Social Media Breakfast NH

I am thrilled to have organized the sixth NH Social Media Breakfast at the Library. As I’ve watched my colleagues bust out open houses and other outreach to our community this month, it feels great to host my people – the ones who share my interest in community and how to reach them.

The event was organized by the lovely Leslie Poston of Uptown Uncorked and co-author of Twitter for Dummies. Three speakers:

Heidi Duncanson, Marketing Director at the Children’s Museum of NH, will share tips for building community on a shoestring.
Make people feel invested in your success.
Generosity and the dollars follow it.
Who are you trying to reach.
Volunteer in the community you are trying to reach.
Be positive and be generous.

Kevin Micalizzi, Community Manager for DimDim, on Simple Rules for Great Community Management
Be real. Do not be a bot.
Your customers are people and as people they want to speak with people.
Always be honest online and be upfront about who you are and what you are representing.
Be real and address the need.
People want to know someone is backing them up – [LJR - This could be the Library!]
Sometimes folks just need to feel validated. Someone to tell them that it’s okay.
Do not be a roadblock. The buck does not stop here. You are not the end of the line. There are already too many roadblocks.
Sometimes the directions are just confusing.
We need to be the ones giving the customers the clear path. [HELLO Libraries!]
Unless you are open and engaged you cannot be an active participant in the community.
Conversation goes both ways. You are not there to simply broadcast your message. It’s not called broadcast media.

Rachel Happe, Co-Founder of The Community Roundtable, on Eight Competencies to Socializing Your Organization
How to manage a community in an organizational context.
One person cannot manage this. You cannot be the only one managing your brand, you need advocates.
Pay attention to the cues – they are there.
You want a customer to be an enabler for you.
Expectations – Reality = Satisfaction. If you set high expectations and don’t follow through you are *creating* dissatisfaction. Marketing should be modest and then delight the customer.
Be Transparent, that may mean telling them why something is private. Don’t just hide it.
Be Authentic, show yourself.
Be modest, don’t overhype yourself.
Lead from the Back. We are used to telling people what we want. It’s much better to encourage and set boundaries from the back. Inspiring rather than forcing.
Tone, Formal tone and language creates a barrier between you and your constituents.
Communication Mode, people are mixing work and life. Know where your constituents are and meet them there.
Feeling of Power/Control, Customers can see their choices – they have them [even with libraries] and they know it. Ask them to partner with you.
Find your cheeseheads – the people who are really passionate about your organization.
Bring catnip – incenting people and encouraging them, especially when it’s an opt-in environmnet. [They are all opt-in]
Ride the waves.
Don’t ignore what is going on. You don’t have to fix the problem, but acknowledge it.
Be notable.
Keep a Regular schedule.
Be valuable. This is not free, invest money and time.
Have rules. Be clear about you are trying to do with your community. Be firm about how people interact. Rules are the codification of your culture, decide what that is and write it down.
Take risks.
Protect your base. Know what is risky for your constituent groups and know what will cause them to be fractured with you.
Find good tool.
Measure. Your efforts can be quantified.
Account and reconcile.