facebook allows users the ability to connect by interest in an expansive way.

With over 1 billion users, Facebook has a dynamic network in which a campaign or organization can utilize hashtags to reach extended, adjacent and far-off networks of people with similar interests. Once only great to organize people online and offline after you make a connection, Facebook with hashtags is an effective tool in organizing people of a shared interest, value or belief who are not yet socially connected.

Here are some tips for incorporating hashtags into Facebook page posts to promote your political content and connect with those of a shared interest.

1) Ideology: One of the easiest ways to promote your organization’s content is to reach those of a like ideological mind. The most popular ideology hashtags are #tcot, ‘top conservatives on twitter” and #p2, “progressives who prioritize diversity and empowerment” and #tlot, “top libertarians on twitter”.

2) Party affiliation: Although there is a close correlation between ideology and party identification, in order to ensure that you reach all of those with a shared party affiliation, include a reference to your local, state or national party. The most popular hashtags are those associated with the respective state parties. For example in Georgia, the Republican Party hashtag is #gagop and the Democratic Party hashtag is #gadems.

3) Issue: In the promotion of a issue or policy, utilization of a hashtag to build support for the issue is an effective tool. Providing quality insights and updates on timely issues is a way to build supporters and followers. The Google QDF rule (quality deserves freshness) applies to search on social media networks by hashtag. People hunger for meaningful content on timely issues and will search to find it. For example, #Syria, is one of the most popular hashtags on social media, due to it being a timely and relevant issue as the U.S. considers military intervention there.

4) Location: Geolocation is critical in social media. As social, location and mobile merge together, the ability to connect with those in your immediate vicinity is important in the promotion of a post. Placing a hashtag that indicates your location can not only build credibility in your posts, but can draw the interest of those in your local area. People hunger for local news around them, and the power of connecting with people in your local area on social media cannot be underestimated. For example, state and local specific hashtags such as #gapol and #atl ensure that you are reaching people in your local area. If you are attending a place, event or conference see if there are hashtags that have been developed for that specific site. For example, at the national party conventions last year, #gop2012 and #dnc2012 were the respective hashtags for these events.

5) Social TV: There is a strong correlation between live television and social media. People love to share insights on TV programs on their 2nd screen and watch alongside others online to see their feedback. During last year, some of Twitter’s most trafficked moments occurred during the Presidential debates between President Obama and Governor Romney that aired on live TV. Utilizing hashtags for specific events that air on television is way to connect with followers and audiences and promote your posts. During the first Presidential debate, the Obama-Biden campaign utilized #ForwardNotBack effectively in promoting their candidate.

6) Look to the Past: History and sentimentality about the past is a fundamental part of the human experience. People love to remember and are drawn to content that reminds them of the “way things were”. Our civic institutions and political parties have a rich history in which content can be pulled. One of the fundamental parts of being a candidate is telling your biography and life experience. Utilizing a hashtag such as #TBT (Throwback Thursday) or #FBF (Flashback Friday) can be very effective in gaining followers as they are some of the most popular hashtags on social media.

7) Humor: Humor disarms and is a powerful weapon to articulate a point of view to someone who may or may not agree with you. Use of humorous hashtags can enlist followers and supporters for your cause in more subtle way. For example in the 2012 Presidential election, the Obama campaign utilized the #Romnesia hashtag to describe Governor Romney’s inconsistent policy stances over the years. Many hashtags or slogans that are started in earnest by a campaign or group can become hijacked by the opposite side who use the hashtags in a humorous way. In the 2012 campaign, the Obama-Biden team had put out the hashtag #forward, a key campaign slogan. The RNC quickly utilized the #forward hashtag to describe moving “forward” to $491 billion in higher taxes for Obamacare; deficits over $1 trillion; and $1.9 trillion in higher taxes.

With the continued integration of search and social, hashtags are becoming an increasingly important part of content and social advertising strategies for Facebook. The use of hashtags can connect your organization in a timely manner with the audience you are trying to reach and promote your content. So don’t forget the #hashtag in your next post.

Vine, Instagram and the Role of Short Video in Politics

July 6, 2013 By Patrick L. Burns 1 Comment

Candidates, elected officials and the media are beginning to experiment with short video platforms such as Vine, Tout and Instagram Video. Because of the shortness of the videos created and shared on social networks, these platforms are ideal for the emerging mobile market, which is growing exponentially.

