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Cool Green Science: The Nature Conservancy Blog 6.30.09 : Dave Connell & Amy Ganderson Agenda What is Cool Green Science Why We Blog How We Blog How (some of us) Don’t Blog Social media overview Integrating your blog with social media Measuring your success Q & A
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Cool Green Science: The Nature Conservancy Blog 6.30.09 : Dave Connell & Amy Ganderson
Agenda • What is Cool Green Science • Why We Blog • How We Blog • How (some of us) Don’t Blog • Social media overview • Integrating your blog with social media • Measuring your success • Q & A
What is Cool Green Science • Thoughts of Conservancy Staff and Scientists • Group blog of 18 contributors • Scientists • Policymakers • Interesting staff • Conservancy news and views • Environmental topics of the moment
Why We Blog • Increased audience • Two-way/community interaction • Blog • Facebook • Twitter • Position staff as thought leaders • Policy • Science • It’s (supposedly) easy • It’s liberating
How We Blog • Three (somewhat random) tips that have worked for us • Developing personalities/followings • Doing a daily must-read digest • Being decidedly non-niche
Our Blogger Code • One post every two weeks • Get supervisor approval up front, then you're on your own • Edit for style and substance • No violating SOPs • No defamer/libel • Comments are moderated for civility only • When have you crossed the line? We know it when we see it… usually.
Pitfalls and Problems • Contributors who don’t contribute • Contributors who are bigger than Jesus • Contributors who don’t get it • Backseat bloggers • Contributors have to be the right mix between institutionally powerful/influential and those who have the time, talent and inclination to participate.
The one thing to remember: • Leverage existing and established social networks. • (If you don’t have existing and established social networks – get some. Possibly before you start blogging. )
Social Media Overview • Dedicated marketing staff • Vast exposure on nature.org • Our branded social networks • Facebook • MySpace • YouTube • Flickr • Twitter • Gather • Care2 • Change.org • OneCause
Social Media Integration • Phase 1: Develop a plan and assign roles • Phase 2: Make an announcement! • Phase 3: Market your content
Social Media Integration Phase 1: Develop a plan and assign roles Decide how each social network will be used Establish the tone and consider your audience Have a clear division of labor Determine the frequency of marketing content
Social Media Integration • Phase 1: Develop a plan and assign roles • Lessons learned • Started with RSS feeds, shifted to customized messages • Roles evolved to multiple contributors • Constantly adjusting our strategy
Social Media Integration • Phase 2: Make an announcement! • Canvas all of your social networks announcing your blog has launched • Add your blog’s url to each social network profile • Ask your fans to spread the word • Contact your partners and build out your blogroll
Social Media Integration • Phase 2: Make an announcement! • Lessons learned • Fans, members, and partners were extremely supportive and excited! • Don’t be afraid to repurpose the same marketing message in a slightly different way • Remember to use your other channels (email, website, search)
Social Media Integration • Phase 3: Market your content • Use your blog stories as a NEW source of content • Use probing questions as headlines • Let an image catch the interest of your audience • Create an ongoing story • Test and see what works best in each channel
Social Media Integration • Phase 3: Market your content - Facebook
Social Media Integration • Phase 3: Market your content - Twitter
Social Media Integration • Phase 3: Market your content - Twitter
Measure your success • Trackable Metrics • Unique visitors / pageviews • Return visitor percentage • Referring search traffic • Google PageRank for your blog’s homepage • Crosslinks on elite blogs / media • Time spent on site • Approved comments • RSS subscribers / reach • Blog pages shared
Measure your success • Tools • Google Analytics • Feedburner • ShareThis • Technorati • Wordpress • Tweetlater
Our Success So Far • Google PageRank of 7 out of 10 • Top blog crosslinks: New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Treehugger, and other top blogs • More than 8,800 followers on Twitter • Techorati ranking of 63,343 & Authority 55 • Facebook and Twitter consistently rank in the top three traffic sources (social media is working!)
Thank You! Dave Connell dconnell@tnc.org Amy Ganderson aganderson@tnc.org The Nature Conservancy http://www.nature.org Cool Green Science Blog http://blog.nature.org Twitter @nature_org