The document discusses how organizations can strengthen their brands through social media engagement. It provides tips for non-profits and government agencies to increase their visibility and searchability on platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and through multimedia in press releases. Specific examples are given of how the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) engaged citizens through social media during emergency responses by sharing videos, partnering with influencers and using platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Flickr to share updates. The document concludes with 10 tips for effective social media engagement and crisis communications.

1. The Rules of Engagement Increase Visibility and Searchability to Strengthen Your Brand Featuring Michael Pranikoff, PR Newswire Michael Dumlao, Booz Allen Hamilton Follow The Conversation Twitter Hashtag #PRSAPRN

2. Michael Pranikoff Global Director Emerging Media PR Newswire michael.pranikoff@prnewswire.com www.delicious.com/michaelpranikoff Twitter / @mpranikoff

3. Michael Dumlao Senior Creative Media ConsultantBooz Allen Hamilton dumlao_michael@bah.com @michaeldumlao

5. Tips to better optimize your releases in search engines.

6. Successful tactics and strategies employed by both B2C and B2B companies.Twitter Hashtag #PRSAPRN

7. Establish Your Guidelines Think both Internal and ExternalCommunications Resource: Social Media Governance http://budurl.com/bhqq Follow The Conversation Twitter Hashtag #PRSAPRN RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Pranikoff michael.pranikoff@prnewswire.com| Twitter: #prsaprn

8. Reaching The Influencers Influencers RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Pranikoff michael.pranikoff@prnewswire.com| Twitter: #prsaprn

10. 400 Million Facebook users Worldwide 70% Outside the US

11. Use Social Media to make your content directional

12. Search is the foundation of Social Media… and Search & Social are combining RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Pranikoff michael.pranikoff@prnewswire.com| Twitter: #prsaprn

14. Think Keyword Phrases not Keywords – 42% of searches performed use 3-5 Keywords – Comscore

15. Use links in releases – Deep Links! Concentrate those links in the first 3 paragraphs of the release. RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Pranikoff michael.pranikoff@prnewswire.com| Twitter: #prsaprn

16. Using multimedia in your releases increases journalist and public engagement by 35%. According to internal sample research comparing press releases that contain multimedia with those that do not. RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Pranikoff michael.pranikoff@prnewswire.com| Twitter: #prsaprn

17. RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Pranikoff michael.pranikoff@prnewswire.com| Twitter: #prsaprn

18. RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Pranikoff michael.pranikoff@prnewswire.com| Twitter: #prsaprn

19. RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Pranikoff michael.pranikoff@prnewswire.com| Twitter: #prsaprn

20. RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Pranikoff michael.pranikoff@prnewswire.com| Twitter: #prsaprn

21. Multimedia News Release from the US MINT RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Pranikoff michael.pranikoff@prnewswire.com| Twitter: #prsaprn

22. Blog Coverage of the story RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Pranikoff michael.pranikoff@prnewswire.com| Twitter: #prsaprn

23. Blog Coverage of the story RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Pranikoff michael.pranikoff@prnewswire.com| Twitter: #prsaprn

24. Blog Coverage of the story RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Pranikoff michael.pranikoff@prnewswire.com| Twitter: #prsaprn

25. Social Media and Your Audience RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Dumlao dumlao_michael@bah.com | Twitter: #prsaprn

26. Organizations Behind the Scenes RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Dumlao dumlao_michael@bah.com | Twitter: #prsaprn

27. What Customers/ Clients/ Citizens See… RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Dumlao dumlao_michael@bah.com | Twitter: #prsaprn

28. Booz Allen helps FEMA create first social media campaign Led by John Shea, Director of Emerging Media at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA launches social media outreach on YouTube and Twitter while creating profiles on Facebook, Myspace and Flickr. John recognized that FEMA needed to communicate where citizens were congregating: primarily in social media spaces. Note: beyond their inherent social attributes and pervasiveness, the services we pursued (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook) were chosen as entry points to social media because they easily translated to MOBILE PHONES because of SMS and their increasing ability to access online content. “62% of Americans are part of a wireless, mobile population that participates in digital activities away from home or work” Pew Internet & American Life project RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Dumlao dumlao_michael@bah.com | Twitter: #prsaprn

30. FEMA’s videos on YouTube are raw, low-budget, low-production and (therefore) high impact. In most cases, the videos are lightly-edited b-roll of emergency footage; in other cases, there are short interviews with staff and volunteers.

