Developing a Social Media Program – Publishing (Step VI)

Hello again!

To those of you who have been following my blog series, Developing a Social Media Program if this is your first visit to my blog then you may wish to go back to the beginning before starting this post but as each article is designed to be standalone, feel free to stay here!  (The earlier posts will still be out there!)

In this post, I’ll define the sixth component of developing a social media program, Publishing.  This is the sixth of the eight posts I’ll be blogging about separately.

By now, you have decided on goals and objectives, which social media applications to use (including a blog), and how to use them to achieve these goals and objectives.  The social media identity has been normalized and the building of a community to interact with has been addressed.  Integrating across all social media apps was addressed in the fourth post.  In the last post I talked about creating the content necessary to populate the social media program.  (No offense, but your winning personality just won’t be enough to get them to return regularly!)

Publishing is all about how we organize the content we’ve created so that it gets published in an orderly manner so our readers, both regular and casual, know where and when to find it.  Having an orderly publishing cycle always permits us to stay on track and not fall victim to the demons that keep us from posting content regularly.

The first task is to post around the clock, 24X7.

Before anyone says that I’ve taken leave of my senses (Don’t worry, it won’t be the first time,) remember that while we may think we’re writing for a local audience, the Internet combined with social media apps means we have a global audience whether we know it or not.

I have followers in Australia and Germany even though I’m focused on the Mid-Atlantic region of the US.  I understand the Australians but am clueless about the Germans but all are welcome and thanks for following!

What this means is that I should show some sensitivity when I post my content so all my followers have a chance to see some of it when they’re online.

Any halfway decent blog has a scheduler.  A social media management tool like Hootsuite can be used to schedule posts in advance for social media apps.

(One thing about a scheduler, remember what you have scheduled.  Real life events may make some automated posts look a little silly sometimes.  Always be ready to step in and make changes if need be.  Also, don’t rely on a scheduler for all your posts.  You want to have some spontaneity and real time availability.  No one expects you to be online all the time but don’t abuse this tool.)

Next task is to publish original content.  That’s what we’ve written ourselves and which we addressed in the last post.

Your reputation and influence ultimately depends on what you think and say.  Only you can present yourself initially.

That being said, the next task may seem like a contradiction, but it’s not.  After you publish your original content, share the original content of others and don’t be shy about giving credit.  Knowing what other SME’s think and say, even if it contradicts what you say only enhances your reputation for being knowledgeable about all sides of an argument.

The third task is to reuse and repost content.  Good content can be reused.  It shouldn’t be overdone and its currency needs to be reviewed but odds are that first blog post you tweeted out wasn’t read by everyone the first time round.

Please note that I’m talking specifically about social media apps like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.  Blog posts should not be reposted on a blog unless they’ve been either revised or updated.

The final task is to include visuals with your content.  Posts with visuals get higher response rates.   Use Slideshare, Flickr, YouTube, or any other tool that you’re comfortable with to add even just one page to your content.

Let’s recap.

We now have added a publishing component to our ability to generate content for our social media program.

This joins the approach to integrate our social media apps to a plan of action to grow a community of interest around our social media program which I discussed in the fourth and third articles respectively.

At the end of the second article, this social media program has incorporated a personal brand onto the apps and developed a common profile and enhanced for keyword searches.

With the first article, I discussed how goals and objectives influence the social media app choices available.  Then the importance of having a blog and the options available for setting one up were reviewed.

We now know what we want to do and how we’re going to do it.

But, a social media program is not a static event, a fire and forget activity.

In the next component, Measuring Results, I will discuss how to determine how successful you’ve been.

There are eight steps summarizing for me how to initiate, maintain, and improve a social media program.  Each of these represents tasks and interim deliverables.  Third party tools are available to assist with these and enhance the social media app’s themselves.  This ongoing series in my blog will discuss these.

In the meantime, thank you for following and reading my blog!

I look forward to any and all comments that you may have.  I will reply to any comments made to this blog post as promptly as I can.

Remember!

I do this for a living and if I can be of any assistance to either you or your organization, please feel free to call on me.  Our initial discussion will be of no charge to you.

I can also be reached at conpsweeney@someddi.com.

My Twitter handle is @conpsweeney.

Stay well!