C-SPAN used Tout at the 2012 GOP Convention in Tampa. Delegates to the RNC Convention were encouraged to submit 15-second Tout videos of their experience. Several submitted videos by RNC Delegates were aired on C-SPAN. Earlier in 2012, C-SPAN sent its Campaign 2012 bus on a week-long tour of universities and towns in North Carolina to get feedback from students and citizens on the Presidential campaign, asking them to submit their thoughts and ideas via Tout.

Vine, a mobile app owned by Twitter has grown significantly in popularity. Vine allows users to create six-second videos and share them via Twitter and Facebook. President Obama recently signed up as a Vine user and has posted short videos ranging from the White House Science Fair to a note commemorating the anniversary of the Library of Congress. Several members of Congress have used Vine to mark everything from the submittal of legislative bills to the welcoming of constituent visitors to the Capitol.

The National Republican Congressional Committee produced one of the first political ads on Vine in April targeting Elizabeth Colbert-Busch in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District special election. The ad focused on Colbert-Busch’s support from Union groups after a recent controversy regarding the National Labor Relations Board and its initial opposition to the location of a Boeing plant in South Carolina. The ad received a good deal of earned media coverage.

Instagram video is new to the short video platform scene having been just released by Facebook in June. Instagram video allows users to create 15-second videos and share them via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, Foursquare and e-mail. In another differentiation from Vine, Instagram has a “cinema feature” which helps to stabilize video shot within the app. Those elected officials who have long had Instagram accounts such as the White House and members of Congress, are starting to utilize the Instagram video feature. First Lady Michelle Obama recently uploaded videos of her South Africa trip with the President to her Instagram account. House Majority Whip, Kevin McCarthy recently uploaded an Instagram video of him playing Frisbee with the family dog at his home in California. Congressman McCarthy’s video received over 2k likes on Instagram.

Will other campaigns and elected officials follow suit in using short video platforms? Only time will tell. One current challenge with using these platforms, are that they only allow you to shoot video with a mobile device and do not allow for the uploading of professional quality video shot separately. This results in less quality production of video for an ad. For example, Vine political ads have the quality of early release bootleg video recordings of movies playing in theaters, as they are a smartphone recording of a video produced elsewhere. Campaigns may be well-advised to use Vine and other short video platforms for “insider” type shots and quick interviews that are shot originally on a smartphone.

Due to the continued growth of mobile, platforms such as Vine, Instagram and Tout are idyllic for the sharing of short video which users can view quickly while running errands or taking a break at work. Short video fits into the BuzzFeed news model of heavy and light content that the news is evolving into. However, these short video platforms are best for producing light hearted content until they have the capacity to upload production quality video.

The Top Ten Most Social Media Savvy Grassroots Organizations in America

February 28, 2013 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

The recent legislative battle over the SOPA bill between the Motion Picture Association of America and the technology industry highlighted the evolution of tactics in advocating for or against legislation and policies. The Motion Picture Association of America pursued traditional lobbying tactics, while the technology industry mobilized their grassroots supporters via social media and the internet to support the cause of internet freedom. The technology industry’s victory over the Motion Picture Association of America last year showed the effectiveness of grassroots organizations united behind a cause and its anniversary was marked this year as Internet Freedom Day.

Grassroots organizations with their organic nature and individual member support for specific causes stand to grow in influence and benefit from the advent of social media as an advocacy tool. Social media as a platform is most conducive to the passionate and intense nature of grassroots organizations and the causes that they support.

Arc 3 looks at the top ten most social media savvy grassroots organizations. The list was compiled analyzing the Klout Scores and number of Twitter and Facebook followers for the largest and most powerful grassroots organizations in the country.

1. National Rifle Association (Klout Score 89) – Few groups match the grassroots-powered influence of the NRA, which faces an intense fight with the Obama administration over its push for stronger gun control laws in the wake of the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. The NRA has a strong social media network to mobilize and inform its members with over 131K followers on Twitter and 105K likes on Facebook.

