Last Thursday, Amy Sample Ward delivered a fun, helpful hour-long webinar for people in my membership & client community about using social media. The theme of Amy’s session was: “Social Media for Organizations: Enjoy Your Own Party.”
If you think of social media as one of the ways your organization is “hosting” a party it starts to feel fun and less scary or overwhelming.
At your party you don’t have to talk to everyone at the same time. As more and more folks arrive at your house, you want to circulate with the goal of listening for interesting conversations that you can join in or contribute to. You may also want to help by answering questions (“where’s bathroom?”) & making introductions.
Using Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, and other social media tools can be handled in the same way. Look for ways to provide added value or startling statistics about YOUR field of expertise.
Just like a good host does at their own party, it’s key to remember to listen for conversations where you can add something of value or share the conversation with others.
A tip Amy shared was to use a listening dashboard like iGoogle or Netvibes so you can easily keep track of all the conversations you are listening to. It’s really a one stop-shop for the blogs you follow, news you read, and keywords or topics you want to keep current on. Check out Amy’s public Netvibes page so you can see what I mean.
Spend a little bit of time each day to be in your community using social media. But remember: it is about three things:
1. Listening
2. Connecting
3. Publishing
And the more helpful you are the more engaged others will be.
By the way, I met Amy, @AmyRSWard ,on Twitter. I was following her because she provides lots of helpful information. Though she lives in the U.K. we’ve now met in person and she’s a special part of my community. I like having her at my “party!”
Lori,
Amy did a great job last week! Thanks for sharing this post with a summary of the points that she covered-Blase