Finding Influencers and Getting Your Social Media Game On

This can be a very long discussion, so I promise to keep it short. This post is short because I want this message to be concise, almost a mantra:

The goal of all this discussion, energy and activity regarding social media is to do one thing and one thing well - find your key influencers by listening intently and empower them to be your brand ambassadors.

"Find your key influencers by listening intently and empower them to be your brand ambassadors".

If you focus on achieving this one goal and measure its effectiveness over time, you will win the battle for customer loyalty and engagement.

Corporate Social Networking

You bet, interactive communities are penetrating the corporate office and replacing (at least being included) in company intranets. No longer are the just big technology companies adapting and adopting this new communication tool. Restaurant chains are to. Even independent restaurants are starting to see the value of creating and managing a private group for internal communications and dialog. There are many ways to create a new, more engaged workforce reaping all the attendant benefits.

First, understanding how social media technologies work including legal considerations, IT support, policy and guidelines. It's best to realize that in most cases, company communication policies and common sense would apply. But don't smother, enable. The hardest thing for marketing folks and lawyers to do is let go. Social web mandates that we trust. It's a learning process, so community management is a key success factor.

Second, IT generally hates anything that passes through a firewall. So, allow access outside the firewall. IT, lighten up a bit.

Third, be patient and try not to grow your community too fast. It will take time because you really want the employee to discover the value and share. Word-of-mouth works internally too. The champions will surface

Fourth, make sure the your regional managers and general managers are on board and know how to use the community at the unit level. More, mush more on that as we go along here.