Web Manager University – Fall 2009
Class Title: Finding Your Social Media Voice
| Class Format: | Webinar | |
| Instructor: | Jed Sundwall | |
| Date | Wednesday, December 2, 2009 | |
| Time: | 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm EST | |
| Place: | Online Webinar* | |
| Fee: | $50 for federal, state, or local U.S. government employees; $75 for non–government participants | |
Webinar Description
Your organization or agency has a "formal" voice, which is used in official statements, press releases, brochures and even your website. This voice is likely very well suited to these "formal" communications channels. However, the online public now expects to be able to communicate with your organization on a more personal level, via more informal social networks – and your "formal" voice may not work as well in this environment.
As you consider using social media tools to communicate and engage with constituents, you may need to develop another "informal" voice that's approachable, friendly, and warm – yet remains consistent with your "formal" voice. As you communicate through an increasing number of channels, how can you ensure that your organizational voices convey the right information and messages, regardless of venue?
This course is designed to help save time and mitigate risk when using social media by helping you develop a consistent voice that constituents recognize and respond to positively, no matter where they encounter it.What You Will Learn
You will learn why it's important to develop a consistent and identifiable voice, looking at best practices from within the government and the private sector.
Methods to identify and refine a social media voice, including how to:
- Identify the components of your organizational voice with i nternal research
- Identify who your audience is and how they communicate online with o ngoing user research
- Effectively engage constituents in conversations online
- Develop guidelines to ensure that your voice is consistent across all communications channels
Who Should Attend
Anyone responsible for managing the creation of content online including web managers, content managers, community managers, writers, interface designers, online customer service representatives.
Level of Course
Intermediate
About the Instructor
Jed Sundwall is the director of social media marketing for Captura Group. At Captura Group, he has developed social media outreach strategies for USA.gov, GobiernoUSA.gov, PayPal, and Century21.
Prior to joining Captura Group, Jed worked at Eventful.com where he developed and managed social media outreach initiatives for Barack Obama for President, John Edwards for President, Mike Huckabee for President, and Ron Paul for President. His work at Eventful.com yielded coverage in CNN, the Washington Post, the New York Times, The Politico, Wired.com, Slate.com, and the Associated Press.
He is also a researcher and consultant for NetSquared, an organization that helps non profit organizations use social media tools to enhance their operations. At NetSquared, he works with executives from Creative Commons, Flickr, Mozilla Foundation, and Wikipedia to identify and codify social media best practices.
Jed holds B.A. degrees in Spanish and English from the University of Utah and a Master's of International Relations from the University of California, San Diego.
