Four keys to deploying social media

Last Thursday the Churchill Club ran an event on using Social Media for Sponsorship and Fundraising. It was a great evening with perspectives coming from Peter Williams (CEO Deloitte Digital), Jeremy Kann (General Manager, Sales & Commercial at Australian Grand Prix Corporation) and Vicki Kyriakakas (Communications Manager at Environment Victoria).

It was quite a wide-ranging discussion, but there was some points on deploying social media solutions that I had the urge to share.

Social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc) was very much seen as an emergent area where the community will determine where the value is – not the so-called “experts”. So contrary to the general wisdom, the best idea was to start a social media activity, then seek to understand it rather than the other way round. Planning means you lag behind, not surf the wave.

Pete Williams of Deloitte recommended a four-step process:

1. Start
Just do it! Get something going today. The barriers to entry are minimal – most social media is free to start using and very simple to understand. Sign up for Twitter, post photos on Flickr or write a blog.

2. Learn
Experiment with social media. There is no right or wrong way of using things, it’s completely up to you. But trap your learnings so you can craft your strategy.

3. Amplify
When you think you have nailed some value, let the rest of your community know. They will either agree with you and get on board, or you will need to keep experimenting.

4. Let it run itself
Don’t direct it, let the community find the value. A community manager is a good idea, but it should be a loose role, not formal, because the community needs to self-organise to survive.

The key to longevity in your social media strategy is seeing it as something your community can derive value from, rather than simply a marketing tool.

I thought this was a fairly handy process to keep in mind.

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Brendan Lewis is a serial technology entrepreneur having founded: Ideas Lighting, Carradale Media, Edion, Verve IT, The Churchill Club, Flinders Pacific and L2i Technology Advisory. He has set up businesses for others in Romania, Indonesia and Vietnam. Qualified in IT and Accounting, he has also spent time running an Advertising agency and as a Cavalry Officer with the Australian Army Reserve.