A few days ago I read a blog on my favorite HR social media site, blogging4jobs.com. The blog, ‘Learning Social Media is Easy in Small Bites’ hinted that the baby boomer generation are not sure how to use social media in business.
Take it from me; social media is not rocket science. However, for social media to be successful, you need four things:
1. A dedicated resource
2. A social media plan
3. Consistent posts
4. Metrics tracking and analysis
Dedicated Resource
For your social media initiative to be successful, you must appoint an internal social media ‘champion’. Offer educational resources to help bring your champion up to speed. There are many books and one day seminars available on the topic of social media.
Develop a Social Media Plan
Decide which social sites your organization wants to be active on, (the ‘big three’ are Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter) then develop a basic plan. It does not have to be lengthy, but should include:
- A business objective
- Your target markets
- Outreach tactics
- Cost
- How you will measure progress
Consistent Posts
Start slow. Spend at least 15 minutes daily on social media. The time consuming part of social media is not the posting itself, but the time spent planning what you’re going to say! Begin by making a few posts weekly. The key to increasing your online presence is consistency.
Metrics Measurement
I can’t stress this enough. Monitor and analyze your social media metrics data. When I first started managing ABR Employment Services social media, I relied on metrics analysis to help determine where our target audiences were most active. Monitoring your metrics over time can help you tweak your social media plan, remove underperforming channels and replace them with new ones.
What’s your organization’s social media challenge(s)? Comment below or send me a ‘how do I…’ question about social media.