2. Sierra Club (Klout Score 88) – The Sierra Club has spearheaded strong opposition to the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline with a solid team that includes Dave Hamilton, leader of the group’s “Beyond Coal” campaign, and Melinda Pierce, a veteran of the fights over Arctic drilling. The Sierra Club is one of most savvy social media grassroots groups with 183K likes on Facebook and over 58K followers on Twitter.

3. FreedomWorks (Klout Score 86) – Despite the recent departure of its former Chairman Dick Armey and the turmoil that ensued, FreedomWorks continues to exert considerable influence as a grassroots organization advocating for economic freedom. With over 98K followers on Twitter and 4.2 million likes on Facebook, FreedomWorks is a force to be reckoned with in the social media space.

4. Natural Resources Defense Council (Klout Score 86) – With over 1.3 million members and online activists, the NRDC is a strong force in opposition to the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline. David Hawkins of their group is considered one of the top experts on global warming. With over 81K followers on Twitter and 195K Likes on Facebook, the NRDC is a social media powerhouse.

5. The Wilderness Society (Klout Score 84) – With legislative efforts led by David Moulton, a former top adviser to Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), the organization is a strong advocate on climate change policy as well as conservation. The Wilderness Society has a solid social media presence with over 21K Followers on Twitter and 34K likes on Facebook.

6. Public Citizen (Klout Score 83) – Co-founded over 40 years ago by Ralph Nader, the group has focused heavily on campaign finance reform and the passage of ethics reforms in Congress in recent years. With over 14K Twitter followers and 23K likes on Facebook, Public Citizen has an agressive approach to social media in the tradition of its founder.

7. Human Rights First (Klout Score 83) – Led by Elisa Massimino, the organization is focused on keeping individual liberties front and center as the United States grapples with the changes that are sweeping the Middle East. Human Rights First has over 23K followers on Twitter and 33K likes on Facebook and a social media presence that helps the organization to highlight its many human rights concerns around the world.

8. Americans for Tax Reform (Klout Score 82) – Led by Grover Norquist, the father of the anti-tax pledge signed by most congressional Republicans, the group has been tested by members of Congress who are looking at tax increases and elimination of deductions as a way to shore up budget deficits. Americans for Tax Reform has over 14K followers on Twitter and 39K likes on Facebook and a social media network that could create a firestorm for any member of Congress who abandons their anti-tax pledge.

9. National Wildlife Federation (Klout Score 80) – Jeremy Symons, who previously handled climate issues for the EPA and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) serves as top political strategist for the influential conservationist lobby. Recognized as one of ” Top 5 Enterprises Using Social Media” by Mashable in 2010, the National Wildlife Federation has shown a commitment to social media to help raise awareness and build community. It currently has 125k Twitter followers and 118k likes on Facebook.

10. American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (Klout 80) – President Obama will visit Israel in March for the first time as President. However, the relationship between the Obama administration and Israel has been rocky. Former diplomat, Bradley Gordon and current top lobbyist for AIPAC, will have to use all of his negotiating skills to get the administration more in sync with Israel. With over 17K followers on Twitter and 36K likes on Facebook, AIPAC has a social media prowess that can exert pressure on members of Congress and the Obama administration at key moments in time.

At the early part of 2013, these are the top ten most social media savvy grassroots organizations. In the upcoming months, innovation in social media by grassroots groups will drive up their membership and result in legislative and policy victories. A grassroots organization’s effectiveness will depend on their creative use of social media to mobilize and educate their members and the media.

The Top Ten Most Social Media Savvy Trade Associations in America

January 30, 2013 By Patrick L. Burns 2 Comments

With the inaugaration of President Barack Obama and the convening of the U.S. Congress, the business of governing truly begins in earnest. With the business of governing, comes the creation and passage of legislation and policies that affect important constituency groups. Some of the most powerful constituency groups are those that represent specific industries that employ hundreds of thousands of Americans. The “trades” that these associations represent vary from sectors such as high technology to small business to health care and energy.

With the widespread adoption of social media by elected officials, the media and the public; social media has become a critical part of the advocacy toolkit for trade associations. The recent legislative battle over the SOPA bill between the Motion Picture Association of America and the technology industry highlighted the evolution of tactics in advocating for or against legislation. The Motion Picture Association of America pursued traditional lobbying tactics, while the technology industry mobilized their grassroots supporters via social media and the internet. The technology industry’s victory over the Motion Picture Association of America last year sent shock waves through the K street community that they must evolve and change.

