Presentation made @ Jci 2017 International PR & Media Academy (Oct 7, 2017)

2. Try to activate user
participation.
That’s the main reason
why. But there are some
other practical problems
regarding mass media,
budget and italian laws...

3. Not an obligation but a warm invitation
➔ Evolution of media consumption
Citizens are online and they search social media for public issues and topics of general interest.
Moreover, while TV news in Italy are by far the first source of information for people over 45,
Facebook is the first source for young people (14-29) and the second source for people 30-44.
➔ Media coverage
Mass media set up the social media agenda and use social media as news sources.
➔ Spending review and budget cut
The public communications mix is definitely going digital
There’s a request (since 2011 Guidelines for PA websites) for a new phase of accountability, openness
and participation for Public Administrations where citizens can play an active role in proposing and
stimulating innovative services and communication practices and dialogue.

4. If it ain’t featured on
the website, it
doesn’t exist.
Since 1999 we have
created a team of web
editors: their job is to
make our services
known to the citizens.

5. If it ain’t featured on
the website, it won’t
be posted.
Every post, every tweet,
every video, each
sharing we do points out
to a specific URL on our
website. Social media as
amplifiers of awareness.

6. The right content
for new channels.
We’re constantly
planning what to say on
Twitter, or on Facebook,
in order to convey the
right information to the
right target (and, with
the right tone).

7. Strategic planning
Digital public communication with social media changes its skin. The strategic problem is to select
the right content for new channels.
➔ The “hype factor”
The pursuit of new social platforms is often driven by the desire to be up-to-date, without strategic
planning of communicative flows and goals. The risk is to have "containers" of innovative
information but no adequate content. Or use innovative containers the same way as old containers.
➔ The “rhetorical trap”
We should use social media as a tool of transparency and storytelling of civic life, by innovating
relationship with our users. But we should be careful to raise the bar of innovation in
communicative processes without disappointing expectations and triggering the rhetoric of
technological innovation.

8. Engagement vs.
Confidence.
We don’t do product
marketing, we’re not
looking for interactions
at all costs: we try to
establish “trust” in our
users.

9. Part of the process
From a top-down public communication model, we move on to a relational and conversational model
to engage our users. On social media, citizens are enabled to become broadcasters of useful public
information. But P.A. mostly speaks of itself and its activities: no engagement, no trust. The
administration-oriented use of social media leaves behind the voices of citizens.
➔ What do they ask us, ultimately?
To cease using social media as unidirectional tools
To respond to suggestions and complaints coming from the citizens
To use a less bureaucratic language
➔ The “political trap”
The overlap between political communication and public communication on social platforms is
likely to give priority to the showcase of the top management rather than to the pursuit of the
general interest.

10. “One voice, one
vision”.
When speaking on
behalf of the Chamber,
we avoid personal
opinions and try to keep
private and public
separated. When in
doubt, don’t post.

11. Costs vs. benefits.
Professionalism and
experience at our service, but
all this has to be carefully
supervised (and paid).
Because the highest risk is
that they do not speak with
our voice.

12. Thanks, you’re
welcome, sorry,
please.
Netiquette is around
since 1995, so it is not
conceivable that it has
not been internalized.
And yet ...

13. Netiquette ground rules
➔ No CAPS LOCK
➔ No off topic
➔ No flames
➔ Easy on the GrammarNazi attitude
➔ “Don’t feed the troll”
➔ Spam, privacy, emoji/emoticon
On social media, also keep an eye on TAGs, "Likes", the confusion between public postings and
private messaging, morphing (to deceive oneself for more individuals), the proliferation of
"invitations" and "ethical sharing" (i.e. always quoting original sources while sharing).

14. Poor performance is
around the corner.
If you are not used to
being social, it's easy to
go wrong with even the
best intentions. It is
known that the road to
hell ...

15. Poor social media management
➔ Stealing thunder effect
When someone communicates before us or better than us one of OUR projects
➔ Social media narcissism
If we are there, we must be there "for our business users", not just for self-promotion
➔ Ignore conversation or manipulate it
Not reacting is never an option. Erasing comments almost never. Apologizing, always.
And mostly...

16. Post-truth and fake
news...
... or even more trivially
untrustworthy or
unverified news. There is
nothing worse to lower
confidence to the
minimum.

17. “Can do” or “No can
do”...?
The Internal Social
Media Policy is a
necessary complement
to our Code of Conduct
as a public
administration.

18. What does our Policy say
Misuse of social media can damage both the Office and the employee... Our policy regulates the use
of social media on the job and warns about some critical aspects of their personal use.
➔ Basic principles
Consistency, updating, opening
➔ Managing business accounts and creating content
How are they created, who handles them, what is to be said
➔ Conversation management
Language, style, response time...
➔ Managing personal accounts
Explicitly private opinions, respect for the Office, privacy, confidential information, etc.

19. A short “video break”

20. The external Social
Media Policy
Users must also comply
with the rules. These
rules are clearly
displayed on our site, on
the page
www.to.camcom.it/social-media

21. What does their Policy say
➔ Moderation
Zero tolerance for insults, discriminatory, violent, pornographic content, copyright infringement,
illicit content, content that compromises public security or privacy
➔ Netiquette also applies to users
No off topic, flame, trolling, spam, repetitive "copy and paste" comments
➔ Disclaimer
The Chamber of Commerce does not automatically follow back anyone, and as far as the
comments are concerned, it only intervenes whenever it realizes its usefulness
➔ Back to the U.R.P.
In case of delicate issues that may fall into the sphere of complaints, we always invite to refer to
the U.R.P. mailbox

22. A recipe for the
perfect cocktail
Each subject is different
and must find the right
mix of communication
on various social media,
without being afraid to
change the ingredients
every now and then.

