1.)    Shine your light: Once you master a skill or a task, move on and share that aptitude with a different account team or your co-workers. Everyone wins when you learn from each other.

2.)    Connect with causes: This shows you care, and it’s not just about the money.

3.)    Reconsider metrics: Look at what type of analytics you’re using, if any, and see if they are the best way measure what you’re interested in.

4.)    Listen: Hear what consumers, employees and bloggers are saying about your company/product and incorporate that into your business plan. This also means responding to your online following (very important!) Public relations is still about customer service.

5.)    Media training for everyone: With social media, everyone is able to speak on behalf of the company, whether it is the C-suite or a junior-level employee, so make sure they’re ready.

6.)    Bring the legal department in early: Make sure that legal is involved with social media strategies from the beginning. That way, everyone is on the same page and can act proactively, instead of cleaning up after a crisis!

Chris emphasized that having a blog or a Twitter account is not just about exposure. It is about using these tools to leverage relationships with your audience and create influence.

Becky Loya is a senior at Boston University studying public relations. Follow her @BeckyLoya.

The School of Education teaches Orientation Session 5 how to do the Terrier Shuffle.

Below are some articles that caught our interest this past week:

The Broader Role of Moderators in Online Communities (The Online Community Guide): Removing bad content and resolving disputes is just a small part of being a moderator on the web (your blog; your Facebook page). A community manager should be interested in proactively starting discussions and guiding what the community will talk about. Setting up weekly features (thinking: BUAA’s Terrier Tip Tuesday) can help to grow a web community.

App Connects Governments And Citizens on Facebook (AllFacebook): The CRT Facebook app allows citizens to report municipal issues to their local governments. How could students work together to solve problems or provide regular feedback in an app like this? What types of issues could it address?

Google Plus is Not Your Blog (Chris Brogan): Nor is Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn — they serve as outposts for your content. They are enhancements to what you are already doing, whether it’s publishing a quarterly newsletter for alumni or hosting events for incoming students. We’ve noticed a few campus organizations, including the Programming Council and the International Affairs Association, have jumped onto Google+ recently (we’re currently holding off, as Google has options for businesses rolling out shortly.) Are you trying Google Plus? What are your thoughts so far?

The Student Affairs Technology Unconference Boston is being hosted by Dean of Students Kenn Elmore and Ed Cabellon on Friday, July 29th. There are a few tickets left, but if you’d rather save them for higher ed folks outside of BU, the hashtag to follow that day is #satechBOS.

When we sit down to consult with a school on their social media strategy, one of the biggest concerns is time management. Staff already have many different projects on their plates (and several waiting in the wings). How is it possible to keep up with not only 1) listening to what people are saying about them, but 2) remembering to allot time to all of these new tools, especially if they have to learn them first?

I often think of a marketer’s common concern: the switching cost hurdle. If the mental energy and effort expelled in making a switch in behavior is perceived as being greater than the benefit, the switch doesn’t occur. We also see this all the time in business with the adoption of social media — are the benefits of using social tools like Facebook worth the learning curve involved?

From what I’ve read so far, I agree with Amber — listen first, and come up with some solid goals. It shouldn’t be an exhaustive list, but maybe one or two things that you’d really like to get accomplished. Then, once you’ve been listening for a while, decide on what tools can help you the most. I also like to add that if you’re thinking of using more than one website to promote, get really good at one before moving on to a second. If you need to reserve your URLs, by all means do it, but make sure you have your goals outlined, and maybe a schedule if you’re sharing responsibilities with more than one person in your area.

How do you stay on top of social media on your team?

Image courtesy John-Morgan on Flickr.

After reading Beth Schillaci’s post this morning on the significance of followers, likers and subscribers, I was reminded of a discussion I had last week. I was consulting with a team on setting up a Twitter account for their program, and someone asked me, “How many followers should we aim for?” This is not a unique question — I hear it all the time. As a numbers girl, I LOVE to be able to provide concrete numbers that indicate success, and I wish I could say that “followers” is a solid measure of success, but it’s not. Here’s why.

Let’s break this down a bit. Grab a pen and paper (or a blank document), and answer these questions:

- In one sentence, what is the goal of your Twitter account? (e.g., I want to drive more traffic to our application form; I want to generate more interaction between our Dean of Students and the freshman class; I want to react to comments and answer questions from the campus community)

- Based on this goal, who is your target audience? (prospective students in their junior and senior year of high school; the class of 2014; undergrads and grad students, faculty, staff and influential neighbors)

- What are they most interested in hearing about? (admissions guidelines and SAT test prep; summer jobs for college students; free events around campus and the surrounding city)

Now tape that to your monitor. Be mindful of your end goal at all times. Based on these criteria, you can build a solid, meaningful presence on Twitter. Don’t worry — if you don’t know the immediate answer to question #3, go back to #2 and do your research. Follow 50 (or 20 or 100) people you’ve identified in your target audience and listen to them for a week. Talk with them; retweet what is interesting or relevant to you and your goal.

The number of followers you accumulate is nowhere to be found in these steps. As Beth points out, “I would much rather have 10 people come in my store and buy something than 100 window shoppers”.

If you want me to build your followers to 1,000 by the end of this week, I can certainly tell you how to do that, as can many other websites and “social media gurus” (for a price). Will it give you a more engaged community? Probably not. Will it bring you back to your goal and ultimately help you succeed? Probably not. Your goal should be to find your most rabid, loyal fans and get them excited about what you’re up to.

See also:

• 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business (Chris Brogan)

• The Numbers Obsession (video) (Gary Vaynerchuk)

• 7 Social Media Truths You Can Ignore and Still Be Successful (Social Media Examiner)

• How Twitter increased my blog’s traffic by 300% in one week (Mack Collier)

(Image courtesy losgofres on Flickr)

Twitter in Plain English: Common Craft’s video is a perfect companion starting point to understanding the basics of Twitter. It explains the way Twitter works in “plain English”, and is a quick way to indoctrinate your team members if they ask you what Twitter’s all about.

Kevin Rose: 10 Ways To Increase Your Twitter Followers: Though I’m always cautious when someone asks me how to grow their followers the fastest (as we discussed yesterday, it’s about quality, not quantity) Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg, has some great suggestions. I think the title should be “How to be more interesting on Twitter”. The article is over a year old but every point still holds true.

Gary Vaynerchuk’s Talk and Q&A at the 140 Characters Conference in April 2010: Another great video — Gary’s talk begins about 3 minutes in. His networking skills on Twitter and UStream helped Gary build his wine business into a web sensation, and helped him to get a 10-book deal with HarperCollins. Warning to sensitive souls: he has a bit of a foul mouth.

How to Run Successful Contests on Twitter: Something you might not need to focus on right at the beginning of your Twitter experiment, but once you start thinking about giveaways or other contests for your network, this information will be useful for you. Shortly, we’ll also share our experience with contests toward the end of this past school year.

Grow Bigger Ears in Ten Minutes: Chris Brogan gives some concrete steps to increase your ability to listen to what people are saying about you online — and listening is the whole point of this exercise, right? I highly recommend Chris Brogan’s blog — his thoughts on the purpose and execution of social media are spot-on.

While you’re thinking about Twitter, you also want to think about how your page will look (and tie in to the rest of your brand’s messaging and visual experience). Boston University’s Marketing & Communications group has recently created guidelines for social network icons and backgrounds.

What other articles or videos would you add to this list?