15 Ideas to Make Your DIY Social Media More Successful

Introducing a coordinated, vibrant social media effort into an organization depends on more than an “official” group creating content. Ideally multiple and varied people throughout an organization are functioning almost as beat reporters and sharing their individual perspectives on topics relevant to targeted audiences.

How do you get do-it-yourself (DIY) social media support from people already contending with more than full job responsibilities?

Here are 15 tactics you can use to pave the way for success in implementing your social media strategy:

1. Develop a role description for what a social media team member does in your company.
2. Provide realistic estimates of how much or how little time a team member will have to use to participate on the team.
3. Develop and share a social media policy for your company.
4. Create an internship and recruit a university student to participate in the effort.
5. Ask people what their talents and areas of interest in social media are and give them appropriate assignments.
6. Provide step-by-step instructions or basic guidelines to encourage new social media participants.
7. Have more experienced social media practitioners mentor those just getting started.
8. Develop your own wiki, blog, or social network community to post reference materials, FAQs, and other relevant information for the team.
9. Offer some type of simple, fun give-away to team members to incent active participation.
10. Provide a team list with contact information, areas of expertise and focus for each member, and who to call to report on successes and challenges.
11. Offer in-person or webinar training on effectively using social media applications and your brand standards.
12. Provide a thorough list of articles on how to excel at various aspects of social media.
13. Share links to free webinars focused on social media how to’s.
14. Brainstorm and share a list of suggested blog topics.
15. Use an approach that allows participants to smoothly rotate on and off the social media team at reasonable intervals.

What innovative strategies have worked for you to generate broader participation in social media within your business or organization?

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Mike Brown is an award-winning innovator in strategy, communications, and experience marketing. He authors the Brainzooming^TM blog, and serves as the company’s chief Catalyst. He wrote the ebook “Taking the NO Out of InNOvation” and is a frequent keynote presenter.