Social media is by its nature dynamic and responsive, a conversation rather than scheduled one-way communication to an audience. So how does project management fit into the social picture? How does social media help project managers work more effectively, and what tools are best for project management? We explore both sides in this presentation from the PMI conference, April 2013

1. Strategic Approaches:
Project Management & Social Media
APRIL 17, 2013
Project Management & Social Media
Kathleen M. Jenkins, Sanger & Eby

2. Two Approaches
• Project Managing Social Media
• Social Media for Project Management
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3. Important, But Not Urgent
• The big picture is important, but unless you have a plan for
implementation, it stays just that: a picture.
• We’re all busy: it’s easy to de-prioritize things that are important
but not urgent in favor of things that are urgent.
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4. The Downside of Urgent
• When we focus on the urgent and deprioritize the important,
we’re forced into being purely tactical
• The important things, the strategic things, don’t get done
• Business growth stagnates
• Lose competitive edge
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5. Successful Strategy
• Defines vision
• Distills vision into critical business issues
• Distills critical business issues into projects
– Discrete deliverables
– Resource allocation
– Project timeline
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– Project plan
• In other words…

6. Project ManagementProject Management

7. If you don’t know where you’re
going, you’ll probably end up
someplace else.
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someplace else.
-Yogi Berra

8. Strategy & Social Media
• A clearly defined social media strategy is critical to success in the
social space
• Effective social strategy defines:
– Audience and audience needs
– Communication and business objectives
– Platforms
– Voice, tone, and interaction
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– Voice, tone, and interaction
– Specific, measurable success metrics

9. Developing a Social Media Strategy
• Developing an effective social media strategy requires effective
project management
• Follow process
• Allocate resources
• Set project schedule
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10. Process and Timeline
• Competitive Analysis and Benchmarking
• Clearly defined audience
• Research on habits and practices
• Articulated goals and objectives
• Appropriate platforms
• Engagement strategy
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• Engagement strategy
• Resourcing and management plan
• Measurement and analytics plan
• Scheduled checkpoints, review, and approval

11. Project Managing Social Presence
• Important versus urgent
• Resources
• Coverage
• Frequency
• Content development
• Monitoring and communications management
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• Monitoring and communications management
• Escalation plan
• Measurement and analytics

12. Social Media for Project Management
• 2/3 of Project Managers Surveyed believe social media is a key
issue for their industry
• Primary Benefits Identified:
– Collaboration
– Communication
– Networking Opportunities
– Increased Efficiency
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– Increased Efficiency
– Financial Benefits
Source: Harrin Survey 2011

13. Social Media for Project ManagementSocial Media for Project Management

14. In the Past, PMs Could Assume:
• Most team members in a single office location
• PM software on a desktop workstation
• Status reports delivered at weekly meetings
• Monthly executive review
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15. The Way It Works Today:
• At least one team member likely to be physically separated at
least part of the time
• Sponsors expect realtime access to project data
• Executives want to view multiple projects as a portfolio
• Global teams & the 24-hour workday
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16. Overall Benefits of Social Media
• Influences how people communicate
• Communications to whole team in realtime
• Develops relationships
• Builds trust
• Increases transparency
• Provides cultural context
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• Provides cultural context

17. What Social Can Do for PM
• Knowledge sharing & project visibility
• Identify, organize, and deploy project teams
• Collaborate across departments
• Collaborate with remote resources
• Real time information to project stakeholders
• Meet the demand of the “24 hour workday”
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• Meet the demand of the “24 hour workday”
• Reduce traveling expenses
• Document best practices & project learnings

18. How PMs Use Social Tools
• 48% use for document sharing
• 36% communicate with project stakeholders
• 34% for task collaboration
• 32% hosting online meetings
• 27% use for project status updates
• 25% manage their teams
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• 25% manage their teams
• 19% task tracking
…and…
• 90% networking online
• 71% participate in online PM community
Source: Harrin Survey 2011

19. Online PM Communities
• 6,500+ LinkedIn groups
• 8.5 Million PM professionals on LinkedIn
• 35,000+ members in LinkedIn’s Project Manager Networking
Group
• 1MM+ YouTube videos on PM
• PMI’s Online Communities of Practice
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• Yahoo’s PMP Best Group (13,000+ members)

20. Social PM Platforms & Tools
• SharePoint
• GoToMeeting
• SlideShare
• Tibbr
• Yammer
• LinkedIn
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• LinkedIn
• Blogs
• Wikis
• Twitter

21. Getting Started
• Define a social media policy
• Define the purpose of social for PM
• Develop list of acceptable platforms & uses
• Establish rules of engagement
• Determine proprietary data – what to share
• Establish roles and permissions
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• Establish roles and permissions
• Use your secure network
• Monitor and manage (usually the PM)

22. Want to Know More?
Great! This is what I do all day. ☺
Kathleen M. Jenkins
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Kathleen M. Jenkins
www.sangereby.com
kjenkins@sangereby.com
@sangereby
LinkedIn: Sanger & Eby
www.linkedin.com/in/katjenkinscinci
513.784.9046