Author: Domen Božeglav, ARNES, <domen.bozeglav@arnes.si>
Review: Laura Durnford, TERENA, <durnford@terena.org>, Gitte Julin Kudsk, <gitte.kudsk@uni-c.dk>

Introduction

The goal of Social Media Jumpstart pack is to help NRENs start their own Social Media presence or improve existing one. The document aims at PR (or other) coordinators setting up the NREN Social Media whereas some parts aimed at end users producing content - e. g. technical staff. It's not an overwhelming strategy but rather how to directions you can use instantly.

The structure of the document is divided into 6 logical steps which imitate the natural top to bottom deployment of NREN Social Media presence (some steps of deployment are further covered in detail on TERENA wiki space):

...

• How to Introduce Social Media to Your Business: when to and when not to expand your channels to Social Media
• Develop a Social Media Strategy in 7 Steps: how not to loose focus when deploying Social Media

2. Decide on which social media you are going to adapt

...

The Social Media space is changing as we speak - some applications cease to exist and some new emerge all the time. Though we are aware of some serious players that won't vanish through the night (e.

 

 

Try thinking into investing into non application specific knowledge.

(check NREN strategies examples on wiki)

g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube ...). If you want to maintain the focus and momentum we suggest you decide on Social Media applications you are going to adopt.

For now NRENs are present on (in the app, order of frequency):

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Youtube
• Google+
• Xing
• Blogspot
• Wikipedia
• Custom Social Media deployments and various blogs

For details an live examples check the NREN Social Media presence wiki page, where you can explore how NRENs have set their Social Media presence

If you can't decide on which Social Media to adopt additional hints can be found at:

• Market analysis of social network platforms and their developments: the list hasn't been updated for a while but it still serves as a reference or pointer to more up to date information
• Social networking sites and our lives: which Social Media we use
• Social media Examiner: use cases of various Social Media application uses

3. Compare what you will get for extra work (evaluate ROI).

Don’t forget that you will have to be active on your social mediaDecide on which social media you are going to adapt and make a thorough plan.

...

1. Compere what you will get with extra work it will bring and make a final decision (evaluate ROI). Don’t forget that you will have to be active on your social media.
2. and make a final decision Prepare a company Social media policy and get a management “buy in”. (check NREN policy examples on wiki)
   1. Unofficial page is not representative
3. Start deploying your social media and engage
   1. General advices
      1. Breef your employs with Social Media guidelines
      2. Like it and be liked
      3. Use web RSS feeds to keep your Social media profile up to date
      4. Answer all question as soon as possible
      5. Make people feel their opinion matters
      6. If you have nothing to say, don’t say it
      7. Use various tools to monitor all your social media presences in one place (e. g. on netwibes)
   2. Facebook
      1. Create company page profile (don’t use groups since they will be depreciated and don’t create a personal profile for your company since it’s against the FB rules)
      2. Add company data, try to “talk to people” don’t just use facts
      3. Add as many photos as possible
      4. Create stilled welcome page
      5. Create company events, invite people to events
      6. Photograph events and post photos from events on your profile
      7. Notify your friends about your page and hopefully they will like it (and others will follow them).
      8. Activate your work colleagues so they like and post on your profile and activate more users
      9. Don’t forget to use it for contests, events and new service launches
      10. Monitor insights and see what your public likes and activates on
      11. Advertise to friends of your followers
   3. Twitter
      1. Make sure everyone twitting for your company learn “twitter language”
      2. Create company Twitter profile and customize it. Make sure you state who stands behind company Twitter profile - name the person(s).
      3. Build twitter in your every day workflow
      4. Start following journalists and people of the same interest
      5. Reply to twits of people you would like to follow
      6. Whenever possible try to twit breaking news
      7. Use twitter for the channel to VIPs
      8. Use Twittdeck to manage multiple profiles on one place

      9. Use Twittwall on conferences to engage users in conversations with presenters

   4. LinkedIn
      1. Create corporate page for the sake of brand awareness.
      2. Promote at least a few high end services
      3. Invest more time and effort if you are a regular seeker of employees
   5. Youtube
      1. Customize your channel
      2. Create playlists
      3. Use insights to understand your users
   6. Google+
      1. Not jet so popular but at least register your brand for future use.
   7. Wiki
      1. Make sure information about your NREN is up to date.
      2. Be aware of strict editorial policy and comply to it.
   8. Blogs
   9. Flikr
4. Measure successand report back to management
   1. Number of likes and followers.
   2. News dissemination through social media (if possible monitor your CMS for different entry points to your news articles).
   3. Use tools for accessing influence (e. g. klout, peerindex)
   4. With a help of reasonable effort  the Social media will grow all by itself, so It’s a great PR resource for you.