Chris Brogan has a series of great postings in progress right now. He calls them Five Starter Moves for Introducing Social Media Into Your Organization:
Companies are being pressured into the whole social media thing from
lots of angles. They’re reading about it in mainstream press more
often. Their PR agencies are asking them about it. Hell, PR agencies
themselves are being pressured into getting into social media and
social networking. But what does it mean? Where should one start?
- Separate Software from Motivations and Process
- Listening and Hearing Come Before Speaking
- Should Blogging Go Next?
- Audio and Video (will be next)
- LinkedIN Facebook and Twitter
With his very first post, Chris says he’d start with some very necessary conversations:
I’d start by explaining WHY one bothers to do this in the first place,
WHO one might reach in the space, and HOW one might use these tools to
listen better, have two way dialogues, and collaborate creatively.
Later in the series, Chris refers to this start as "framing the idea to our organization," a good way to phrase it.
Then, by the third article into his series, Chris elevates more Topics of Conversation to a sub-title of its own,
There are tons of ways to get the conversation started. Don’t bog down on that. Just try something, and see what happens.
…and he gives you some landmines to watch for.
The whole point of social media is that "social" doesn’t happen within your self-talk: You have to verbalize it with others (and not just broadcast it at them) in the best possible way.
With two more posts to go as of this writing, Chris’s series is already a terrific communication project catalyst for any company. There are a couple of different ways you could take it.
Pick up the challenge that Chris poses in article two in regard to how you can "build a listener" and then come back here and share what you did, would you?
Related articles:
- LOVE how Nick Smith refers to conversation as a "first class citizen." Nick’s article is called How to set a team on fire? and my commentary on it is Conversation is THE Tool for learning Kākou.
- Entire books have been written on the art and skill of conversation, however I have found these three tips, three things to remember, are the most important ones. Are you a Conversation Killer without realizing you are? Three Tips to help.