Managing Social MediaTaking advantage of social networks while

making the best use of your time

Erin Hallstrom EricksonPutman Media

About me...• 10+ years in B2B journalism (magazines, books, websites)• Worked for B2Bs and associations both large and small. • 2005-2008: Served as (print) Group Managing Editor for

Reed Business Information's Residential Construction Group for 3 years.

• Incredibly eager to learn digital media (posting articles, conducting webinars, developing interactive stories)

• Invitation to join ASBPE• Became ASBPE Chicago web "geek"• Taught myself HTML, social media best practices, analytics• 2008: Moved to Putman Media as a Sr. Digital Editor• 2008-2009: Created UBrandMedia.com as a result of

numerous queries from collegues to teach them social media

Editor's Typical Daily To-Do List

Up until a few years ago...• Assign Article(s)• Contact Freelancer(s)• Research Article(s)• Write article(s)• Find Sources• Stay relevant on industry

topics• Generate article ideas

With the additional responsibilities of (now)...• Post Tweets• Write blog posts• Comment on other blogs• Check on LinkedIn Group• Monitor Facebook Fan

Page• Generate Leads and Page

Views

= 8 hour work day

Social Media: Whose responsibility is it? • Marketing experts will tell you the marketing department• Circulation or Lead Generation will tell you circulation• Editors who don't understand it will tell you the junior staffer

or editorial intern • The digital editor might tell you they're already on it and can

explain it to you.• The IT or Web Team might tell you to submit a request and

they'll try to get to it. • Depending on company resources, social media may be

YOUR responsibility. It comes down to strategy: what is you're trying to do on social media that's going to help your website?      

What is your site's Social Media strategy? (or why are you using social media?)

• To generate more traffic to your website?• To generate more interest in your content?• To grow your readership (or viewership)?• To find more leads or sources?• To find more advertisers?• To put down roots for building an online community?• To serve as a forum for industry (or association) members?• To be cool or hip (a.k.a: everyone else is doin' it)• To experiment with new online tools• To give your staff a leg up over print-only competition?

  If you don't know, then you need to decide why and what your strategy is.

Social Media Responsibility: Editorial or Marketing?

Editorial• To generate more interest in your

content• To find more leads or sources• To put down roots for building

an online community• To serve as a forum for industry (or

association) members• To be cool or hip • To experiment with new online tools• To give your staff a leg up over print-

only competition

Marketing• To generate more traffic to your

website• To find more advertisers• To grow your readership (or

viewership)• To put down roots for building

an online community• To be cool or hip • To experiment with new online tools• To give your staff a leg up over print-

only competition

Most of the goals are the same. Let each department take the lead for their SM strategy

approach

Once you've figured out who is doing what...

Pitfalls to avoid with your B2B Social Media Campaign

  

Tips and Tricks for using social media

to be more productive

Pitfalls: Things to Avoid with your B2B Social Media Campaign• Lack of monitoring -- Do not set up and walk away• Lack of authenticity or personality -- Do not discourage your

staff from being themselves. • Don't wait for formalized training. Most social media tools

are free. Let your staff experiment. • Don't forget to laugh at little faux pas -- Make sure to learn

from your mistakes, but don't let fear keep you from trying something.

• Don't discourage your social media savvy staffers from taking the lead.

• Don't go into social media without some idea of what you want to do with it.

• Don't forget the rest of your site or magazine. 

Be a more productive editor with Social Media

Task• Assign Article(s)  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>• Contact Freelancer(s) >>>>>>>>>>>• Research Article(s) >>>>>>>>>>>>>• Write article(s) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>• Find Sources >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>• Stay relevant on industry topics >>>>• Find images or video >>>>>>>>>>>• Generate article ideas >>>>>>>>>>

Social Media Tool(s) you can use: • LinkedIn, Google Docs, e-mail• LinkedIn, e-mail, Skype, IM• Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook• Google Docs, Google Groups• Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube• Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, RSS• Flickr, YouTube• Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, RSS,

YouTube  

Social Media Productivity ExamplesAssign Articles: LinkedIn, Google Docs, e-mail 

http://docs.google.com

http://www.linkedin.com

Social Media Productivity ExamplesResearch Article(s) and Find Sources >>>>>>>>>>>>> Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook

 

Social Media Productivity ExamplesStay relevant on industry topics >>>> Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, RSS 

Social Media Productivity ExamplesFind images or video and Stay relevant on industry topics >>>>>>>>>>> Flickr, YouTube  

Editorial Social Media FAQ'sShould everyone on the editorial staff be required to participate in these networks?

o Again, review your reasons for being on social media. o Using social media gives you a bigger voice and more opportunities

to connect with potential sources or readers/visitors. o Those who want the voice and opportunity should use  social media

channels at their disposal.     A few notes about editors on social media:• Be authentic and transparent about who you are. If you're one person

Twittering for a site, be sure your profile notes that. Otherwise, go with your

name. • Decide who (or what) you want to be on what social networking platform. Are

you the same self on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook?

Editorial Social Media FAQ'sWho should be in charge of monitoring social networks?• Best advice: Find the person or people who are eager to do it and put them in

charge of it even if it's the intern. o Those who are the most interested will do the best job. o Don't rule out age. Not all 20 somethings know how to Twitter; Not

all baby boomers are anti-technology.o Teach yourself or staff using how-to websites. Conduct social media

training during a lunch hour. o Provide monthly reports to non-Social Media users to keep them updated

on the progress.

    • Have a plan in place for what and how you'll respond to criticism.  

o What comments will you leave alone? o What discussion questions should you keep or delete? o At what point do you interfere?

Editorial Social Media FAQ'sHow do you not canibalize your site content? • Twitter:

o 140 characters doesn't allow a lot of canibalization. Tease and entice people (even non-traditional site visitors) with what is in the works on your site. Post a link the results of a survey Ask people to participate in an interactive feature Conduct an informal Twitter poll

    • Facebook Fan Page:

o Have an RSS feed streaming into your Fan page to keep people updated on what you're publishing. Update page with images, presentations, videos, etc. once they've been done.

 • LinkedIn Group:

o Have an RSS feed streaming into your news page. Post discussion questions in your discussion forum which will link back to your site.

Editorial Social Media FAQ'sHow do you aggregate content to your site? • Post "recent discussion" widgets on your site to show what your

staff is talking about on Twitter. • Build LinkedIn and/or Facebook widgets on your site to entice

people to link to your Groups or Fan Pages. • Again: focus on the why. Why are you using social media? It's good

to bring traffic back to your site, but get into the conversation as well. Don't make everything about sending traffic back to your site.

Questions?

Erin Hallstrom-Erickson erin.alissa@gmail.com on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/erinhallstromericksonon Twitter (@Ehal76) or (@FoodProcessing) www.UBrandMedia.com