Now that you’ve thought about who to tap as your “social media ambassadors,” let’s get them organized. I recommend two levels, if you will.
1. A smallish (no more than 20 people) core group of influencers in your organization and among key stakeholder groups, all of whom possess the qualities listed in my last blog (at least most of them). These people typically are higher level managers in the organization/
2. A broad-based group of employees from across your enterprise. This group doesn’t have to be limited in number.
Here’s how you could engage each group:
Level 1 Ambassadors (Core influencers)
Contribute content to company blogs
“Assign” each to a company social media site for monitoring and contribution
Use influence to gain further buy-in within the company
Contribute content to external social media sites relevant to audiences
Share effectiveness of social media work with stakeholders
Help to align social media use with overall communication strategy
Level 2 Ambassadors (broad group)
Add company social media platforms as their bookmarks
Ask co-workers, professional colleagues and network, friends and family to read and contribute to company social media
Read and comment on company blogs
Alert communications if organization is mentioned online in other platforms and blogs
Contribute to external blogs
Become members of online communities relevant to organization
Follow and engage with influencers in the organization’s industry
Display organizational alliance in all personal online interactions
All ambassadors will need to be trained about how to do all of this well, within company and legal parameters and according to communication strategy and standards. In my next post, I’ll give some ideas about how to do this kind of training and what it should include. I hope this is helping you so far – would love to get your comments!