Making the Case for Social Media

I am starting to hear that that folks all over the institution are looking to promote their content beyond WWW. Weekly, I find out about new projects that have a web 2.0 element to their plan for communications. Additionally I hear about others aching to implement these tools into their communications plans, only to be shut down for lack of understanding, or fear of transparency.

The difference I notice in these two scenarios seems to come down to one thing. Education.

Some of us (like me) are lucky, we work for tech savvy, early adopters. In this case, creating a reasonable implementation plan is enough to make the case. For those who's managing director may be hesitant, all hope is not lost. Your first step should be to educate your supervisor, and your entire team for that matter on the tools you are hoping to implement. I warn you that step one is not so easy, but it is important in ultimately making the case.

1) Articulate your goal/s - What is it that use of this tool will help you to accomplish
2) Provide the support - Demographics, and statistics to support your claims
3) Define the use & tools - Examples help, what might this look like, and who else is doing this
4) Measurement of Success - Define what success means, and how you will measure it.

Finally, use your resources. If you work here, join the Facebook Web 2.0 discussion group. Most of the attendees at these lunch events are either already using these tools, or are writing plans to use these tools. If you don't work here, there are plenty of local groups and experts talking about this. Go to meet ups, bar camps, or conferences, you are sure to meet someone who would be happy to share their knowledge. If you are in Houston, HIMA is a good place to start.

My job here is to help develop some direction around social media communications here, at this place we call...umm...work. Use me as a resource, I am gathering the information anyway, and I don't mind sharing.