Social Media: Tips And Terms
3/1/2010
Before jumping into the world of social media, company leaders must first determine why they are doing it and what they want to accomplish with it. Mashable.com is a blog that focuses exclusively on social media news and resources and offers numerous “how to” guides for getting started.
- Identify a champion. Some department or individual within the company needs to “own” social media. Lots of departments might be consulted when it comes to decision making, but ultimately someone has to be held accountable for the outcomes. For many smaller companies, this responsibility might fall to sales or marketing. Another option is using consultants for certain aspects of the strategy and internal resources for the rest.
- Consider the employees. Companies need to assess their employees’ level of knowledge and interest and offer training where necessary. General Motors, for example, posted a 45-minute Social Media 101 interactive training course on its intranet that gave employees the basics on how, why, and where to engage in social media. Other companies have developed job aids, such as flow charts or decision trees, to help employees determine when and how to respond to blogs and inquiries.
- Listen first. Don’t be afraid to ask questions on- and offline. It is important to remember that some ideas will not work, but there are lessons to be learned from such failures. Identify expert users to follow and recommend connections.
Some Popular Sites
The American Health Care Association recently began encouraging its members to utilize social media to promote and publicize National Nursing Home Week activities. Following are some quick tips for getting started with three of the most popular sites:
Facebook. A social networking Web site where individuals can create a personal or facility profile, add “friends,” and send messages. Facebook includes a number of unique features and applications, allowing users to update personal or facility profiles as often as they like.
To get started, a user creates an account on www.facebook.com. To create a facility account, click on “Create a Page for a Celebrity, Band, or Business.” The account enables the user to add information to the profile, write thoughts on the Facebook “Wall,” and search for and add friends or fans. Users can also upload photos or videos, plan events, and send e-mail. Facebook users can join groups and become fans of other Facebook pages. Facebook is a free tool.
Twitter. Twitter is a service that allows friends, colleagues, and businesses to stay connected through short messages sent via Twitter’s Web site. Messages may also be sent via text messaging or instant messaging. To create a personal or facility account, visit www.twitter.com and click on “Sign Up Now.” After creating an account, the first “tweet” can be posted. In the box under “What’s happening?” write a message in 140 characters or less and click “Update.” In order to receive other tweets, follow others. Messages from these accounts will be posted on the home page. There is no charge for using Twitter. If using Twitter via a mobile phone, text charges may apply depending on the mobile phone plan. For more information, visit www.twitter.com and click on “Help” at the bottom of the page.
YouTube. YouTube is a Web site designed for users to watch, upload, and comment on videos. Virtually anyone with an Internet connection and a webcam or compatible digital camera can upload videos to YouTube. To watch a video, visit www.youtube.com and search for it by entering key words in the search field. To upload a video or leave a comment, an account must be established.
Go to the site and click on “Create Account.” Uploading a video is done by clicking on the “Upload” button at the top of the page, browsing for the video file, and clicking “Upload Video.” Be sure to edit the video before uploading it to YouTube. Videos must be no larger than two gigabytes in size and no longer than 10 minutes in length. There is no cost to use YouTube.
Source: American Health Care Association and Mashable.com.