Shel Holtz offers good advice for companies seeking to enter the world of social media in non-threatening ways. He suggests two passive approaches:
- For your external communications, add a “share this” link to every article or page.
- For internal communication, add a rating-and-comment feature to every page.
In addition, I suggest:
- Listen and observe what’s happening outside about your brand or category.
- Experiment on your personal time — not affiliated with your company.
- Participate in existing venues where relevant conversation is happening about your company or category (i.e., commenting on blogs, or representing your brand in forums).
- Experiment behind your firewall. Shel recommends ratings for internal documents, but you can go further and be safe. There are several conservative companies that have developed active and sizable social-media efforts within their walled gardens. P&G and IBM are two that come to mind.
- Most importantly, companies should start by surveying their employees to understand how — professionally or personally — they’re already active and engaged in social media. In all likelihood, there’s significant activity under the radar.
What sort of non-threatening, baby steps has your organization taken into the realm of social media?
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