Can you hear me now?
Tools for developing
effective communication
Todd McGee, NACIO First Vice President
N.C. Association of County Commissioners Communications Director
NACIO volunteers
Jessica Beyer
Blue Eearth (Minn.) County Communications Manager and Business Analyst
Dave Rose
El Paso (Colorado) County Public Information Officer
What is NACIO?
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NACo affiliate group – county PIOs
www.nacio.org
www.youtube.com/2010nacio
www.facebook.com – search for National Association of County
Information Officers
Workshop mechanics
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Split into groups
Each group will be given a unique controversial scenario
Each group will be led by a moderator from NACIO
Each group will develop its talking points
Each group will appoint a spokesperson
Goals for this workshop
• Message development
• Message delivery
Message Development
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A message is not:
 A goal
 A statistic
 A fact
 About you
Message Development
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A message
 Communicates a benefit
 Describes a shared value
 Is short, concise, clear
 Is worded carefully
Concentrate on your top 3-5 points
Always come back to them – stay on point
Don’t ramble
Hitting a home run with the interview
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Know the media:
 What type of reporter? Investigative? Features writer?
 Television – think visuals when deciding where to conduct
the interview
Follow The Boss: Check your look in the mirror
Know your message
Look at the interviewer
Answer questions with complete sentences – no infant
quotes
Talk clearly, slowly and in short, concise answers.
Can you become the next media mogul?
Social Media - Why do it?
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Takes you where the people are – more than
76% of U.S. households have Internet Access
More than two-thirds of Internet users
report using at least one social media site
Americans spend more time on-line on
Social Media sites than any other activity
Facebook and YouTube attract more than
100M unique users per month in U.S.
Social Media sites dominate Web site
rankings
Voters will visit candidate sites
Top Web sites in U.S.
1 Google.com
2 Facebook.com
3 YouTube.com
4 Yahoo.com
5. blogger.com
9. Twitter.com
17. LinkedIn.com
18. Wordpress.com
Social Media – It ain’t free, but it’s pretty darn close
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Sites are free
Do require dedicated resources
Integration is key (and easy)
Equipment and software not expensive
The Case for Facebook
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Facebook - 150M registered users in U.S. ; nearly 500M worldwide
More than 50% of mobile users have the Facebook app
Mobile users spend twice as much time on Facebook than others
Average Facebook user spends one hour per day on Facebook
Most Facebook users visit the site at home – evening
Facebook Do’s and Don’ts
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Set up a Fan page – do not use your personal Facebook page as a
campaign page
Great for two-way communication – but be careful!
Find other Community Facebook pages that are relevant and become a
fan
Engage in the conversation on those other pages – helps boost your
profile and draw traffic back to your page
Do not post personal attacks or other negative comments about
opponents, fellow board members, etc. – the media is watching
Don’t be a Twit, be a Tweeter
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Media follows Twitter – makes it easier for reporters to track what
multiple newsmakers are doing
19% of adults on-line use Twitter
Twitter users tend to browse during the day – from work
Twitter traffic has grown by more than 2,000 percent in past two
years
Great for posting and re-posting newsy types of information – keep
it formal, but engage your readers!
Don’t be a Twit, be a Tweeter
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Don’t just re-broadcast what you’ve posted on other sites
Use hash tags to help your tweets reach a larger audience
TweetDeck to update your Twitter page (www.tweetdeck.com)
• Follow multiple tweeters or hash tags
• Search for tweets about specific subjects or people
• Pops up tweets of people you are following automatically
• Shortens URLs automatically
www.tweetreach.com
Don’t be a Twit, be a Tweeter
You, too, should be on YouTube
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More than 2B videos watched each day on YouTube
More than 300M accounts on YouTube
Average American spends 3.5 hours a month watching videos on-line
Video is the most engaging content on the Web
YouTube offers great viral potential (think Phil Davison, candidate for
Stark County, Ohio, Treasurer)
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Create a YouTube channel (vs. just uploading videos)
Steps to becoming a multimedia sensation
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Sign up for all the various accounts:
• www.facebook.com
• www.twitter.com
• www.youtube.com
Link your Facebook, YouTube and Twitter accounts through your
YouTube account – automatic video updates
Link Facebook and Twitter accounts – status updates
Content is key
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Update sites regularly (at least 2-3 times per week, but more – especially
if you are allowing comments)
Links to news articles or TV reports, press releases, etc.
Content is key
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Update sites regularly (at least 2-3 times per week, but more – especially
if you are allowing comments)
Links to news articles or TV reports, press releases, etc.
Drive traffic to county Web site whenever possible
Post Twitter feed on Web site
Post links to YouTube and Facebook on Web site
Content is key
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Update sites regularly (at least 2-3 times per week, but more –
especially if you are allowing comments)
Links to news articles or TV reports, press releases, etc.
Drive traffic to county Web site whenever possible
Post Twitter feed on Web site
Post links to YouTube and Facebook on Web site
Get creative
Don’t disable commenting (takes the Social out of Social Media)
Free speech issues (sogweb.sog.unc.edu/blogs/localgovt/?p=1970)
No PIO? No problem.
Additional Resources
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Use Picasa Web Albums (Google photo-sharing albums)
Blogger.com
BSR Screen Recorder (www.thesilver.net)
Skype (www.skype.com)
Gmail (www.gmail.com)
Can you hear me now?
Tools for developing
effective communication
Todd McGee, NACIO First Vice President
N.C. Association of County Commissioners Communications Director