Wednesday, I had the pleasure of participating in a panel discussion for ASAE’s Component Relations Virtual Lunch webinar. I was in great company with Higher Logic’s Andy Steggles, Mariner Management and Marketing’s Peggy Hoffman and American College of Healthcare Executives’ Kim Mosley, as well as Delcor’s KiKi L’Italien as moderator.

There were lots of great questions posed, and I was psyched that the attendees weren’t afraid to jump in with questions of their own!

Our conversation ranged from how to keep people from sending their (unsolicited) resumes via LinkedIn to how to decide which outposts to use to how to fit social media into organizations and chapters.

Kim had a great story about ACHE’s use social media. With a staff of 100 and 37,000 members, ACHE first touched base with other associations to learn from their mistakes and see what tools they were using, as well to find out how resource-intensive implementing a social media strategy can be. Then, they gave a survey to their members to find out which social media outposts were commonly used.

ACHE has one full-time person responsible for keeping track of its social media activity. However, social media is not the only thing this person is responsible for — her role is within the marketing and communications department. Kim said this staffer probably spends two to three hours each day looking through the sites and gathering information.

Time and resources are both important considerations when getting started in social media – especially for small-staffs. However, I think ACHE serves as a great case study. If keeping track of social media activity takes 10 to 15 hours at such a large organization, can we assume it would take less time for smaller organizations?

Of course, every organization is different, but it’s important to remember that social media doesn’t require a full-time position. Social media tools are just additional ways to communicate with members, staffers, board members and volunteers. Monitoring tools such as TweetDeck or HootSuite can do a lot of the work for you! (There are plenty of monitoring systems you can pay for, but the free ones are pretty effective!)

For smaller organizations looking to get involved in social media, it’s crucial to find your members who are already starting conversations. Embrace it. Let them run with it, but give them some guidelines to go by.

Are you listening to online conversations or blocking them out?

(Peggy shared a great story during yesterday’s call: Coca-Cola didn’t create its own Facebook page. Two random fans of Coke did. When Coke found out, they gave them a few guidelines but pretty much just told them to run with it. How’s that for embracing your social media superstars?)

I know it’s scary to let these conversations happen online and feel like you have no control. But it’s a good thing — I promise! There’s no way to control what people say about the organization, but there is a way to support the conversations in a welcome environment.

Remember the key word in “social media” — MEDIA! Your organization’s media efforts can include all types: marketing, public relations, print and yes, social.

For some more information about how organizations have incorporated social media departmentally, check out Maddie Grant’s SocMed Managers Series. She interviewed nine people who do social media for their association or AMC and the responses really are fascinating. (And I’m not just saying that because I was interviewed! )

If you’re curious about monitoring and social media tools, feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment! Or share your own organization’s social media story so others can learn!

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