31. FEMA’s video content strategy works because it is consistent with viral videos on YouTube. They resist high production value for a more raw and “authentic” feel. In this case, slick production would have construed “government” rather than “human”RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Dumlao dumlao_michael@bah.com | Twitter: #prsaprn

33. FEMA is now engaged in the dialogue, making it two sided and better informed

34. As Gerald notes: “fight fire with fire”. Preserve the integrity of your reputation by engaging in the video-base dialogueRULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Dumlao dumlao_michael@bah.com | Twitter: #prsaprn

35. FEMA’s YouTube channel reveals a growing audience of citizens interested in dynamic information “ One of the suggestions I’ve made to emergency preparedness communicators is that they talk more about their own personal efforts to ready themselves and their families. I think it makes what can be an imposing and off-putting process seem more accessible and relatable for average citizens. So, I was happy to see a video that FEMA Administrator Paulison did at the beginning of hurricane season this summer showing his own preparations at his South Florida home now on YouTube. In the three-and-a-half minute video, Paulison shows viewers his food supply closet, puts up a storm shutter and even makes a pitch for the usefulness of duct tape (with a smile). It’s a homey, helpful presentation, and Paulison is an appealing spokesperson.” John Solomon on www.incaseofemergencyblog.com “FEMA is "getting with it" and joining the 21st Century. They have a FEMA YouTube Channel. The one video playing is Administrator Paulison, showing how he has prepared his home in Florida for hurricanes.” Eric E. Holdeman, Principal of ICF International on www.disaster-zone.com “The purpose of the channel is to help citizens prepare for disaster, provide a forum for the public to comment on disaster relief, and to provide insight into how FEMA operates. When disaster does affect you and your family, it is helpful to know FEMA’s role in the community and what kinds of assistance may be available.” Heidi VanderVelde on www.hurricanepreparedness.org RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Dumlao dumlao_michael@bah.com | Twitter: #prsaprn

36. FEMA engages citizens through Twitter (twitter.com/femainfocus) Twittering and texting may be the way to go in an emergency, given landline and cellular phone networks were heavily congested as callers jammed the lines, creating frustration for some users who had difficulty getting calls through. "If you're on a wireless network and you can't get a call through, often the texting network won't be as congested," John Britton, an AT&T spokesman. “During the California fires, web users on sites including instant messaging forum Twitter kept friends and neighbors informed of their condition, minute by minute. … However, the authorities struggled to display the sufficient up-to-date information.” Leysia Palen, University of Colorado “But the most popular effort has been the Twitter account, which now has about 190 followers who can receive Twitter updates from a mobile device. For example, a Twitter will report that a structural fire is being battled by 30 firefighters, or that a car accident has occurred. It reads like a dispatch log of sorts from the calls the department receives and answers.” Brian Humphrey and Ron Myers, LA Fire Department “People’s growing reliance on their cell phones, together with wireless internet access from laptops, suggests a shift in expectations about cyberspace” John B. Horrigan, Associate Director of the Pew Internet Project RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Dumlao dumlao_michael@bah.com | Twitter: #prsaprn

37. FEMA networks on Facebook and MySpace The Department of Homeland Security’s recent use of information widgets on MySpace, Yahoo and Facebook during the 2008 Louisiana Hurricanes demonstrates the potential of widgets on social networking to distribute information across user profiles without intruding on networks. FEMA is using Facebook to engage and network both FEMA field staff (many of which have profile pages already) and folks who have been helped by FEMA Social Networking sites will also prove useful in recruiting new FEMA Disaster Agents VA Tech Case Study: Dr Leysia Palen finds that during the Virginia shootings, students found emergency reports too slow, and so turned to Facebook to work collaboratively to compile an accurate count and the names of the deceased hours before hey were officially announced. This case study also shows how social networking during a crisis can evolve into a self-correcting group intelligence that functions without singular leadership. RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Dumlao dumlao_michael@bah.com | Twitter: #prsaprn

