Handout on Social Media from A social web sampler for social change, Feb 7, 2012

Making Social Media Part of Your Regular Day

HAVE A PLAN / STRATEGY

• Do not think of it as a stand alone activity — Make it part of your regular marketing/ advertising plan
• Implement your plan in realistic “chunks” that are manageable to your and/or your team
• Listen
  Use tools that allow you to track conversations across the web about your organization, key members, your industry, your competitors, etc…
  • Google Alerts
  • Trackur / Sprout Social / Lithium / Radian 6
  • Searches on Twitter, G+, Facebook

If you find it interesting/educational/intriguing, your audience probably will also - Watch for opportunities to share articles / blog posts you are reading.

Have a process/plan already in place to shar:

• articles / blog posts you are reading
• articles / blog posts you, your employees, your partners, your vendors create photos & videos
• event information
• event wrapups (try to include photos and/or video)

Utilize available technologies to make posting & responding easier.

• Enable mobile access — Tools include Boxcar or some other mobile version of your primary platform(s)
• Desktop tools — Tweetdeck & Hootsuite

If multiple people are managing your social media presence, have clearly defined roles/responsibilities and timing plans

• Online tools that allow multiple users — ex. Hootsuite

Try to always incorporate a call to action in your messaging

Always make it easy for others to share your content