This is the second session from Beth Kanter’s Zoetica Training on social media given to the Colorado Nonprofit Association.
Listening is the beginning of the exercise. There are many tools to listen with, and knowing the key words that matter helps. Look for the conversations, look for the influencers and what they are talking about.
Moving from messages to conversation starters is a critical transition. How do we ask questions? What do we do? Consider the San Jose Opera and how they interact with people on Twitter.
As you go out and build your network you can start to see who is having conversations with you. And who are they having conversations with? Are they integral to your community? Know your folowers, develop relationships by listening and having conversations.
Integrate content, give yourself link love on your social properties. Developing content is a critical aspect, and you have to have different strategies for different social media. Your content needs to be integrated, sharing across channels. It’s a good idea to have editorial missions for your web site. Cites Danielle Brigada and National Wildlife Federation’s efforts.
You need capacity to succeed. Who is going to create the content free, interns, staff, executives? Interns have been used, but don’t dump on them without integrating them into the team, and giving them meaningful work.
It’s important to measure. But don’t spend more time to collecting and analyzing data than doing. Learn the lessons, and move on. Make mistakes, keep experimenting and growing.