4YourFamilyStory.com
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Services
  • Resources
    • Research Resources
    • Getting Started with Genealogy
    • Organize Your Genealogy with Onenote
    • Organize Your Genealogy With Evernote
    • How do I make a Family History Site with Weebly.com?
    • How do I make screenshots & annotations?
    • Texas Genealogy
  • About
    • Welcome!
    • Where Else I Can Be Found Online
    • Disclosure
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Service
  • Connect
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Services
  • Resources
    • Research Resources
    • Getting Started with Genealogy
    • Organize Your Genealogy with Onenote
    • Organize Your Genealogy With Evernote
    • How do I make a Family History Site with Weebly.com?
    • How do I make screenshots & annotations?
    • Texas Genealogy
  • About
    • Welcome!
    • Where Else I Can Be Found Online
    • Disclosure
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Service
  • Connect

Find your family story.

Rootstech, Books and Social Media

12/12/2011

8 Comments

 
Picture
_ [Note: Updates to this blog post are in bold, and please read the comments following the blog post for more information. Thank you.]

I’m very pleased to hear that Rootstech has reconsidered their decision of not allowing book vendors to exhibit at Rootstech 2012. While this is their conference and they certainly have every right to design it in the way that they want, I think this is an excellent decision. And here’s why:
  • Not only are you missing out on direct revenue from booth rentals, all indirect revenue realized from the vendors is lost as well, and not just for the conference itself but for the local businesses.
  • Genealogy-based books can be technologically based and printed books make a perfect bridge for the non-tech genealogists to cross over into the tech world. It’s a familiar medium.
  • Some book publishers have electronic books. Those who do not electronically publish could possibly learn why they should be doing so. [And I fully believe they should.]
  • As far as the arts and crafts vendors are concerned, I know I couldn’t do my heritage arts and crafts without technology, and I’m sure prospective arts and crafts vendors are the same way. Further, I use technology to share with my readers how to make the heritage crafts. [However, I don’t know if they’re being invited or not as some of the book vendors are.]
  • Any successful conference in any industry knows its target demographics. After all, this is basic salesmanship. In order to get the target conference-goer to come to the conference, you must be offering something that they want, which in this case is education and exhibits. I think your target demographics have spoken up this past weekend to let you know what kind of exhibits they are not only wanting but expecting.
  • In this tough economy, most conference-goers are having to make difficult choices as to how to spend their allotted genealogy money. Many can only afford one major conference. When making this decision, they will have to make tough choices between conferences that don’t welcome technology and a conference like Rootstech that is choosing to concentrate on technology as it pertains to genealogy. Both conference models are fine, but you must understand that there are consequences to every action, positive or negative. Further, I believe the main complaint at genealogy conferences is the lack of technology [education as well as the acceptance of the usage of technology]– not that there was too much genealogy. [Is there such a thing?] The need in our genealogy community is an acceptance of both genealogy and technology.
So, thank you Rootstech for listening and being flexible with your plans. Many are very grateful.

Social Media
However, I have been surprised by the lack of usage of social media for the promotion of Rootstech 2012. As far as I can tell, there have been only 4 main ways that have been used to advertise this conference:
  • The official Rootstech 2012 conference site at Rootstech.familysearch.org/ .
  • The official Rootstech Facebook page.
  • The official Rootstech Bloggers.
  • The media disk handed out at the FGS2011 Geneabloggers reception hosted by FamilySearch.org.
I am not an Official Rootstech blogger, but I have blogged and promoted Rootstech on Twitter as well as placed the Rootstech media banners on my site.

However, blogs and a Facebook page are just two social media platforms out of many that can be used to promote a conference. Now, I know that several of the official bloggers have and use twitter accounts, but that is not a complete social media plan.

I cannot express enough how useful Twitter can be in this kind of promotion, and it has been ignored. The last time I checked the Rootstech Facebook page, there were 1040 Likes. That’s a low number for a conference that had over 3000 attendees last year and with less than 2 months left before the start of the next conference. I only ‘liked’ the page recently simply because I don’t spend much time on Facebook. I don’t prefer it. The majority of my social networking occurs on Twitter, and I’ve recently have been engaging on Google Plus.

I have, at the time of this writing, 3973 followers on Twitter and I follow 4361 Tweeters. Most are genealogy-related, but not all. I also network heavily with mom bloggers, authors, writers, self-published authors, and tech-related tweeters. Some have even expressed an interest in genealogy at times. All are heavily into technology to complete the work that they do. It makes a fantastic demographic to target for a conference such as Rootstech

And I’ve only shared with you my stats. There are others with very high stats on Twitter that could be leveraged to assist Rootstech in their marketing endeavors. All who have varied followers based upon different interests.

