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- Why do you need it
- Which Social Media are you talking about
- Evaluet ROI
- Get the Management buy
- Deployment
- Start producing content and engage coworkers
- Measuring
- Where to go forward
The document was created by TF-CPR but all TERENA employees are kindly invited to contribute to the subsections of the document. It's also constant work in progress so expect updates as Social Media matures.
1. Answer the question “Why do your NREN need
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Social Media
The most common reason for expanding our PR efforts to Social Media is "because others are on social media Social Media too". In our opinion this argument is wrong and if you don't exactly know, what to do with social mediaSocial Media, better don't bother putting efforts into it.
- Write down what you expect form social media Social Media
- What’s your audience. Use "personas" if you have them available from other web projects. Be aware that minority creates majority of Social Media conversation.
- How do you plan to talk to your audience (in comparison to other channel)
- What do you consider as a success?
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- 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 Media Examiner: use cases of various Social Media application uses
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Social Media requires constant involvement so don't underestimate the work you will have to invest to start Social media Media and keep it going. Here are a few hints from our own experience
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With Social Media in place at some stage you will definitely need management support so now is the last time to get their consent for the project. Try to incorporate Social Media into Company culture. Since the management is on your side now it's an excellent opportunity to push forward Company Social Media policy.
Though some NGOs are often keen on creating Check out for ideas or adapt exemplary TERENA coordinate NREN Social Media Guidelines-link (Laura). Though some NGOs are often keen on creating very long polices, we suggest you take the UK Govermnment Social media Media guidance for civil servants as an example:
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- NPR's guidelines for using social netowrks will show you how journalists should use the Social Media
- The USA AirForce - Armed with social mediaSocial Media will prove there are more strict organizations than your NREN with much "slimmer" Social Media policy.
But if you need a more elaborate Social Media policy Social media Media policy examples Wiki page offers you a few NREN and a lot of corporate extensive examples or check a Forresters "The CIO's Guide To Establishing A Social Media Policy".
5. Start deploying your
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Social Media
When deploying various Social Media applications there are some general guidelines you can follow:
- Learn from others. Be active and see for yourself what's working and what's not. Check NREN Social Media presence Wiki page for ideas.
- You won't be able to monitor entire Social Media space. Plan deploying various tools like netwibes to save you time once your applications will be in production.
- Technology and applications are changing all the time. Instead of training employees for specific applications think it more general terms and give them "How to communicate on Social Media" like courses that will keep value even when you are migrating from e. g. Facebook to Pinterest.
- With very limited resources for Social Media you won't likely have a chance to be innovative with social mediaSocial Media. Learn from others if the knowledge is available - e. g. Do's and Don'ts of Social Media.
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- Understand what you are doing. All Social Media applications have their own rules and you have to understand them to use them effectively.
- Invite your work colleagues and technicians to participate in your Social Media channels. If necessary, provide internal or external Social Media training.
- Make it clear that everyone in the company should be aware of and follow your social media Social Media guidelines and policy.
- Identify Social Media enthusiasts inside your NREN and actively encourage them.
- Answer the questions as soon as possible to maintain you credibility.
- Always make people feel that their opinion matters.
- And most important: If you have nothing to say, don’t say it!
- Use natural language, so you reduce the distance between you and users.
- Don't try to moderate Social Media. You should rather guide the debate, check out Guidelines on how to react on Social Media posts.
- Don't forget checking the trends all the time. You could be waisting your precious time on Social Media application that are "so last year"!
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- Count the number of your followers, likes and retwitts.
- Monitor news dissemination through social mediaSocial Media. If possible monitor your CMS for different entry points to your news articles.
- Use tools for accessing influence (e. g. klout, peerindex).
Don't forget to let management know you are doing a good job. Show them insights, show them how your news are spreading, how your influence is spreading. It will be easier for them to grant you new resources if you have something to show. And don't forget to mention: in recession times Social Media takes more of your time and less of organization's money whilst producing very good results when managed in the right way.
8. What's next
Now that your NREN fully utilizes the benefits of Social Media you can expand your work even forward. You can continue with further Accelerating your NREN social maturity, but if you like to keep your feet on the ground here are a few suggestions:
- Provide your User support via Social Media (some NRENs already do that). Check out, how you can use a community to even reduce your User support efforts.
- Make tighter connections with your service leaders and help them make their own Social Media promotions by themselves.
- Contribute your findings to TF-CPR so we can make this jumpstart pack even more usable.
- If you like to stay up to date, check these Social Media portals for what's new: