Tag Archive

You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'community management' tag.

Three Ways to Make Social Networks Work for You

March 8, 2010 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

How can you get the most from social networks? There’s a lot more to it than posting photos and status updates.

Tune in to the Conversation
People are talking about you behind your back. Its up to you to find out if it’s good, bad, or otherwise. Search sites like Twitter for your brand, school or group and get a sense of what’s being said in real time (for example, here’s what people are saying about Trident Layers gum on Twitter). The conversations you tune in on will help you judge how current communications initiatives and goals are being received, and help you adapt your approach accordingly. If there is no conversation…then you have another problem on your hands.

Use Your Audience as a Resource
 Your fans already have a vested interest – they know your brand and product best. Solicit them for feedback and get new ideas and advice. Sites like My Starbucks Idea and Vitamin Water’s Facebook presence are examples of the ways you can solicit feedback and participation from your biggest fans and advocates.

Research Key Players
 Sites like LinkedIn give you a direct channel to connect to and learn more about people. These could be individuals you don’t know yet but want to, or people you’ll be interacting with in the future. LinkedIn can give you valuable information: who you know in common, professional and educational background, groups and interests. These points of reference can be very helpful in a fundraising meeting, job interview, or on a sales call.

Conference Buzz: CASE SMC

February 24, 2010 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

I’m pleased to report that the email and print promotions have gone out for the CASE conference I’m chairing in April:  Social Media & Community: Developing and Managing Strategies for Online Outreach. Perhaps that’s how you found your way to my blog. Welcome!

A quick reminder: we’ve set up presences on third-party sites where you can interact with faculty and with each other before, during, and after the conference. Of note:

Twitter: follow @CASEsmc, and use the hashtag #CASEsmc10 to keep up with news and info. If you’re planning to join us in Chicago in April, @reply the CASEsmc Twitter account. We’ll follow you and add you to this Twitter list: http://twitter.com/casesmc/attendees.

Diigo (social bookmarks): find articles, blog posts and other content of note in the conference Diigo group. We’ll keep this active after the conference as well.

Flickr: post some photos you’re proud of, and post your photos from Chicago after the conference in our Flickr group. If you’re unfamiliar with Flickr, this is a good chance to try it out.

See you in April!

Ambient Awareness and Connecting Online

February 16, 2010 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

What is ambient awareness? Here’s an example: right now you might know what your old college roommate had for breakfast this morning, even though you live 2,000 miles apart and haven’t traded emails or phone calls in months. And how do you know? You saw it on Facebook, in a tweet or a blog post. Social media has the power to keep friends connected and up-to-date on everything from vacations to favorite foods to new year’s resolutions, all without picking up the phone or penning a letter.

But beyond maintaining personal friendships, how might ambient awareness be useful?

It can help build community: Headmasters like Lee Burns of the Presbyterian Day School can communicate with students and parents using social media tools. By posting about a book he’s read and discussing how it relates to education, he gives the campus community the opportunity to join in on the conversation – both in person and online.

It can be a networking tool: these days, it’s not who you know but who you don’t know. Follow people in your field you respect and admire (read their blog or follow them on Twitter). Not sure where to start? Try sites like Twiangulate to identify those you aren’t following, but should be. Participate in the conversation by posting a comment when you have relevant thoughts and ideas to share. You stay informed about tools and trends, you build an online reputation for being an informed, engaged participant, and your interactions online may lead to offline networking connections.

It can promote a brand or initiative: companies like Coca-Cola are using Facebook not only to advertise their products, but as a way to spread the word about their philanthropic endeavors. You can use social media tools to augment your message for a new initiative, brand, product or goal, and interact with your constituents in a space they’re already invested in, keeping your fans aware of the latest info and updates.

Maybe all of this seems obvious, but it’s important to remember: social media lets you establish, build and maintain relationships in ways we were unable to easily accomplish before. Wield this tool wisely.

Thanks to Travis Warren of WhippleHill for making me aware of Lee Burns’s social media presence.

Stuff I Use: Tools for Managing Social (and other) Media

January 4, 2010 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , | 2 comments

Managing and monitoring your online reputation requires keeping tabs on lots of different online spaces. Fortunately there are several free tools available on the Interwebs to help you. Here are some of my favorites:

Hootsuite: a free, web based tool for administering Twitter identities. I use it to manage several Twitter accounts at once, search specific keywords and hashtags, shrink URLs and schedule future tweets. It does all that AND supplies metrics on specific tweets (if it contains a url you shortened via Hootsuite). Overall, its a great tool. My only complaint is that in the past they’ve forced users to send a canned tweet telling everyone how great Hootsuite is. Annoying.

Google Alerts are a no brainer: a free, simple way to monitor new stuff that’s been posted to the web about a certain subject. First, customize the system to send you an email with results on a certain query (or queries – you can set up as many alerts as you want, but you’ll get an email for each one). You can search for a name, a school, a company, a product – anything. When that search term pops up in the latest relevant Google results, you’ll hear about it via email. You just decide how often you want to receive them. Google Alerts has been around for a while, but I still find it incredibly useful.

NetNewsWire. To keep up with blogs, news, and other sites via RSS you need a good feed reader (if you’re not clear on what RSS or “syndication” is, read more here). My favorite is NetNewsWire, a free client for the Mac (sorry, no PC version as of yet). By sorting everything into folders/categories I can quickly and painlessly sift through hundreds of feeds every day.

PC folks: No NetNewsWire should not mean that you give up on RSS entirely. I hear good things about Google Reader; give it a shot and let me know what you think.

And don’t forget: you can put the feed for this very blog in your reader of choice right here.

Group Request Spam: Some Examples

September 22, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , | 1 comment

I manage a closed university alumni group on LinkedIn. Therefore I am privy to all of the…”creative” explanations from individuals who feel they are entitled to be a member of said group. I’ve been collecting these explanations for some time now; a few of them are below. These were all sent to me via LinkedIn messaging:

“I would love the opportunity to join this group – I am a Group Sales Manager at the [a hotel chain] and it could be a great professional and personal benefit to you/your group, I and my company to get to know each other and maybe work together. The [hotels] have meeting space both indoor and outdoor for group bookings, along with over 380 guest rooms for group and or individual reservations.”

—–

“Hi there,

I’m fresh graduate [note: not a graduate from the university in question] and I’m Cisco (CCNA) certified. Please contact me I need other’s experience advice and I’m searching Job.
Thank you for considering me”

—–

“Hi I hope you are fine and doing good.. your group.. good..
thanks,,
[company url]“

This is but a very small subset of the constant stream of messages, all from people with no affiliation with the university, wanting to establish a connection. While keeping a closed group means more work, it also means that you close the door to spammers. People like the ones above never get a chance to post a message about selling hotel conference room space on your discussion board, in your news items, or contact members of the group directly about it.

Maintaining the barrier between your group members and spammers is part of what makes “group.. good..”