Phil Gomes, vice president of me2revolution group, Edelman recommends a four-part process for companies and organizations to engage in social media
FLEE: Find, Listen, Engage and Empower.
Find those content creators who matter to your company or organization
Listen to what they have to say
Engage in a conversation with them
Empower their voice by taking action
Phil argues that social media campaigns are not about the technology, they generally don’t cost much and are easy to install and use. What social media campaigns really boils down to is Knowledge, Passion, Authority and Sweat Equity. Or in other words, it boils down to the content and conversation.
Phil doesn’t say it explicitly, but the greatest cost of social media is the time and consistency that it takes to formulate the relationships.
Three Questions to Ask
- Who are our friends and enemies online, big and small?
- Who are the most influential?
- How can we economically reach out to them
Working with creators of social media is not another form of media relations.
Don’t pitch…participate.
tags: Social+Media+101, Phil+Gomes, Edelman
By Kami Watson Huyse, APR, principal of My PR Pro, is an Ad Age “Power 150” blogger who writes about public relations and communications at Communication Overtones. She has an extensive background in crisis communication and reputation management, executing social media campaigns, focus group research and media relations. She has garnered coverage for her clients in media outlets such as the Washington Post, theWall Street Journal, the CBS’ “The Early Show” and the San Antonio Express News, among others.
Thanks for the writeup!
The only thing that I’ll add is that there was one point I made over-and-over again: That it’s NOT about the dogged pursuit of top-tier-this and most-influential that. Such a strategy works in media relations, but is an abuse of social media where the potential to address voices large and small *horizontally* is what makes a program successful.
Also… The “Empower” part means that one should take what you hear from listening to the audience and demonstrate that you treat the input as actionable. Look at how Ideastorm brought Dell around to Linux, for example.
Okay… That was two things…
Thanks again! I’ll keep following from Chicago. In PHL now.
Yes, you did make that point about the potential of all voices, thanks for stressing it here.
Also, thanks for finishing the “E” in FLEE, it is a great point, you can’t make progress without being willing to address concerns with action.