4-3-2-1 Blog Wrap-up

Well, hopefully you are all back in your offices thinking about ways to leverage some of the amazing ideas you heard at the 2008 APTA Marketing and Communications Workshop. I want to thank Jack Gonzalez and the rest of the APTA staff as well as the Marketing and Communications Committee for putting on such an amazing event. I also wanted to leave you with a few insights from transit’s newest blogger.

FOUR… Web 2.0 applications that you can begin using immediately:

1. BLOGS! Hopefully this workshop demonstrated the amazing potential in the transit blogosphere. You can use a blog to start a genuine and transparent conversation about your transit system, engage current and potential riders, and provide customers with information about your services. There is no cost to initiate a blog, so why not start one today?
2. Flickr. I hate to be cliche, but a picture IS worth a thousand words. Invite your customers to send pictures of themselves riding the train, of things in need of repair, or of graffiti on your vehicles or in your stations. Give them the option to send the photos via text message, e-mail them, or upload them to their own flickr site using a unique tag (i.e., DCMetro). You will be able to access all of the public photos with your tag, and you can link to them from you system’s Web site.
3. YouTube. At a minimum, you can use YouTube to increase the reach of your existing video products. If you have just finished a commercial, why not upload it to YouTube, post it on various Social Networking sites, and link to it from your Web site? YouTube stretches your marketing dollars at no additional cost to taxpayers or transit riders.
4. Social Networking Sites. Xanthi Pinkerton and her team offered an amazing presentation on “The Green Message” at the workshop. Why not leverage the green movement to reach “greenies” on the Web? Most networks already have local environmental groups. You can send them a message inviting them to view your profile or join a group of your own.

THREE… tips for success:

• DO what works for you! I know that may sound simple, but the truth is there are no best practices for Web 2.0 efforts. The Web 2.0 “culture” is continuously evolving, so copy the things that you like, ignore the things that you don’t, and develop your own ideas to make Web 2.0 applications work for YOUR needs.
• DON’T forget about communications basics. Web 2.0 may be much less formal than traditional media, but the way the audience reads and comprehends information remains the same. Structure your products, use simple language, and cater your message to your target audience.
• DO make your Web 2.0 products dynamic. Also known as Social Media, Web 2.0 is all about building a network of people and information. Link out to e-mail addresses and Web sites, try to get the link to your site/profile incorporated into other media, and incorporate fresh information as often as possible.

TWO… lessons learned from a first-time blogger:

• Engage your audience early. My goal was to have more of a two-way conversation on the blog, but I didn’t incorporate requests for comments until after we got to Orlando. By then, I had already set the tone as a one-way conversation. Another way to engage the participants would have been to incorporate the use of mobile devices during the workshop.
• Understand your limitations. You may have noticed that I started out with in-depth summaries about the presentations, then slowly cut back to key highlights. Trying to provide meaningful notes, upload 6-8 presentations every few hours, take and upload pictures, and provide links to e-mail addresses, Web sites, and other resources turned out to be quite overwhelming. A couple of things I might have done differently…
  - Develop a draft post for each session BEFORE the event.
  - Take a team of 2-3 bloggers to attend multiple sessions simultaneously.
  - Have a separate computer to display the blog.

ONE… challenge for everyone at the workshop and those reading this blog.

Try out a new Web 2.0 application TODAY. Whether it’s a personal profile on LinkedIn, a blog on WordPress or Blogger, or a bookmarks page on del.icio.us, get out there and take a trip on the Web 2.0 train.

Once again, I’d like to say how much I enjoyed getting to know everyone at the conference. Although the blog provides presentations, pictures, and videos from the workshop, the Internet will never replace face-to-face interaction with your colleagues and friends.

Take care,
Jacque Brown