Real World of Social Media
(Moderator) Marion Thatch, FSMPS, CPSM, Marketing Director, AMEC Geomatrix
(Panelists)
Andrea Walden, Director of BD, HOK Los Angeles
Lauri Lumish, BD Manager, Degenkolb Engineers
Philip Smith, Executive Vice President, Treadwell & Rollo
Panelists talk about their catalyst to start in social networking. Small-medium-large firms represented. Oddly (or maybe not), the majority of attendees were checking email, tweeting, and otherwise “online” during the presentation.
Takeaways
1. Emergency preparedness in firm through Twitter (texting to all employees in an emergency)
2. Social networking is a program; it has to have some structure. Have a well-defined plan, not just action items. Where are you going?
3. This can service internal groups/cultures as well as provide external content
4. Think about alternative to ROI – are you getting attention, participation, authority, and influence in your industry?
5. Transparent intentions – be clear WHY you are engaging in social media
6. “Give to get” attitude – use the web to build trust, influence, etc.
7. Takes resources and time to be successful
8. Understand you do NOT control the message
9. Metrics roll up to your objectives (where are you going? How can you tell if you’re getting there?)
10. Know that this conversation is happening whether you have a vehicle to engage in it or not
11. Keep your Social Media Policy simple, and common-sense focused.
o Do you have an open, free-design system? [twitter]
o Do you have a controlled system? [ie everything that gets published online goes through an “internal reader”]
o Do your employees understand that they represent the company when they are online? Do they understand they should not “mask” who they are when they are online on company?
o Write as “we encourage you to…” and “here are some guidelines,” rather than “thou shalt not”
o Networking vs. non-working when it comes to Social Media
o Don’t over-manage the policy. It you have to do what makes sense for your company AND your users. If you make it too cumbersome to do it, no one will.
12. Scared to do an “outside” blog? Try an “inside” blog. Build community internally.
13. Split your goals – ie Facebook as employee-message (recruiting tool) vs. website as company message (selling tool)
14. POST – P = people; O=objectives; S=strategy; T=technology
15. Want to know more about your competition? Follow them on LinkedIn. Or set up web “alerts” to see what they are doing
16. How are you deciding that this is working? [comments to blogs? Or no comments – what can you do to change that? Do you know clients are reading/not reading?]
17. Blog is GREAT vehicle for demonstrating your innovation – what is still “fomenting” in your firm? What are you thinking about? What are you exploring? It doesn’t have to be DONE. Let the world IN on your current thoughts/activities
18. “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should” – you don’t have to SoMe about everything (like a road project down the street) What does your audience want? Or what about unintentional audience (like media)
19. FYI – Colleges are looking at Facebook to see what kind of person your kid is…
30 minutes in to this, and I am thinking… “The moderator is hogging this session. Her panelists have lots to share. Why is she doing all the talking?”
Audience Qs
How do you encourage content from staff?
A: This is an adjunct to publication/presentations. So if they contribute good blogs, etc., it contributes to performance evaluation/growth
A: Ask. “You’re doing something really interesting; would you blog about it?”
A: Sit with them; introduce them personally to the technology.
How are you directing traffic to your blogs/Twitter/etc.? Email
A: email blast; printed on letterhead; links to/from website; part of electronic email signature
Key messages (from my perspective)
· You do NOT control the message or quality of the writing [except proprietary information]
· ROI is difficult to measure – how do you measure “word of mouth?”
· Consider Social Media time as BD time (a portion of)
· If you’re HR team isn’t following Social Media law, they should be
· Don’t get overwhelmed. Pick a SoMe site and GO.
And even at the end, the moderator felt compelled to comment on every panelist’s comments.
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