We talk a lot about needing to “educate” people about social media. And at recent events and meetings I’ve attended, I can confirm that companies are asking themselves how they educate their teams and colleagues about social media, too.

But the real question: WHAT do we need to be teaching?

Some of it will depend on the environment, context, and specific applications and strategies of course. But here are some areas on which we need to focus teaching and learning in order to take social media from a circular conversation into something that can be substantially and effectively integrated into business.

1. Clarity of Purpose

I want so desperately for us to stop using words like “transparency” and “dialogue” to communicate our goals for social media, and instead pick those apart into their elements and really say what we mean. In other words, as a company when we talk about being transparent or authentic, what does that look like?

What do we stand for? What are we going to DO to underscore that intent? What actions will we take? That’s the only way that folks both inside and outside the organization will ever really understand what we’re after.

2. Potential Business Impact Points

We know by now that social media can’t live in a bubble. Or, rather, we should. From the start, we need to discuss social media in context of where it could affect or impact the organization, either directly – through interaction, dialogue, response – or indirectly, through intelligence, new expectations, community feedback, or industry momentum.

To that end, we need to also discuss not how social media becomes a strategy of its own, but rather how it enhances and reengineers existing efforts, from customer service initiatives to marketing, product development, and how we recruit and retain talent.

3. Common Denominators

Yes, we need to understand the differences in intent, strategy, and execution in social, and how they’re different than what we’ve known before. But I also think we need to educate on what is NO DIFFERENT than what we’ve done for decades in terms of relationship development in business to help bridge gaps in understanding.

What are practices we’ve held in other disciplines – research, testing, communication, pilot programs – that we can adapt to social to increase its effectiveness? How have we dealt with challenges of a similar nature – lack of precedent, confusion over measurement, emergence of charlatans – for new things, and overcome them?

4. Managing Collaboratively

It’s time we move away from simply “one tie to tug” and into more distributed leadership that has accountability in many places, and several people that manage a strategy based on its needs. Social media is not a single purpose thing, so it needs stewardship in many areas, by different people, with different perspectives.

Instead of granting ownership of social media by birthright, we should instead learn how to collectively direct its integration through a team of people that represent different areas of the business. We don’t give any one person control over the phone, but every person manages their interaction and expertise with it, from logistics to strategic application. Being willing to break convention and mess up the org chart a bit takes vision, but it can be done well.

5. Understanding Adoption & Use

Social media use and adoption varies dramatically by profile of the customer, and understanding who you’re talking to is critical. Things like the Forrester Technographics Ladder can help get you started.

Likewise, “engagement” is not a universal idea, so understanding what you want in terms of outcomes – sales, interactions, suggestions and feedback, referrals – and how that lines up with the unique profile of your community is super important, as is understanding how much time it takes to build momentum for new initiatives (and have enough good data to measure against). Nothing sustainable carries with it instant and overwhelming return.

Oh, and that includes internal audiences too. If social media is something you’re introducing and it’s a newer concept, you’ll need to think in terms of immersion and education over a long term, not simply dictating a policy and then shoving people into it.

6. What “Listening”  Really Means

Listening is an often misunderstood term today. Rather, we think that merely listening is enough, but what we really mean is that we have to be paying close attention to what’s being said, and then interpret that information in context of our business.

In other words, listening isn’t a goal in itself, but like measurement, is intended to help inform actions. So we have to discuss the differences between listening just to absorb and learn, and listening with the intent to act on the information. It’s about apply listening beyond just “what are they saying about us?” to keeping a finger on the pulse of our industry, competition, our customers’ wider circle of influence. We need to understand that listening is more than just trawling for leads. Then we need to talk about how that information flows within our company, and who’s responsible for collecting it, interpreting it, and then mapping and executing a plan based on it.

7.  How existing roles will need to adapt

As we seek to apply social media in the reality of day to day operations, it becomes abundantly clear that it’s changing the way people work.

Some companies are responding by creating roles that are completely focused on social media, as a hub inside their organization and branching out from there. Others are absorbing social media responsibilities into existing roles, and retooling familiar positions to include related activities. Some are creating new hybrid positions that look new but are based in familiar concepts.

It’s also important to discuss the idea of cultivating individual “faces” of a company that are representative of social media presence, or whether a team approach with many faces in an organization is a more sustainable and scalable strategy for the long term.

8. What Good Guidelines Look Like

It’s no longer a matter of if you need social media guidelines, but rather what they should look like and cover.

Your existing employee guidelines or codes of conduct are a good place to start, but they likely need to evolve to consider circumstances and situations created by individual social media activity. Preventing it from happening – whether sanctioned or not – is futile, so planning for it and communicating expectations clearly is much smarter.

Here are bunches of examples of existing social media guidelines that can get you started.

9. The Culture of Participation

Most folks new to social media simply need some understanding of the “ground rules” and the culture of participating on the social web.

Your own corporate guidelines are one thing, but it’s also valuable to help those new to social media understand the conversational nature of the media, and what plays and what doesn’t with your particular community and audience. While there’s no “right way” to do anything in social, there are distinct tolerances, cultures, and characteristics of some communities for things like promotions, sales pitches, tone, human presence vs. automation, responsiveness. Understanding those *first* can help set you and your teams up for success and respect, rather than the reverse.

10. Risk Management

The best way to plan for the worst case scenario is to imagine it in gory detail.

So often companies shy away from social media because they’re stuck lamenting the possible negative outcomes, but ignoring them doesn’t make them irrelevant, nor does it mean they can’t happen without your planning for it. One way to move past that obstacle is to put them right out there, and talk them through.

What’s the worst situation you can imagine? What constitutes a major legal, regulatory, or compliance issue? If it happened, what would you do and how would you address it? A good bit of crisis planning also includes consensus about what a crisis *is*. What’s the tipping point for you between an uncomfortable blip and an issue that needs escalating or immediate attention? Plan for the worst, and you’ll be prepared for it if it happens.

11. Calcluating Costs, Returns, and Results

We all know measurement is one of the sticky ones, but it just doesn’t have to be. Methodical discussion, planning, testing, and patience employed well will yield results, and insights. We also have some preconceived ideas that need to be worked through, so we need to teach and educate people calmly and rationally on:

  • what constitutes investment (time, humans, software, development, infrastructure)
  • where returns are illustrated (direct response through SM channels, point of need lead generation, impact of social on existing goals, connecting dots)
  • the difference between qualitative and quantitative results, and why each matter
  • what metrics are already important to our business
  • the purpose of measurement as a teaching/guidance tool, not a goal in itself
  • the critical importance of benchmarking (knowing where you’re starting from)
  • turning measurement and analysis into actual insights: what does this data *tell* us?

What Would You Add?

If you’re a leader saying “we need to educate our teams” or an adviser saying “we need to educate our clients”, what do you mean by that? What areas of social media do you think need the most help for the long term, and where do we need to keep hammering away in order to gain clarity and understanding?

Eager to hear from your experiences.

image credit: James Sarmiento