Friday, May 15, NextGenWeb presented the third session of our Social Media for Staffers series on the Hill. After an introductory event where we explored demographics and franking rules, and then a session on monitoring social media, it was time to delve into how to create and promote content on blogs and microblogs (like Twitter).

Aaron Brazell, an expert on blogging known best for his work on Technosailor.com, was a featured panelist for both the Republican and Democratic events. Before his presentation, Aaron shared the thoughts he’d like to leave with staffers on his blog:

In another lifetime, you played the game by talking to the press and hoping that they found interest in your cause. Now, you can go directly to the American people. … Blogs have given us as citizens an expectation for engagement. For conversation. For exchange of information, ideas and transparency. Major media for the most part has not figured this out yet, and that is why more Americans get their news on the internet.

Erick Sanchez of Congressman Tim Ryan’s (D – OH) Office and Matthew Lundh of Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ (R- WA) Office also contributed significantly to the Democratic and Republican panels respectively, by sharing their insider perspectives as staffers who manage blogs and blogger relations for their offices.

Key takeaways from the event include:

• Engage bloggers writing about your boss/issue whether the coverage is positive or negative. Respond constructively, as all of the dialogue is public.

• Get to know bloggers in your district. It’s good to establish a relationship before a crisis. Reach out via email, comment, Twitter or phone.

• Different people prefer different formats of content, so it’s good to use photos, audio and video, in addition to text.

• A lot of journalists read blogs and follow Twitter for story ideas. Social media is a great way to initiate or solidify relationships with reporters.

• Put the human touch on your postings/tweets. Treat it like a conversation, rather than a press release for optimal success.

• If you want to share news with other bloggers, don’t send a press release. Or if you do, carefully personalize it!

• Monitor your site analytics. You’ll be surprised to see how much traffic comes from your blog and Twitter.

• Consider using the iTunes store for regular distribution of audio / podcasts.

• It’s good to have your blog ready to respond to bad stories or promote good news and events. Also, reach out to blogger allies for additional support.

• For a really strong response to something, post a video so viewers can see more emotion and personality.

• Use the popular hashtags for each party to promote content or identify followers on Twitter. (#TCOT for conservatives, #p2 for progressives)

• To easily develop blog content, use:

o Office news clips
o Photos of the Member
o Links to local bloggers’ content from your district (a “hat tip” works wonders for relationship-building)
o Radio interviews (TVI subscriptions help capture radio)
o Reposition other office output, even Congressional Record!
Other tips:

• Use the popular “Washington Post test” (what if this lands on the front page of the Washington Post tomorrow?) to determine whether to post content.

• Secure your bosses’ name across all social media sites, so that you have them for when you are ready and so that imposters cannot use them.

• Post “disclaimer language” and/or “user agreements” on your site to protect yourself if you need to remove destructive content. Electronic Frontier Foundation offers great legal resources for bloggers on their website.

Our next event is on June 5th and we will take a closer look at online community building. Panelists, including Adam Conner from Facebook, will show staffers how they can best use sites like Facebook to solidify relationships and virally distribute information.

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