Hashtags and Flash Floods

and Flu Shots, Oh My!

Adding Social Media to

the Public Health Toolkit

Agenda

• Introduction

• Case Study: VTResponse.com

• What is Social Media?

• Getting Started

• @InstantlyInform

• Questions & Answers

CASE STUDY: VTRESPONSE

Hurricane Katrina, August 2005

Waveland, MS

Twitter After Irene

A 2.0 solution to volunteer management in

the wake of Tropical Storm Irene that

connected thousands of people in need to

those willing to help.

OR

A place for people to connect.

Key Goals

• Consolidate

information

• Create a place to

connect

• Accessible to all

• Simple to use

Managing VTResponse

• Check Email, Twitter and Voicemail

• Review comments and forums

• Review VTExchange.org

• 17 individual town pages

• 12 individual town web pages

• 6 State of Vermont Sites

• 27 person contact list

• Traditional Media Sources

By the Numbers

• 938 posts

• 1,150 followers on Twitter

• 426, 686 total views

• 44, 688 views on August 31st, 2011

• 35,410 forum participants

WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

Social media is what you make it. It’s a

place to engage, to share, to learn and

to connect.

Key Tools for Public Health

Facebook

Twitter

Blog

Facebook

• Membership required

• Users create profiles

• Can handle text, photos and videos

• Allows commenting, liking and sharing

• Who’s On?

Twitter

• Requires membership to post

• All can read if profile is public

• 140 character limit

• Information can be re-shared rapidly

• Who’s On?

Blog

• No membership required

• Easy to set up, maintain and update

• Can handle almost limitless text and photo

• Autopost to Twitter and Facebook

GETTING STARTED

The Basics

Build your audience before you need it.

Manage the information.

Use fewer tools well, rather than all the tools poorly.

Create a system that is as automatic as possible.

Building Audience

Engagement is key.

• Identify key players

• Follow generously

• Create a conversation

Manage the Information

If you don’t share it, someone

else will.

• Clear, concise, original.

• Provide contact information for follow-up

• Seek user generated content

• Active, consistent participation

Launching Instantly Informed

@InstantlyInform

Thank You

• Greg Moore

• Tom Birkland

• Matt Sisto/Katy Kent

Questions/Comments