As time passes on by, more people are getting online and joining various social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to name a few. There are so many benefits for professionals today in this current economic state, and it is important to take advantage of these opportunities as they come on by. But – once you are in a position at a corporation or agency – what is the next step? What happens if people where you work do not use social media, or they are not aware of it, or to the extreme side of the continuum is that they do not want to understand it due to privacy issues or the technology implemented. Jason Falls had a good post on what people could do in their organization to become a true social media champion. These are pretty good starting points to establishing yourself as the person to go to regarding social media, but here are a few points that I wanted to share with you all based on my experience:
Visually show people the benefits and opportunities in social media: By showing senior management how they can type in their name in a search engine like Samepoint or Social mention and see what comes up regarding their company in real time – this is a valuable tool for them to incorporate in managing their corporate and own reputation online. This could have also been effective if you would have given out a written plan describing this, but by providing a visual way to show exactly the meaning and use of social media, it gets the message across more clearly. I did a professional presentation a few weeks ago to a group of CEOs regarding social media, and they were all very interested and intrigued about social media – and appreciated the bottom-line statements on how social media could impact their businesses and what they need to do in their respective companies.
Walk the walk AND talk the talk with social media: I have seen many times that people call them “social media experts” and when you ask them some of the basic applications and uses of these sites – they either freeze or state that they are currently “working on it.” Hmm – well, especially with social media – if you want to establish yourself as a person to go to regarding the subject – you not only have to have the knowledge and expertise in the area, but you also have to live it. This means being present online on all of these social media sites, have a strong online presence, attend all of the professional events with other social media professionals, consult on social media projects for professionals and businesses, and incorporating social media principles into your research. In other words – live, breath, tweet, and repeat! 🙂
Be generous with your knowledge: Share what you have found and give people the resources that might be of interest to them or might help them. This will establish a good relationship with you with these individuals, and increase your credibility as a good source of information regarding this particular field.
Professional communication with a personal touch: There are ways that you can be professional online but you can also add your personal touch to the comments, discussions, and information that you share with people regarding social media. If you are open and transparent in a professional way online, you can show your fellow colleagues and others how you can proactively manage your reputation and show the online community who you are as a person. Whether this is in a form of setting up a personal blog or website – it all depends on how you want others to perceive you. The key is that you want to show people who you are as a person – and how this is consistent with how you are in real life.
These are just a few suggestions and thoughts I have on the subject. In summary, if you are able to share your knowledge, take the time to help others and provide them with useful resources, and lead by example – you will become a very useful resource when it comes to social media. It is a fun field to be a part of and there is nothing like helping others explore and learn more about it! 🙂
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
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