How to Kill It in Social Media

by | Mar 21, 2018 | Learning, Social Media

When it comes to social media innovation, I’m inspired by many colleagues at my employer.

One of those groups is Marketing Communications in Business Marketing. The team’s VP, Sarita Rao (pictured above), gets her far-flung team together on a regular basis for “open mic” meetings.

Last fall I got to work with John Starkweather, Sarah Groves, John Stancliffe, Knox Keith and others as influencers during The Summit, a  ground-breaking inaugural event for the company’s business customers. Every day, I learn more about how to kill it in social media from this group.

So it was an honor when Sarah Groves invited me to do an open mic session at Sarita’s team meeting this month in Dallas at the company’s headquarters.

Here’s what Sarah asked and how the dialogue took shape.

How did you get started using social?

A few years ago, my colleagues and I launched a social business platform, to enable people to collaborate and work in new ways.

Just a few of the key contributors were Michael Ambrozewicz, Thyda Nhek Vanhook, Frank Palase, Brian Ulm, Miriam Smith, John Cloyd and Alan Lewis.

We did a pilot program before launch. Not surprisingly, there was the to-be-expected resistance to chance.

I launched a blog, for two reasons. One was to role model behaviors that fellow leaders and employees could follow. Another was to learn how to do it so I could advise our CEO and others on how to reach a broad audience through blogging.

Over time I discovered I enjoyed the process of learning through blogging, sharing that journey, and connecting with people throughout the company.

Three years later, I started my external blog at carolineleach.com. A few years after that, I began repurposing my blog content as weekly LinkedIn articles, in order to reach a broader audience.

One thing that’s important about blogging and any social media activity is to know and follow your company’s social media policies.

Generally, that will mean not sharing any information that is confidential or private, and making it clear that the opinions you express are your own and not the company’s. (Note: opinions expressed in this blog are my own).

When in doubt about the wisdom of sharing specific content, err on the conservative side and leave it out.

How do you fit social into your life? How much time do you spend on it?

It’s ideal to have a social media plan, and make social part of every day. Gary Vaynerchuk advocates simply documenting what you’re doing, rather than attempting to create all kinds of content.

Depending what goals you want to accomplish in social media, you can spent as little or as much time as your calendar and your lifestyle can accommodate.

My week in social looks like this:

Weekend blog post on carolineleach.com (this is easy to do when you have teens at home who sleep in, as I do, which gives me quiet mornings to write)

Wednesday LinkedIn article, repurposed from my blog and set up on Tuesday evening to post the following day

Daily scroll through LinkedIn home feed, liking, commenting on and sharing relevant content by people in my network and for people in my network

One tweet a day, plus looking at trending news in the morning and afternoon

A daily look at my employer’s Social Circle employee advocacy app to check for content I might want to share in my social networks

A few posts during the week on LinkedIn, as well as on Instagram, which is generally more personal in nature. Now I’m intrigued by and researching how people are using Instagram in their professional lives.

Some of this activity can be combined with other activities. For example …

If I’m waiting in line at the company cafeteria, I’ll scroll through my LinkedIn feed and maybe I’ll retweet something I see in Twitter

When I attend an event, I share pictures of speakers along with their best soundbites, or I share pictures or videos of other attendees

When I’m catching up with reading over the weekend, I share relevant articles in Twitter and LinkedIn.

What’s your recommendation for getting started?

Begin with your LinkedIn profile. Complete every field, until LinkedIn identifies your profile as “All-Star.” You’ll see “All-Star” noted in the upper right of the dashboard section of your profile, which only you can see.

You don’t have to complete your profile all at once. You can set aside time each week to work on one section at a time. Start from the top and work down, addressing these areas:

Your LinkedIn profile is ever evolving, as you and your career grow and change. Target adding something new to your profile every month, whether it’s a link to a company news release that relates to a project you worked on or an article sharing your expertise and thought leadership.

How do you see social playing a role for all employees driving engagement and advocacy for the company going forward?

Everyone can be a brand ambassador in social media. In addition to building your own career and championing the achievements of your colleagues, you can share the great news about your employer.

In the process, you can also get to know people in your company and beyond that it might otherwise be hard to meet.

If you have an employee advocacy program at your company, that’s an easy way to get started with on-target content. You can always customize it a bit with your personal take on the news and information, tailoring it for your networks.

Don’t forget to include the relevant hashtags for you and/or your employer, to maximize the reach of your content.

 

How do you know what you want to be known for?

You can ask yourself a few questions, to identify one or two subject areas you want to be known for in social media and in real life.

  1. What topics are important for success in your current role?
  2. What topics will be important for success in your likely future role?
  3. What topics are you naturally drawn to and interested in?

 

Here’s an example from my own career journey. This blog began in 2015 as an exploration of the future of corporate communications as a corporate vice president of that function.

When my employer was acquired later that year, I had the opportunity to move into marketing analytics. My blog then pivoted to learning more about that field. What then became paramount for me was learning how to learn quickly, which I explored in this blog.

As I searched for the topic I most wanted to explore, I was inspired by hearing Reese Witherspoon talk at a Fullscreen Media event in 2016.

She was asked about how she’s been super successful in social media. And she talked about social media content creation for people as being a big white space that’s not fully being filled right now.

That prompted a lightbulb moment for me. My blog then evolved into exploring how people are using social media to build their careers. And here we are today.

What blogs do you read?

This question made me realize I’ve migrated from reading blogs over to listening to podcasts. So I reacquainted myself with the folder of favorite blogs on my iPhone …

My favorite podcasts are an eclectic mix …

The Daily from The New York Times and Michael Barbaro every weekday morning to dip into a timely topic in the news.

The Science of Social Media, every Monday from Brian Peters and Hailley Griffis from Buffer. It’s “a weekly sandbox for social media stories, insights, experimentation and inspiration.”

Disrupt Yourself by Whitney Johnson.

Hidden Brain by Shankar Vedantum.

The Tim Ferris Show

If you have other podcasts to recommend, please leave me a comment. I’m always looking for new ideas to explore through podcasts.

And on that note, how are you killing it in social media?