Brave new world

I believe that there are more companies NOT considering social media as a communication option than there are those that are. Which is why I focus a lot of my posts around dealing with barriers to entry.

So, although this week celebrates the discovery of the Americas this post is not a reference to Columbus Day, this post is dedicacted to businesses thinking about exploring the social media high seas… No more tedius links, promise.

So why the reference then? Well on Monday I had an 8 hour scoping and objective setting meeting with a new client who asked for a series of consultations regarding using social media to get to know their clients better.

We discussed an 8 step approach to social media planning in detail (see my previous post on ‘How to use social media for business – Part 1 & 2′)

All was going smoothly until we reviewed ‘Resources’. ‘I’m not sure how we’re going to be able to manage to find the time or people to do this!’

Sound familiar?

But it doesn’t have to be so daunting…

Ultimately, if you believe social media will cost you a lot of money you’re thinking about it the wrong way – and if it is costing you a lot of money you definately need to re-evaluate!

Although social media takes time to implement, monitor and respond, there are a lot of potential savings to be made: reduction in duplication and developing creative and innovative ideas through collaboration. Ideas that might not have been thought of otherwise.

There will be individuals within your organisation that already use social media. These should be the very first people you approach to become the company’s social medial exponents as they won’t need training or convincing that social media is the right way to go.

But remember in order to be effective, you’ll need to find the individuals that appreciate the art of communication and have the flare to enter conversations with passion; and that means finding people that know more than just how to update a facebook status or retweet someone else’s link.

They’ll also need to be given guidelines to follow. These should outline the dos and don’ts, the how to’s and how not to’s…

When developing these guides let common sense prevail – if you wouldn’t do or say something offline don’t do it online!

Finally, remember just because there’s a computer between you/them and the outside world, it doesn’t mean that you/they can hide behind it! Be honest, be concise, be passionate and most of all be transparent…

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Tagged as: brave new world, first steps, resources, Social Media