A Guide to Social Media:Why you need it and how to use it

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Social media is information content created by people using highly accessible and

scalable publishing technologies.

At its most basic sense, social media is a shift in how people discover, read and

share news, information and content. It's a fusion of sociology and technology,

transforming monologue (one to many) into dialog (many to many) and is the

democratization of information, changing people from content readers into

publishers.

Social media has become extremely popular because it allows people to connect

in the online world to form both personal and business relationships.

Okay, so how does that relate to me?

Social Media is all about Conversation

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Talking &Listening

… But first you must be visible.

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Before we show you how

Let us tell you why

Empowerment: Give your audience a voice and direct access to you using social media. The use of social media tools for engagement with your base can really drive constructive conversations and lends itself to genuine empowerment.

Inclusion and social cohesion: Digital inclusion closely matches social inclusion, and some studies suggest that promoting digital inclusion can help tackle social exclusion. Using social media promotes on and off-line community cohesion.

Performance management: Social media encourages the timely distribution of information to citizens, presented in more comprehensible, attractive and inclusive ways. This increased transparency benefits members and stakeholders alike.

Social Media Encourages:

Customer insight and service transformation: Social media can help you understand the customer experience and communicate your priorities effectively with partner organizations. Social media can also be cheaper than many existing communication channels.

Equalities: Social media allows you to hear from voices not normally heard, providing information and opportunities to contribute more accessibly.

Service-specific support: Create hyper-local sites for projects and generate more feedback by providing access to planning and implementation information.

Innovation: Many innovations can be delivered through social media. Lessons and adaptations can be shared widely and immediately.

Social Media Enables:

Social Media Myths

You have to be technical to use social media

Millions and millions of otherwise ordinary people use YouTube and Facebook.

Anyone can upload a photoAnyone can write a blog post

It’s all about the tools

Too often people use the names of popular tools

to describe types of interaction and social networking

(i.e. I’m Twittering).

Tools are the support, but people make the conversations.

Only young people who use social media.

Not true.

Younger folk may use it as a matter of course, but lots of “older people” use social media, too. More and more are using it all the time. Understand also, some people just don’t want to engage this way. That’s ok.

It’s a waste of time and resources.

Communicating and listening constructively is never a waste of time.

It’s easy

It is and it isn’t. Much of social media is easy and accessible. But good conversation, consultation, listening, facilitation and communication skills take time and effort to develop. That doesn’t mean we don’t try.

A successful social media campaign consists of working at it every day and making small, but constant, gains.

It takes effort to monitor, track and engage with people on different platforms.

If we let people say anything, then they’ll say the worst things

A public site must never be the home of nasty vitriol, or inappropriate diatribe. These are all things that can happen when

you open up conversations on your own site.

However, most people know what’s appropriate.

Do we trust people? Of course. We don’t let the random loudmouths

stop us from engaging in public discourse. And we shouldn’t let the Internet equivalent

stop us from holding public conversations in online spaces.

Trust, but verify. Be prepared to step in and moderate.

What are the risks of not doing it? What are local people talking about? If you’re not listening to them where they’re talking then you’re missing out.

Its also about reaching people where they congregate. If you have something important to say, make sure its heard.

The new ROI - Risk of Invisibility

On the flip side, mistakes will happen. Only by actively managing your approach to social media in an open environment can you hope to mitigate that.

Social media is too risky

It’s a replacement for traditional consultation and engagement

As you begin to use social media, some people will switch over from traditional means of engaging with you.

You’ll start to get new and different people engaging with you. As you demonstrate that you’re listening online and supporting an active community, you’ll actually get more people physically turning up to events and meetings.

Many Social Media Tools exist today

So its important to take a targeted approach

How?

Networking Blogging Multimedia

Let’s start with the basics…

Develop and maintain your Facebook ace

Facebook is a free access social networking site that connects people.

blog, blog, blog.

The Value Of Twitter Is In “The Power Of Passed Links”

Twitter = Traffic

Share info in 140 characters (or less)

Multimedia helps you stand out.

YouTube generates millions

of views daily.

Flickr is the most searched image site online.

Make it MOBILE

Extend your reach by making yourself accessible via mobile.

Social media shouldn’t OVERWHELM you

Stephen ChukumbaDigital Technologist(718) 308-5730stephen@stephenchukumba.comIM dgtlsnprSkype genmobiTwitter @stephenchukumba

But give us a call if it does.