Engaging Your Target Audience Using Social Media

TSA Works 24/7 To Keep People Safe

• Screen Flights and Employees

• 457 commercial airports

• 2 million airline passengers daily

• 1000 + Checkpoints

Challenges for TSA

Need to Educate Passengers

before they get to Checkpoint

Time to Vent!!!

Over 2000 Comments

On First Three Days

Why Did TSA Start a Blog?

• Engage the Public• Debunk Myths and False

Allegations• Explain the “Why” of

Policies & Procedures• Humanize Workforce• Defend the Agency• Announce New Initiatives

TSA Blog Statistics

• Launched in January 2008

• 229 posts• Nearly 2,000,000 visitors• Over 30,000 published

comments

I don’t trust you.

The Secret Sauce

•Thick Skin & Humor a Must• Don’t Be a Robot• Keep it real – no press releases!•Refrain from tooting your own horn• Capitalize on little victories•Write to the reader•Be responsive & establish a relationship with readers •Recruit guest bloggers in the agency•Take the negative comments in stride you can learn something •Moderate all comments (Prevents Information Leaks)•Allow anonymous commenters

Using Information From Your Blog

Use Information from your Blog

Transparency

One of the biggest challenges for a government blogger is to be transparent.

There is some information that you just can’t share.

The Perks of Transparency

You despicable, treasonous, traitorous , anti-American

minions should yourselves be put in a box. Rot in hell you

******-Bag!!!

Blogging Benefits

Infrequent flyer said...

Wow, reading this blog actually makes me think that TSA might know what they're doing.

February 11, 2008 9:43 PM

Comments

“What is TSA doing to address the supernatural threat? Ghosts could be breaching your checkpoints all day long and you’d never know it.”

Comments

“I maintain that the images show the aura of a person's soul and TSA is using that to locate the aliens who have invaded our planet! .”

Comments

“You thought my banana was a bomb. It was a delicious and nutritious fruit.”

Comments

“Please ban all nail clippers from airplanes. I’m tired of stray clippings bouncing off of my head!”

Twitter: Getting Your Information Out Further And Faster

It's So Much More Than Telling People What You Had For Breakfast

Twitter Don'ts

Don’t Tweet Too Much Avoid Arguments

Dangerously Close!

We’re Much More Tolerable

Spreading Fun

Success

Success!

TSA Vs. Mommy Blogger: Using a Combination of Social Media Tools to Protect Your Brand

A Bad Story Can Spread Like Wildfire

October 16 – 8:30 a.m.: Blogger puts up a post called: “TSA Agents Took My Son” that alleges a TSO in Atlanta took her child away during secondary screening. Very emotional post.

Story quickly spreads throughout the internet, via Twitter and other blogs. TSA OPA becomes aware.

TSA OPA uses clues from the blog to provide information to TSA-ATL, who scours through hours of CCTV footage to find tape of blogger and her child being screened.

Footage clearly shows the story is false. SLT members approve posting CCTV footage on the TSA Blog to let the public see for themselves.

Quick Response Kills the Bad Story

Early Saturday morning, “Response to TSA Took My Son” was posted on TSA’s blog, including the CCTV footage.

We used Twitter to “tweet” the blog link to everyone who spread the original post.

Story quickly changed from “Bad, Evil, Wicked TSA mistreats passenger” to “woman lies about screening experience.”

Swift Action Gives Positive Results

Blogs that initially wrote about the story as if it were true quickly apologized to TSA.

The frontline workforce expressed appreciation for HQ standing up for them.

Social media experts cited TSA’s effort as a textbook example of killing a bad story and protecting our “brand.”

Not taking action would have eroded faith in TSA and hurt our mission.

Statistics

Average Monthly Hits to Blog – 50,000

Total hits to this post: 126,790

Average comments per post: 75

Total Comments to this post: 400

Total Views of the CCTV footage on YouTube: 17,508

Technorati Ranking: Top 636

Results

Rumor Quashed

Workforce Defended

Reputation Protected

Vetting Non-Sensitive Posts

Vetting Sensitive Posts

Have Fun

#USCGPC

Using Pop Culture to Teach

Having Fun With a Serious Problem

No Fun

Busting Myths

Taking One on the Chin

Contact Information

Curtis “Bob” Burns

• curtis.burns@dhs.gov • tsablog@dhs.gov • @tsablogteam• http://www.tsa.gov/blog