Do You “Like” Me?

“Being social” used to mean going out to socialize, to meet with friends for activities ranging from coffee to dinner to parties to trips.

Social media takes the conversation online.

Social PR means using social media beyond e-mails, to seek a two-way dialog and to encourage collaboration between individuals. Social media does not replace existing PR, or even existing websites. It complements the more traditional one-way web and e-mail mechanisms, and provides an outlet for continuous dialog.

Where to Meet?

There are many different places, or platforms, where you can meet with other like-minded individuals. Wikipedia’s list of social networking sites contains information about many of these platforms, but new ones are emerging every day. Some have a specific stated focus – LinkedIn positions itself as a business networking site, although it has begun to allow the posting of a personal status. For other sites, you need to be “in the know” – for example, where Facebook and MySpace were once rivals, Facebook has emerged as the “winner” by the numbers when it comes to “friendship” networks, while MySpace now focuses primarily on entertainment content, which is good news if you are in a band.

Especially if you are just starting out, choose 1-2 platforms, no more than three. To choose the appropriate channels, consider:

• Where is your audience already playing online? It is unlikely that a member will join yet another social media platform just for you. Make it easy for them to find you.
• What is the purpose of your social media effort? Is it to connect members and engage in conversation (consider Facebook), is it to post videos and photographs (consider YouTube, Vimeo, Blip, Picasa, Flickr), is it to ask each other questions and generate discussions (consider LinkedIn and blogs with comment posts).

What to Say?

Social media is a quick way to get information to people in your network – and you can include links to your website, photos, quick reminders and member accomplishments.

If you are starting out on more than one channel, if you are simply duplicating content on all of them, then there is little point to encouraging members to join all channels. In District 4 Toastmasters, we have chosen the following:

• Facebook for announcements of events and accomplishments and sharing of personal photos
• LinkedIn to show membership to the organization in the profile, and within the group to provide advice to members, from how to best run speech contests to an informal “speaker exchange,” for example as test speakers for contests
• Video and photos from “official” District 4 channels are provided for download are shared on YouTube, Blip (for longer videos), and Picasa

Becoming Popular

As an organization, you will need to kick-start the conversation when you are just starting out in social media. It is unrealistic to think that you can create a social media channel four weeks prior to a large event, and then use that channel to promote that event. You first need to build a critical mass of followers and fans.

It takes a while for word to get out about your social media presence. Publicize it by embedding links to your social media channels on your website, include links in your e-mail signatures, and highlight quick links in each and every newsletter and communication.

Make sure that you are also soliciting responses. Compare the social media conversation with a normal, one-on-one conversation. If you post a one-liner, you may get a smile (or even a “like” on Facebook), but it’s not a conversation. Ask open-ended questions – and, to stack the bar, solicit a few friends to comment on that question online.

Above all, don’t give up. Even Facebook did not build a following overnight – it still took 6 years to reach 500 million users!