How have they done? Arc 3 looks at the top ten most social media savvy trade associations at the start of 2013. The list was compiled analyzing the Klout scores and number of Twitter and Facebook followers for the largest and most powerful trade associations in the country.

1. National Federation of Independent Business (Klout score 81) – Led by Dan Danner, this organization promotes fewer regulations and lower taxes. Despite seeing its challenge to the Democratic healthcare law fall short, the NFIB is one of the most social media savvy trade associations in the country with over 34K followers on Twitter and 171K likes on Facebook.

2. American Bankers Association (Klout score 81) – Led by Frank Keating, the former governor of Oklahoma, the ABA has evolved its communication strategies and embraced social media during a time of upheaval for their industry. The ABA has over 13K followers on Twitter and 1K likes on Facebook. The ABA’s high Klout score is attributed to it constant updates, as its Twitter account has over 10K Tweets.

3. Business Roundtable (Klout score 79) – Led by John Engler, a former Michigan governor, the corporate leaders of the Roundtable support a lower corporate tax rate and more trade deals. The Business Roundtable has over 12K Twitter followers and 13K likes on Facebook and a steady stream of tweets and posts to inform the media and its members.

4. U.S. Chamber of Commerce (Klout score 69) – Tom Donohue leads a powerful business advocacy group which donates millions of dollars to business-friendly candidates every election cycle. The Chamber is also a digital powerhouse with over 312K likes on Facebook and over 97K followers on Twitter.

5. National Retail Federation (Klout score 67) – NRF’s communications efforts are led by Bill Thorne, a former senior director for advocacy and outreach at the Walmart Corporation. Thorne has built a strong digital effort for the association as it pursues the passage of a national online sales tax. The association’s over 16K followers on Twitter and over 4K likes on Facebook are competitive with its online sales tax opponents in the technology industry.

6. National Restaurant Association (Klout Score 66)- Led by Dawn Sweeney, the restaurant trade group has expanded its policy and digital efforts. With over 11K followers on Twitter and 13K likes on Facebook it is clear that the association has picked up some social media tips from its member restaurants who have long been in the business of creating brand evangelists.

7. National Association of Realtors (Klout Score 66) – Led by longtime NAR veteran Dale Stinton, this association has battled a brutal housing market and a Congress considering housing finance reform. The association has solid digital resources to back its legislative efforts with 62K followers on Twitter and 109K likes on Facebook.

8. American Medical Association (Klout Score 65) – Led by Dr. James Madara, the AMA has gained bi-partisan support and is working to replace a Medicare payment formula that threatens doctors with drastic cuts. To build support for its efforts the association has a strong social media presence with over 269K followers on Twitter and 26K likes on Facebook.

9. American Wind Energy Association (Klout Score 63) – Led by Rob Gramlich, this association recently saw Congress extend an industry tax incentive that has led to explosive growth in wind power. AWEA has the wind at its back with a social media presence that has over 43K likes on Facebook and over 22K followers on Twitter.

10. National Association of Home Builders (Klout Score 63) – Led by Jerry Howard, this association’s primary goal is to defend the mortgage interest deduction amidst members of Congress who may see its elimination as a potential way to alleviate budget deficits. NAHB has a solid social media presence with over 16K followers on Twitter and over 28K likes on Facebook.

At the start of 2013, these are the top ten most social media savvy U.S. trade associations. The list is dominated by traditional industry associations that have strengthened their social media presence for what will be a very tough year in the Congress as the budget deficit looms over all discussions. Difficult times will require associations to be innovative in their mobilization and education of members about important and timely legislation and policies that could alter the course of the industries that they represent.

Crisis Communications, Social Media and Pecha Kucha

October 18, 2012 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

In order to better protect the reputation of your organization, new crisis communications protocols that integrate social media strategies must be put in place to meet today’s new challenges. The following presentation by Patrick L. Burns, President of Arc 3 Communications, quickly highlights key strategies that are an important part of an updated crisis communications plan that incorporates social media. Presentation was originally presented to Social Media Club of Atlanta at their 2012 Pecha Kucha Night. Presentation is in pecha kucha format which is a simple, fast-paced style where the presenter shows 20 slides, each for either 15 or 20 seconds so that presentation is either 5 minutes long or 6 minutes 40 seconds long.

