10 steps to social media

10 tips for getting more value out of social networking activities this year. How many is your department taking?

1. Map out your social media strategy for 2010. First, set your 2010 social media goals. Then map out the projects that you'll need to undertake to achieve your goals.

Throughout this process, you will need to start listening to determine which online communities are most important. Your observations will help guide your decisions on how to engage each community most effectively.

Also, identify the tools to measure your progress along the way.

2. Create synergy to amplify your messages. Social media participants are getting savvier by the second. Treat citizen consumers with respect and add value to the communities that you play in.

When you add value, your messages will be shared. Take stock of how relevant communities are interconnected, and build your strategy to amplify communication.

As you contribute content and participate in conversations, link all the disparate sites together to optimise your results.

3. Use location-based social networks. In 2010, expect to see location-based social networks take off, as more customers access the mobile web through their smartphones.

This will present a major opportunity for the public sector to make a mark on the 'local' social web to promote and engage conversations online.

4. Smart thinkers will get on the band wagon first with innovative promotions which will not only capture the attention of community members but also the media. How can you use these sites to entice different shareholders.

5. Look for ways to make the most of emerging enterprise CRM systems. Expect to see more software vendors integrating their software with social networking sites starting with a lot of chatter around Salesforce.com Salesforce Chatter in early 2010.

These integrations will help you listen, learn and respond with ease and integrate social media more tightly with your existing processes. While it's still early days, it's worth taking a serious look at systems as they become available to see what will fit with your existing systems and processes.

6. Allocate budget for social media. Take a step back and rethink how participating in social media will be funded in your organisation. Look at the total mix of marketing spend within traditional activities such as advertising and PR and the extent to which social media is currently integrated.

Or does it make more sense to bypass them and create a separate social media programme? Will you be creating content internally or using external resources and agencies to produce high-quality, engaging content? All of these factors will influence the total cost of social media programmes.

7. Reach within the organisation for social networking talent. As tempting as it is to hire new social marketing specialists to drive and influence online conversations, don't overlook the talent that already exists within people who are already in the organisation who are passionate about your services and culture. Adding authenticity which will humanise the messaging.

8. Implement social media policies that promote the right behaviours.
It's worth re-examining the social media policies to ensure that it is up-to-date with the rapidly changing social networking landscape and that it reinforces the right behaviours online.

Policies should exist to enable conversations not put up artificial walls that block and deter collaboration. Consider your culture, train and trust employees, be transparent, authentic and accurate. Apply policies developed for blogging and other company assets to other types of social media.

9. Prioritise
Create novel ways to generate synergy and positive buzz. But prioritise, focus time and energy on the social networks that really matter. Don't try to be everywhere, do everything and respond to every single discussion instead, focus on the discussions that will influence other conversations for maximum impact.

10. Offer exceptional services. Social media is simply another tool. If the services aren't great, it'll be an uphill battle to win. You'll find yourself firefighting against a tide of negative comments. In social media, you can't buy reach, influence and advocacy.

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