State of the SMinOrgs Community 2012

State of the Community Report Social Media in Organizations (SMinOrgs) State of the Community Report Prepared by Courtney Shelton Hunt, PhD January 2012

SMinOrgs State of the Community 2012 1Going Strong and Poised for GrowthThe Social Media in Organizations (SMinOrgs)Community began in May 2009 as a LinkedIn (LI) group,and quickly expanded to Twitter, Facebook, andother social media platforms. In early 2010, theS.M.A.R.T. (Social Media and Related Technologies)Blog was born. The start of a new year seems like agood time to reflect on the current state of theCommunity and share a few goals for 2012.Click on the links below or read on to learn moreabout SMinOrgs and our activity on: About SMinOrgs LinkedIn The S.M.A.R.T. Blog Twitter Facebook and Other PlatformsOur primary goals for 2012 are to: Grow the LI group to 5000+ members Increase website traffic by creating more blog content, promoting the blog, and optimizing search engine results Increase blog subscriptionsIf you would like to volunteer to help SMinOrgs achieve any of these goals, please emailvolunteer@sminorgs.net. We welcome and appreciate the help.Heres to a fabulous 2012!Courtney Shelton Hunt, PhDFounder, SMinOrgs January 2012

SMinOrgs State of the Community 2012 2ContentsGoing Strong and Poised for Growth ........................ 1Contents ........................................................................ 2About SMinOrgs ............................................................ 3LinkedIn ......................................................................... 4S.M.A.R.T. Blog ............................................................ 5Twitter ........................................................................... 6Facebook and Other Platforms .................................. 7Global Center for Digital Era Leadership (GCDEL) . 8 January 2012

SMinOrgs State of the Community 2012 3About SMinOrgsSocial Media in Organizations (SMinOrgs)is a professionalcommunity whose mission is to provide information andguidance about the organizational implications of socialmedia. Going beyond marketing/branding, sales, publicrelations and customer service, we focus on how socialmedia will impact employees and organizationalfunctioning, as well as general social and economictrends. Our focus also extends beyond the business-to-consumer orientation that dominates discussions in otherforums.A multi-disciplinary group, SMinOrgs functions as aglobal, virtual community complemented by alocal/regional focus. SMinOrgs is primarily sponsored by Renaissance Strategic Solutionsand iscurrently free to join.Learn more about the history and evolution of SMinOrgs.Where to Find and Join SMinOrgsThe SMinOrgs website is the Community’s home base. The main feature of the website isthe S.M.A.R.T. Blog, which includes thought pieces from Founder Courtney Hunt and guestbloggers, as well as other resources (subscribe to the blog). Because the SMinOrgs Communitybegan as a LinkedIn group, that is the most well developed platform with the highestmembership. But we are growing and expanding daily. You can find and join SMinOrgs on:The LinkedIn group allows folks to share relevant links, in addition to initiating/engaging indialogue and debate. All SMinOrgs website and LI activity is streamed through Twitter, which isalso used as a source for sharing new pieces/ideas.You can also stay current with the SMinOrgs Community by: Following the SMinOrgs LinkedIn Company Page Connecting with and/or following Courtney Hunt on LinkedIn Add yourself to the SMinOrgs mailing list January 2012

SMinOrgs State of the Community 2012 4LinkedInThe SMinOrgs LinkedIn (LI) group has grown steadilyto over 3200 members and ranks very high in avariety of group searches. The membership isextremely diverse, with professionals at all levelsfrom a wide range of functional areas. Members workin organizations of all types and sizes in virtually everyeconomic sector. Although the membership is stillprimarily from the US, people from all over the worldjoin the group each week.I am very pleased – and impressed! – withtheengagement of folks in the group. Over the past sixmonths in particular, it has really blossomed. Morethan 50 people have added fresh, high quality content since November, for example, and manyof the items shared have generated thoughtful comments and great conversations. We arealready off to a wonderful start in 2012, and I cannot wait to see more.I am also pleased with the positive feedback – both private and public – I have received frommembers of the group. Ellen Levy,Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at LinkedIn, has beenone of our strongest supporters. She regularly refers people to the group and wrote thefollowing recommendation on the LI products page: SMinOrgs group on LinkedIn is one of the four groups on LinkedIn that I *always* get value from! The community and collective insight is great (which I firmly believe is in large part attributable to Courtneys approach and expertise).To further improve our ranking and increase content sharing and quality conversation, I wouldlove to see the group grow to 5000+ members. We can continue to grow organically, of course,but we can also accelerate growth by engaging in a member recruitment campaign. Recently Iput out a call for volunteers to help with this campaign, and several people have already signedup. If you are interested in helping as well, please emailmembers@sminorgs.net.And of course if you are not currently a member of the SMinOrgs LI group, I invite you to checkit out and join!You can also follow SMinOrgsvia its Company Page. January 2012

