During a recent webinar presentation on social media integration for values-based organizations, more than 120 of us from across the U.S. mused about trends, best practices and common challenges. There was a lively discussion with a slew of questions, and I promised to follow up for the attendees, so here goes….
Background on the Webinar and Slide Deck
Diversity characterized our group. Participants ranged from small business owners or local nonprofits handling everything alone to large national brands with a full-time communication team and social media community managers. But the group is committed to working together on a shared goal for an extended period, so our purpose was to empower everyone to develop a plan to integrate multiple social media channels into their existing efforts and stay on message. The webinar included specific suggestions and demonstrated best practices using a popular social media management software service that enables a team to work together.
For your reference, here’s my side deck for the webinar via SlideShare.
Integration, not desperation
One question was asked repeatedly, albeit asked in very different ways: “I have no time already. How can I add social media and do it effectively?” The answer lies in developing an integration plan and guidelines that work for you, your organization and your audiences and then implementing that plan consistently. I’ve written before about the value of checklists for teams, but today’s ever growing list of social media channels makes the risk of slipping into a state of hamster-wheel desperation all too easy without a solid integration plan and process.
Have you integrated social media into your marketing communication efforts, or is it just another add-on?