To view Patrick’s presentation to the Social Media Club of Atlanta, please click the following link:

What Happens In Vegas Goes on YouTube: Crisis Communications and Social Media

What is your Klout Score? How Your Social Media Influence Matters

September 12, 2012 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

What is your Klout Score? Your Klout score is a two digit score that measures your social media influence. If you have a Twitter account in which you are doing public updates you have a Klout score. You can supplement your score by adding Google Plus, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Tumblr, Instagram, Blogger, WordPress, LastFM or Flickr to your Klout account. While Google has an algorithm that measures page rank, Klout has developed an algorithm to measure social media influence. Google has an algorithim that ranks the relevancy of every webpage, while Klout is working to measure the influence of every person online. Klout scores are calculated using variables that can include number of followers, frequency of updates, the Klout scores of your friends and followers and the number of likes, retweets, and shares that your updates receive. Interacting with someone who has a high Klout score also helps to increase your score.

The Klout Score algorithm was created by it’s founder, Joe Fernandez in 2008. Klout’s algorithm was little changed until October of 2011, when the algorithm was tweaked, most likely to more greatly account for Facebook as tool of influence. This caused a considerable uproar among technologists, who heavily dependent on Twitter, saw a dip in their scores. Many technologists clamored that Klout simply no longer mattered and was meaningless.

However, with the most recent change in the Klout algorithm last month, technologists are giving Klout a second look and liking what they see. Prominent tech blogger, Michael Arrington (formerly of TechCrunch) liked what Klout was doing so much that he proceeded to invest in the company. The new Klout algorithm takes into account more real world influence — through a combination of bringing in 12 times more data points everyday, and taking into account things like Wikipedia pages and weighting LinkedIn profile data higher.

The new Klout profile page for an individual also is a timeline of recent social media interactions — specific Tweets, status updates and Instagram photos that have resonated with people. It’s no longer just about how many Retweets an individual gets, but who Retweeted them, and how they did it. Did they add their own commentary? Was it a “via”? Or a straight RT? Some 400 factors play into the new score. It’s less a number, and more a social resume on one page. The new version of Klout is focusing not just on the number of measurement of influence but also shows which clever tweets or posts by an individual resonated the most with their followers.

Does your Klout score and the social media influence that it represents truly matter? The answer is indisputabley yes. Klout scores are entering into our everday lives, especially for those who travel and conduct business on the road. Airlines, hotels and retailers are starting to evaluate ways in which they can use Klout scores to identify brand evangelists of whom they wish to keep happy. Individuals with higher Klout scores will get aisle seats on airplanes, more spacious hotel rooms, and special discounts at big name retail stores. The enterprise software giant Salesforce.com has a service that lets companies monitor the Klout scores of customers. Those with higher Klout scores will get more attention and quicker service from customer service representatives determined to keep them from tweeting or posting negative comments to their many followers. Klout has nearly 2 billion API (application programming interface) calls per day from some 8,000 partners – frequently from customer call centers who want to know exactly who are the customers that are calling in.

Some of the most influential brand customers with Klout scores of 50 or higher are eligible for perks and gifts ranging from free smart phones to all expense paid trips to weekend test drives of automobiles. Klout has done 400 “Perks” programs that have given some 750,000 influencers special deals with no quid pro quo– only a hope that they’ll say something nice about a brand. Brand rewards for Klout scores are a reflection in the social media age of the special treatment that brands have given out for years to high profile names, the press, and individuals who have spent lots of money on the brand. Klout has democratized influence.

Beyond the perks, Klout is rating and showing people’s online influence on various topics so that others can learn from them. In addition it rewards individuals for their social media efforts by helping them to feel listened to on certain topics. In this way, Klout’s ranking system is working to build a better online community. In today’s social media age, those that push out interesting content are the new influencers, and after several attempts, Joe Fernandez and Klout appear to be on their way to develop a rating system for measuring social media influence that is accurate and matters.

How to Better Keep Track of the News Important to You

Meet Chris Shattuck – Arc 3’s Social Media Management and Analytics Intern for Summer 2014

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