38. Future profiles and applications: Flickr and Google Map mashups “We found that a new practice around disaster response is emerging in Flickr, where a few central users immediately establish a new Flickr group as news about a disaster event becomes known. Such activity began in the earliest days of Flickr (which was launched in 2004), but has increasingly become more uniform. New groups see themselves as "image aggregators" Leysia Palen Also according to Dr. Palen’s research, during the California fires, when authorities struggled to provide sufficient information, citizens turned to Twitter, Flickr and Google Maps to track the fire’s progress and mark disaster areas in afflicted communities. Champions of Social Media and Crisis Communication LA Fire Department (blog, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube) Red Cross (Facebook, Twitter, Google Maps, YouTube) Coast Guard (YouTube, Facebook) RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Dumlao dumlao_michael@bah.com | Twitter: #prsaprn

39. 10 Tips RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Dumlao dumlao_michael@bah.com | Twitter: #prsaprn

41. Establish yourself in specific channels and build credibility behind your brand to minimize “cloning”

42. Two-way communications is built on trustIn 2008, FEMA launched “FEMA in Focus,” a multi-platform, cross-branded social media communications program that anchored profiles and channels on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook with a bold logo system. The brand strengthens the credibility of FEMA’s presence on whatever social software is adopted. RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Dumlao dumlao_michael@bah.com | Twitter: #prsaprn

43. Tip 2: Avoid shiny new object syndrome and pursue social media as part of a comprehensive communications strategy “It’s not about using new media; it’s about using media in new ways”Dr. Craig Lefebvre RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Dumlao dumlao_michael@bah.com | Twitter: #prsaprn

45. tap into all resources (i.e., volunteers as network ambassadors)

46. remember that you need to communicate just as much to the unaffectedSocial Networks keep Philippine flood victims connected Global Voices RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Dumlao dumlao_michael@bah.com | Twitter: #prsaprn

48. Share your DATA and trust that people will use it constructively

49. Open DATA breeds innovation (i.e., Iphone applications)

50. Focus on people and their networks: remember, no matter what happens, people will do whatever it takes to get the information they need

51. The power of social media lies partly in that no one is forced to be there (they’ve opted in) RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Dumlao dumlao_michael@bah.com | Twitter: #prsaprn

53. Identify connectors and nodes

54. Partner with agencies, the private sector, the media, community groups and individuals

55. Partner with organizations and individuals with thriving youtube channels, twitter accounts or facebook networks. “I would argue that more people have died because of the official fear of panic than of panic itself.” Amanda Ripley, Author “The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes—and Why” RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Dumlao dumlao_michael@bah.com | Twitter: #prsaprn

57. remember that social media requires a different tone ("human" and not “government-y”)

58. Make sure content is embeddable and syndicatable “There is no data associated with a PDF. It is not machine readable.” Kevin Novak, co-chair of W3C RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Dumlao dumlao_michael@bah.com | Twitter: #prsaprn

60. Same uploads can be monitored to asses public sentiment (like the real-life twitter based rumors regarding H1N1 below)Twitter I'm concerned about the swine flu outbreak in us and mexico could it be germ warfare? Short Ribs! How long before the Swine Flu hysteria crashes the pork market? 2 hours? 3? Don't eat pork from Mexico!! Evgeny Morozov, Foreign Policy Magazine RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Dumlao dumlao_michael@bah.com | Twitter: #prsaprn

61. Tip 8: MAP your situation awareness … map your message RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Dumlao dumlao_michael@bah.com | Twitter: #prsaprn

62. Tip 9: Unlock the Potential of Mobile/ Smart Phones “People’s growing reliance on their cell phones, together with wireless internet access from laptops, suggests a shift in expectations about cyberspace” John B. Horrigan, Associate Director of the Pew Internet Project 20% of US households are mobile-only National Center of Health Statistics RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Dumlao dumlao_michael@bah.com | Twitter: #prsaprn

63. Tip 10: Use social media to drive traffic to your origin website for greater context and additional resources RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | Michael Dumlao dumlao_michael@bah.com | Twitter: #prsaprn

64. Q & A Follow The Conversation Twitter Hashtag #PRSAPRN

65. The Rules of Engagement Increase Visibility and Searchability to Strengthen Your Brand Featuring Michael Pranikoff, PR Newswire Michael Dumlao, Booz Allen Hamilton Follow The Conversation Twitter Hashtag #PRSAPRN