veterans affairs and new media
TRANSCRIPT
VA and New Media
Presented by:
Brandon FriedmanDirector of Online Communications
Alex HortonNew Media Specialist
Bottom Line Up Front
• This is about leveraging new technology to get the right information to the right Veteran at the right time.
• Veterans today are online, so it’s our job to meet them where they’re already congregating
• Direct engagement/interaction encourages trust in the system and adds that long-needed human touch
A Framework for Communication
• Three phases:
– Disseminating information effectively
• How we reach the Veteran
– Obtaining feedback and acting on it
• How the Veteran reaches us (and how we react)
– Sustaining and building an audience
• Constant, healthy, two-way communication between VA and our audience using new media tools
How We’re Reaching Veterans
• VA currently uses five primary platforms
– Blog
– YouTube
– Flickr
VAntage Point: The Official VA Blog
YouTube
Flickr
What We’ve Accomplished
• VA Blog– VAntage Point launched on
Veterans Day 2010 w/an editor and two primary bloggers
– Allows for both internally produced articles as well as “guest pieces”
– In first months, published over 80 articles, 70 guest pieces, and received nearly 4,000 comments from the public
What We’ve Accomplished
• Facebook– With over 135,000
subscribers, VA’s main page has the largest following among cabinet-level agencies (top 10 among all federal agencies)
– 91 VA medical centers (VAMCs) have Facebookpages w/plans to expand to all 152
– VAMCs reach over 47,000 each day
What We’ve Accomplished
• Twitter– VA’s main feed has over
21,000 followers
– All three VA administrations and several program offices have Twitter feeds
– 49 VAMCs have Twitter feeds w/plans to expand to all 152
– VAMCs reach over 10,000 each day
What We’ve Accomplished
• YouTube
– VA has posted over 310 informational videos which have been viewed over 531,000 times
– VA’s 2010 Veterans Day video received over 180,000 views alone
What We’ve Accomplished
• Flickr
• VA has posted over 7,700 photos which have been viewed over 577,000 times
Where We’re Headed
• Refining how we measure success
– Reach
– Impact
• Ability to funnel feedback to appropriate offices and SMEs for action
• Live chats w/VA leaders/Interactivity
Conclusion
• VA has made great strides in the past 18 months in terms of reconfiguring how we interact with our stakeholders
• Our efforts have not gone unnoticed in the media and among VSOs
• We still have much to do
VA’s Social Media Sites
• Main Sites– http://www.blogs.va.gov
– http://www.facebook.com/VeteransAffairs
– http://twitter.com/DeptVetAffairs
– http://www.youtube.com/user/DeptVetAffairs
– http://www.flickr.com/photos/VeteransAffairs
• Directory– http://www.va.gov/opa/SocialMedia.asp