Below is what I had expected in terms of social media for a conference such as Rootstech:
  • Having a dedicated social media person or a coordinated group of persons to manage all social media accounts at all times so that questions and concerns can be addressed immediately as is expected in social media. Because of social media, we live in a '24/7' type of world now.
  • Growing the Facebook Page’s ‘Likes’ number. The whole point of having a Facebook page is so that people can like, and or follow, the page thus creating a community. Once this is done, the entity who runs the page would have access, and or influence, to this community for both direct marketing purposes as well as for creating excitement over the reason the page was created in the first place. In this case, of course, that’s Rootstech 2012. This is a great place to foster discussions on genealogy and technology. Getting people to think about it will get a certain percentage of them to register and go to the conference. Engagement is key, and of course, if your Facebook page fans share the page, then some of the work is being done for you.
  • Creating a Twitter account and growing the follow/follower numbers and engaging other tweeters to create a sense of community so that they will willingly retweet your tweets. To be successful at Twitter, an organization has to not only broadcast its message [in this case the Rootstech conference] but engage other tweeters in short discussions. Because this conference is centered around both genealogy and technology, you’re in luck because both topics have a big following on Twitter. How can this be helpful in marketing Rootstech? After all, doesn’t everyone who has a Twitter account also have a Facebook account? No, not always, and even if the tweeter does have both accounts, they may prefer one over the other. Also, tweets can easily be categorized by topics, giving a unique ability to tweeters to target very specific interests and groups. All of these Twitter qualities can be used effectively for growing excitement, anticipation, and interest in a conference like Rootstech. How? Well, let’s say the social media person for Rootstech tweets something informational with a link to the Rootstech site to its 1689 followers [Update: This was and is a fictional number. Rootstech does have a Twitter account with only 20 followers.], and I happen to be on Twitter, and because I follow them, I see it, and decide to tweet it to my 3973 followers. Let’s say for this example that I had one follower who retweeted my Rootstech retweet, and this follower themselves had 2567 followers. Now, the single Rootstech informational tweet with a link back to the website that was tweeted by the dedicated Tweeter for Rootstech, has, with 2 more clicks, touched 8229 tweeters, and has moved 2 people to the action of retweeting. With these numbers, odds are, a certain percentage of these 8229 tweeters will retweet the informational tweet with a link to the Rootstech site, a certain percentage will be moved to the action of clicking on the link, and, of course, a certain amount will be moved to the desired action of registering for the Rootstech conference. This is why Twitter is a very effective social network. [Sorry for the math word problem. What was I thinking?]
[Update: Rootstech does have a Twitter account, @RootsTechConf. However, it only has 20 followers (I just started following them), has no tweets, does not follow any tweeters, and has no lists. In addition, I could not find a link on the Rootstech website to the Twitter account. So, please, follow them.]
  • While creating a Google Plus page is a newer ability on a newer social network, a certain percentage of people prefer Google Plus over Facebook and Twitter. It provides a place to foster longer discussions. In my experience on Google Plus, many genealogy technology discussions are taking place over there that a conference like Rootstech should be, at the very least, monitoring [and it may very well already be]. Goals here should be to increase numbers of circles and numbers of followers in circles and engaging these followers in lively discussions of genealogy and technology. Moreover, with the Hangout video chat capability that is available on Google Plus, many of these discussions could be taking place using this technology and involving some of the scheduled speakers or Rootstech organizers all year long.
  • Creating a dedicated YouTube channel for Rootstech would be extremely helpful. While there are 4 taped presentations on video from last year’s conference parked on Brightcove.com, this platform isn’t a social network like YouTube, and because YouTube is owned by Google, YouTube videos naturally find themselves at the top of search results.  These 4 videos [and any other others that can be used for marketing purposes] should be on YouTube on a Rootstech YouTube channel. While there are many videos about Rootstech that were made by conference attendees last year on YouTube, when a person goes to YouTube and searches for Rootstech [or searches for it in Google],the Rootstech YouTube channel should come up first in the search results. This provides uniformity in the marketing of the brand that you have so diligently created. The social media aspects of YouTube cannot be ignored either and must be monitored. Engagement with followers and the goals of increasing followers, friending, and subscribing must be made, met, and exceeded for a technology-based conference such as Rootstech.
  • A blog is definitely an effective social media tool, and I think it’s excellent that Rootstech has Official Bloggers for this conference. However, I think it’s essential that Rootstech have its own blog. Using Official Bloggers is an excellent way to get the word out to each of the Official Blogger’s readers, but what about those readers who don’t read their blogs? Rootstech should be creating and controlling their brand by using a blog format. I think a perfect example of a conference using a blog is FGS. These were simple posts all in one place in a technological format that many feel comfortable with reading where they could go to find updates on the conference. Blogs are like websites, and if a person doesn’t use Facebook or Google Plus, these conference-goers or potential conference-goers need and expect a conference on technology to have a blog. It’s also a great place for conference press releases and fostering community through the comments part of the blog.
  • LinkedIn is a professional social networking site where many genealogists and technologists network, and this is why Rootstech should have a presence there as well. Again, Rootstech should be controlling its brand on major social media networks. Here discussions can be fostered as well. In fact, there are many discussions occurring on LinkedIn already about genealogy and technology. At the very least, Rootstech should be monitoring them, but the goal should be to be driving those discussions. While there are several in my LinkedIn network that have added Rootstech2012 as an event, I did not see an official Rootstech 2012 Group started over there, but perhaps I missed it.
  • Foursquare is a social networking app that has been used in the past at conferences for facilitating networking. Here are some websites that discuss the ins and outs of using it at conferences: How To: Use Foursquare for a Conference (or an exhibit booth) and How Foursquare Rocks Conferences.
  • Shhmooze is a social networking app designed for conferences and here’s a 3 part series written by Shhmooze on their blog about their app.
[Note: Of course, Foursquare and/or Shhmooze –they can be used together- would be promoted on the Rootstech blog and other social media outlets. Everyone would need to learn how they'd be used and how to use them.]