23. Do you think 140
characters is enough?
Our use of Twitter is linked to a
target of companies, institutions
and journalists. It is not
wide-spread like Facebook, and
it’s periodically pronounced
"dead," but it guarantees us a
fair return.
Find us on
@camcomtorino
Hashtag
#camcomtorino

24. Twitter in our mix
➔ Programming
Every Friday we schedule tweets for the next week (typically 4 or 5 per day, and 2 per day on
weekends). We try to cover all the Chamber of Commerce topical issues, comparing us with the
news already published on the website and newsletter.
➔ Live tweeting / Storify
For the most relevant events we organize a "live tweeting": one of us takes the time to tweet what's
going on, taking photos, commenting and reporting. In this case, the use of hashtags (#) is crucial.
In some cases, we collect our tweets and those of others in a "Storify", that is an online report
enriched with tweets, photos, video and web press review..
➔ Some data
We have over 2,300 followers, we produced about 7,000 tweets since October 2014. We have an
average of 1,400 views per day and 3 or 4 interactions per day (click, like or retweet)

25. Don’t push a video too
far...
30 seconds may seem too
short (but it's ideal), 2
minutes is already too
much. YouTube for us is
more intertwined with the
website than any other
social. Let's see how.
Find us on
youtube.com/
camcomtorino
Follow our channel

26. YouTube in our mix
➔ Production and collection
We produce motion graphics, interviews, and video clips; we collect and cure videos produced by
other Chambers of Commerce; we maintain a "video clipping" archive from local TV services; we
make animated shorts with animation school students .
➔ Integration with the website
Videos uploaded to YouTube refer to our website, but most importantly, they are integrated into
the pages of our website (it only takes to copy and paste a piece of HTML code). We made the
code responsive in order for the clips to be available on smartphones too.
➔ Some data
More than 100 subscribers to the channel, nearly 40,000 total views, 34 playlists, 309 videos. We
also have launched a specific channel for the 2015 WCC and one for the Meet@Torino project.

27. Turn on, tune in,
drop out
This year, the Facebook
institutional page is
active (that is, we use it).
We already had "project"
pages to experiment
with. Now we’re getting
serious.
Find us on
@camcomtorino
...like us and share
the word!

28. Facebook in our mix
➔ Programming
Every week we choose two prominent topics to build an articulated post. A Facebook post can
include tags, photos, videos, animations, slideshows, music, and of course the inevitable link to a
website page. Very often we just share what others write about us (and they write a lot).
➔ The Facebook peculiarity
Facebook offers several interesting opportunities, some of which are already under "exploitation":
creation and management of Events, integration of content from other social media, creation of
"Canvas" units (ad formats suitable for smartphones ) and more.
➔ Some data
We started in January 2017 (after one year of lurking), but our page already have almost 900 Like.
So far, our posts have reached from a minimum of 150-200 to a maximum of 1,800 users,
generating from 20 to 150 interactions (always organic, never sponsorized).

29. All work and no play...
On LinkedIn we manage a
Company Page and some
"groups" and project pages.
It's perfect for creating
networking professionals,
but is not so widespread
among average users (we
have almost 800 followers).
Find us on
linkedin.com/
company/
camera-di-comm
ercio-di-torino

30. Not only for the press...
Flickr was the first true social
media: even if it is declining
today, it's a very good photo
archive: venues, events,
infographics ... Almost 3,500
photos can be downloaded in
high resolution.
Find us on
flickr.com/
camcomtorino

31. The “default” social
media.
By creating a Google profile
(for YouTube and Google
Analytics), we also found
Google+: a sadder and less
popular Facebook (and yet
we have 56 followers).

32. Analytical framework.
We set some goals and we
measure our social media
results. This is never done
to actually “see who
performed best”, but to set
new goals and strategies,
and to guide our following
activities.

33. How to measure
➔ Define the expected goals from social action
Increase knowledge around the Office activities / Decongest your physical desks / Collect
feedback from users / Increase traffic to your website
➔ Define the metrics
Platform metrics
Like, retweets, sharing … Vanity metrics, to be analyzed in a diachronic way (over a defined time
period) and to be aggregated (inter- and intra-platform)
Business metrics
Management understandable parameters such as "knowledge on project X", "impact on desk
access," "number of online services delivered"
Background metrics
They have impact on the organization in a general way, not only on single offices (eg interaction
with users, support from users and advocacy, impact on services delivered)

34. 2013 2014 2015 2016

35. A social media is a great
place to tell the world
what you’re thinking
before you’ve had a
chance to think about it.
(Chris Pirillo)
LinkedIn is for the
people you know.
Facebook is for the
people you used to
know. Twitter is for the
people you want to
know.
(Seth Godin)
The best way to engage
honestly with the
marketplace via social
media is to never use the
words engage, honestly,
or marketplace.
(Jeffrey Zeldman)
Quotes for illustration purposes only

36. Pietro Izzo
p.izzo@to.camcom.it