Why Social Media Matters
| Organizations should view social media as being equally important as their websites and as any other core communication tools they may already be using. If you want to be part of the conversation on any level, you have to be around the same table as those you’re trying to converse with. |
Why does social media matter?
Social media is a game changer
This is where people talk about their lives, their needs, what’s important to them, their struggles and their victories. It’s a window into the lives of your people and the people you are trying to reach. No longer are you dependent on someone calling you to deliver news; there’s a constant stream of it right there in front of you.
Social media is relevance
A relevant organization knows and understands the things that impact its people and its community. If you’re in a farming community you should know all about rainfall, government subsidies and all the other things that affect your community. Social media is bigger than all that because wherever you live it encompasses every single part of daily life. Being part of that shows you care, that you get it, and that you’re not out of touch.
How important is it for organizations?
How important is it for organization to match their audience with the right media? Extremely!
When you do anything as an organisation you have to ask “why” and “who are we doing this for?”
If you’re an “average” organisation reaching a good mix of all ages, Facebook is for you as it will touch the most people.
Twitter is more of a professional tool used by a professional crowd, and even then it’s still used by a small percentage of those folks.
For most organizations, Facebook is the best way to go.
What are the first steps
What are the first steps in establishing this type of approach?
1. Know your audience, what they are using and how they are using it. So survey your crowd.
2. Know who is going to monitor and maintain everything and make it part of their job description. If this isn’t planned out it will fall flat, just like most organizations websites do.
3. If you need help, hire a coach/consultant to come in for a few hours or a day and walk you through everything. (Check out my Social Media Workshop)
What are the negatives with social media?
In general it can become a huge time sucker.
There is a fine line between using it and letting it use you.
You need to be strategic and intentional in how you use it. Also if you’re the type of organization that is very image conscious, you need to be careful about who is responsible for speaking on your behalf. It has to be someone you trust to make wise decisions.
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Great post in regards to social media, but I wouldn’t say Twitter is more of a professional tool, it evens out, everyone and their mother uses Twitter. We’re definitely on the same page of using Facebook for most organizations … like you said it is the best way to go.