Using social media effectively can really boost a conference’s attendance and brand, and it also allows a conference to show its potential conference-goers and the conference-goers that it does have a handle on the topic of the actual conference. By using social media technology, Rootstech can increase its attendance and popularity as well as send out the message that it knows how to combine genealogy and technology successfully. Social media would also allow Rootstech to efficiently monitor its brand and deal with any public relations matters that may come up before they get out of hand.

What do y'all think? Did I miss any important social networks? Did I miss Rootstech on a social network? Let me know in comments below. And if I've missed something, please let me know.

I'm still going to Rootstech 2012. Hello?!? Technology and genealogy? That's what I do. [Of course, I read books about technology and I use technology to make my heritage arts and crafts. And then I tell you all about it on that new fangled technology called social media.]

~Caroline

8 Comments
Lorine McGinnis Schulze link
12/12/2011 03:55:42 am

Caroline, you have made some excellent points! Your comment re target demographics is dead on. RootsTech did goof on figuring that one out.

One thing I want to add to your excellent post is that many of the official Rootstech bloggers (myself included) have their blog posts go to their Twitter feed, their Google+ page and Facebook pages. So there is a bit more promotion than just a blog post sitting static on the blog website.

But I agree that there could be more done by Rootstech to get the word out

Reply
Caroline Pointer
12/12/2011 04:15:32 am

Lorine,

Thanks for adding that. While, I did mention that some Official Bloggers have and use their twitter accounts for blog promotion, a more accurate statement would be that some Official Bloggers use other social media outlets, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus, to promote their blog posts.

There are two things I'd like to point out, though. First, having automatic feeds from blogs to other social media outlets can be counter-productive.

First, when handled correctly, social media is all about creating a community, not just about posting links to your blog posts. There's a give and take. In real life, no one likes that friend who always talks about herself and never listens or interacts with thwm. Online people have to spend a little time in each community to do the give and take work. And it is work. [Although some of us really love our work.]

Second, nothing irritates some Tweeters more than an auto post from someone's Facebook page about their blog post (or anything for that matter). There's a reason why some aren't on Facebook. They don't like it, and don't appreciate being led over to Facebook from Twitter. Likewise, there are many on Facebook who have never used Twitter, and cannot discern the hashtags and lingo used over on Twitter when they show up in their Facebook feed.

I just wanted to point those 2 things out. I don't know if that's what you were referring to when you mentioned the blog posts going to the Twitter feed, Google Plus and Facebook pages. I didn't want anyone to takeaway from that statement that auto-feeding blog posts to social media outlets is a successful use of social media.

Thanks for visiting, reading & commenting, Lorine!

~C

Reply
Kathryn Doyle link
12/12/2011 10:09:10 am

Caroline,
Great stuff. RootsTech does have a page on Lanyrd.com at http://lanyrd.com/2012/rootstech/. Lanyrd bills itself as "the social conference directory." It is Twitter-based and anyone can add the event or the information.

Reply
Caroline Pointer
12/12/2011 11:17:21 am

Kathryn,

Thanks for adding this info. While I'm familiar with Lanyrd.com, I was unaware that Rootstech 2012 had a page on there. This is excellent news. I have now added my planned attendance on there bringing the total of attendees up to 7. It's integrated with Twitter, so hopefully people will not only sign up there, but also share through their Twitter account if they have one. And hopefully Rootstech 2012 will add links onto their site encouraging attendees and speakers to sign up and use Lanyrd.com for Rootstech and use their social media accounts to get the word out.

Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Kathryn. I appreciate it!
~C

Reply
Kim Cotton link
12/12/2011 04:00:48 pm

Such a great post, Caroline, and I hope that every genealogy conference planner takes your advice to heart. It's particularly surprising that a conference focused on technology needs the full rundown (obviously they do).
I must point out a small issue with your Math Word Problem, due to overlapping followers. If person A retweets to 2k followers, person B retweeting to their 2k followers may have an overlap of 500 of the same followers, so really, it was only retweeted to 3500 discrete people (not counting crazy people like me who maintain multiple twitter handles). However, that doesn't negate the point that no trending occurs if you don't tweet the thing in the first place.
Also, I'm so glad that you hate the FB auto-posts as much as I do. At times I've been so irritated by it that I've mass unfollowed anyone who only tweets fb.co links, knowing that if I wanted to be sent to FB, I'd "like" them there. And don't get me started on StumbleUpon and NetworkedBlogs (though I know they're popular in Genealogy circles). No doubt, individual interaction and tailoring your message to the medium are best practices in Social Media. Thanks again, and see ya at RootsTech.

Reply
Caroline Pointer
12/13/2011 12:02:54 am

Kim,

So good to hear from you! You make some excellent points, and you're right. I left it ambiguous. There are, in fact, many factors that would affect my very simplistic example. For example, if one follows more than 500, more than likely, they do not go back and read tweets that they missed when they were not on twitter. There's not enough time for that. So, in my example, if both tweeters had overlap in the follower count and a follower missed the 1st retweet by the retweeter 'A', but did read the 2nd retweet made by the 2nd retweeter, how would that be counted mathematically? I dunno. I'm way out of my comfort zone when I get to percentages and statistics.

Also, I have people that I follow and who follow me WAY outside the world of twitter, and every once and a while they will retweet a tweet that is genealogy-related. [Usually a story. Who doesn't love a story?] Therefore, my example is quite probable given my twitter follower set. However, I should've been more specific in my example. [Math is SO not my strongpoint. And math word problems? *rollingeyesheavenward*]

Thank you so much, Kim, for visiting and taking the time to not only read my post, but follow my math word problem even with its ambiguity. Extra points for you! And can't wait to catch up with you at Rootstech!

~C

Reply
Annette link
3/22/2012 03:38:04 am

#IThinkI'mInLove

In a twitter genealogist kinda way!

Reply
twitter software link
5/9/2012 05:59:57 pm

The blog article very surprised to me! Your writing is good. In this I learned a lot! Thank you!i like the way you blogged about this topic .

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    48 Hr Ephemera Challenge
    Arizona
    Beginner Series
    Book Reviews
    Conferences
    DAR
    DNA
    Genealogy Fun
    Genealogy On TV
    G+ Genealogy Research Community
    G+ Tech For Genealogy Community
    Heritage Crafts
    History Saturday
    Marriage Records
    Mexico
    New Mexico
    New Records
    Organizing Tips
    Press Releases
    Research Tips
    Shades Of The Departed
    Speaking
    Sunday Scanday
    Tech Tips
    Things You Need To Know This Morning
    What's Up Genealogy? Show

    Archives

    February 2017
    January 2017
    May 2016
    April 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011

About
Blog
​
Connect
Picture
Privacy
Disclosure
Terms of Service
© Copyright For Your Family Story 2016 - All Rights Reserved
Photos used under Creative Commons from contemplicity, ArchiM, MAURO CATEB, Marco Bellucci, DafneCholet, Outburner, louis konstantinou, laffy4k, foistclub, Phil Monger, epictures ... on & off, fontplaydotcom, Crystl, Patricia Figueira, Andrew Michaels, Daisyree Bakker, jking89, Jan Krömer, clicksense, justinbaeder, Kara Allyson, *sax, Blue Bunny® Ice Cream, mrmanc, mdanys, katmary, euthman, MelGX, Roadside Guitars, donjd2, Victori∀, quinn.anya, law_keven, Aidan Jones, Brocco Lee, lrargerich, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com, Nadia Szopinska, Varin Tsai, ClaraDon, Jinx!, the Italian voice, GirlReporter, Peter, mrmanc, Navin75, SantaRosa OLD SKOOL, Rodrigo_Soldon, rharrison, 04deveni, Flashy Soup Can, lizzelizzel, ericmay, flossyflotsam, SMercury98, Tambako the Jaguar, trint, themaum, Robert S. Donovan, Ian Sane, Keith Williamson, owlpacino, joshparent, ellenm1, leppre, ivanpw, buba69, bastique, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com, jpockele, Robert Couse-Baker, aesop