AttentionMax

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?