SMinOrgs State of the Community 2012 5S.M.A.R.T. BlogThe SMinOrgs S.M.A.R.T. Blog is the main channelthrough which we share thought leadership on theapplications and implications of social media inorganizations. I am the primary author and editor, butthere have also been great guest posts from folks likeJerry Carducci.Many of our posts have been highlighted andreposted by organizations like Social Media Today,The Social Customer, and GovLoop, as well as bycountless individuals via LinkedIn, Twitter, andFacebook. We appreciate all the sharing, as well asthe thoughtful comments we receive, both publicly and privately.Here is a sample of some of our most popular blog posts: Social Media Primer Part 1: What is this “Fire” of Which You Speak? Social Media Primer Part 1a: What is Your SMQ (Social Media Quotient)? Unlucky 13? Twitter “Worst Practices” for Rookies (and Others) to Avoid Social Screening: Candidates – and Employers – Beware Blogging: A Comprehensive Beginner’s GuideBlog posts drive the majority of traffic to the website, which averages about 3000 pageviews/month. Though I am pleased with the steady flow of site visits, I know we can do more topromote the blog and increase traffic flows via search engine optimization. Doing that is one ofmy major goals for 2012.Another way to increase blog traffic is to generate more content. Right now we average 1-2posts a week. Though I dont envision us trying to publish multiple posts in a day, I do think 3-5posts a week is doable. But that goal can really only be achieved by having more authors. Weare always looking for insightful and articulate individuals to contribute blog posts. If you wouldlike to explore this possibility, please email blog@sminorgs.net.In 2012 we will strive to share blog content via email more consistently. Specifically, we willsend a monthly blog post summary out to our email subscribers. If you would like to be notifiedof new blog posts as soon as they are published, please subscribe to the blog. January 2012

SMinOrgs State of the Community 2012 6TwitterOur Twitter handle is - you guessed it - @SMinOrgs.Our Twitter following has grown steadily - andorganically - to over 1000 followers. That number mayseem low to some people, so it is important toemphasize that we have grown the following withoutengaging in any of the typical Twitter tricks such asfollowing folks just to get them to follow back andautomatically following every account that follows us.SMinOrgs’s Twitter followers include several well-known thought leaders, including Charlene Li, ErikQualman, and Jeanne Meister. We appreciate theirrecognition and support.The SMinOrgs Twitter account is primarily used as a news feed, resharing content from the LIgroup and the SMinOrgs S.M.A.R.T. Blog on a regular schedule (roughly every two hours)eachweekday. I sometimes use the account for live tweeting of events, but I generally do not engagein a lot of Twitter chatter.There are a number of people who regularly retweet and share SMinOrgs content, which wegreatly appreciate. There are also countless others who reshare our content to whom we haveno visibility, and I would like to offer them a global thanks as well.If you want a steady source of high quality social media news without all the noise, we welcomeyou to follow @SMinOrgs. January 2012

SMinOrgs State of the Community 2012 7Facebook and Other PlatformsGiven our emphasis on the organizational applicationsand implications of social media, Facebook is not amajor focus of our engagement activities.The SMinOrgs page has over 400 fans, and we post toit a few times a week - mostly blog posts and newsabout upcoming events. I do not expect that to changein 2012.SMinOrgs also has a SlideShare channel, through whichwe share slide decks, white papers, and otherdocuments that folks can view, print, download andembed in their own sites. We will continue to addoriginal content to the channel in 2012, including videos.On the SMinOrgs YouTube channel, we primarily highlight videos made by others. In 2012, wewill begin sharing more original content.We established an SMinOrgs Ning Communityin 2009 but put it on hold in 2010. This communitymay get resurrected in 2012, depending on interest and resources. January 2012

SMinOrgs State of the Community 2012 8Global Center for Digital Era Leadership (GCDEL)The Global Center for Digital Era Leadership(GCDEL)provides a forum for leaders of all types toaddress the opportunities and challenges individuals,organizations, economies and societies face as theDigital Era continues to evolve. It offers a digitalplatform for sharing research, news items, and thoughtpieces, in addition to engaging in healthy dialogue anddebate.GCDELs mission is to promote rational,thoughtful, fact-based discussions of important DigitalEra issues that have significant implications.GCDEL was founded in May 2011 as an outgrowth ofthe SMinOrgs Community. Like SMinOrgs, it is primarily sponsored by Renaissance StrategicSolutions and is currently free to join.Learn more about the formation of GCDEL.A fledgling think tank, GCDEL’s near-term focus is on developing high-quality membership,content and discussions. Anyone who is interested in the impact of new digital technologies iswelcome to join as a founding member and take an active role in refining the mission, focus, anddirection of the Center.Learn more about how you can get involved.Though GCDEL’s membership/follower base is still fairly small, it is quite diverse, with individualsfrom multiple disciplines and sectors throughout the world.Check out the Member Map.To keep things simple, GCDEL will limit digital engagement to three platforms for theforeseeable future: a website, a LinkedIn group, and a Twitter account. We are also starting amailing list to keep people informed of the Center’s activities (no more than once/month).The main feature of the GCDEL website is the Digital Era Thinkers (DET) Blog, which includesthought pieces from Founder Courtney Hunt and guest bloggers, as well as other resources. TheLinkedIn group allows folks to share relevant links, in addition to initiating/engaging in dialogueand debate. All GCDEL website and LI activity is streamed through Twitter, which can also beused as a source for sharing new pieces/ideas. Subscribe to the DET Blog Join the GCDEL LinkedIn group Follow the GCDEL Twitter account Add yourself to the GCDEL mailing listGCDEL’S platforms and activities will expand as demand and circumstances warrant. January 2012

State of the SMinOrgs Community 2012

by Social Media in Organizations on Jan 24, 2012

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State of the SMinOrgs Community 2012 — Document Transcript