Social Media and Community Management (Notes from SMBCT)

[caption id="attachment_857" align="aligncenter" width="634"] (Dan Weingrod, Amanda Nelson (Radian6) Tyson Goodridge, Ed Sullivan (Radian6) Lauren Vargas (Aetna)[/caption] Every now and then, you need to be SOCIAL with Social Media and meet other Social Media practioners in real life. So, on the last day of the worldwide Social Media Week, about 40 of us assembled at the monthly Social Media Breakfast, Connecticut Chapter. (#SMBCT). Here is a quick recap of the event, and key takeaways for those who weren't able to attend.Dan Weingrod- host and moderator Lauren Vargas, Community Management Strategist, Aetna Amanda Nelson, Community Manager, Radian 6 Tyson Goodridge, AcsysEffective Community Management (Amanda) As a community manager at Radian6, Amanda brings "in the trenches" experience and the following recommendations.

1. Have a Content Strategy. What are your real goals? Who is your audience. What is the tone of your conversation?
2. Content Distribution: Have an editorial calendar. Share it in the right places and on the right network
3. Types of Content: Not just blog posts or texts, use images, videos, info-graphics and more (Pinterest anyone?)
4. Relationships: At the end of the day, your content is about building relationships and your community

Community Activation (Lauren) As a community strategist at Aetna, Lauren is largely responsible for internal education and a bit of social media evangelism. Here are her suggestions for internal activation of social media and community managment.

1. Social Media Policy. When creating (or revisiting) a policy, don't just cut and paste from other policies you see online. Make it your own, and make it map the company culture
2. Internal Process: Deeply embed this process within the company. Create a legal playbook, contigency plans and more. It took Aetna nine months to get their recently launchedtwitter handles up and running. It takes time...
3. Training: Training is fundamental to internal (and external success) Train everyone. There is no "personal" or "professional" in social media- they are intertwined. Always.

The Community Maturity Model (Tyson) On the more strategic side of things, I shared a model introduced by two nationally recognized community management experts (Jim Storer and Rachel Happe) at the Community Roundtable.Without getting too detailed, I'll let the "Community Maturity Model" slide below speak for itself. It describes the evolution of an online community within a business of any size. On the right side of the table, you'll find companies like IBM and SAP, on the left side, new entrants to social media and community. It's a terrific visual snapshot to refer to often. Thanks again to Quinnipiac University for hosting this event, and for more video, images and tweetable recaps of the event head over to the following linksDecodig Inbound Marketing and Phil DecouteauRadian6 BlogSocial Media Week/Radian6 and Jason Boies[caption id="attachment_849" align="alignleft" width="684"] Community Maturity Model developed by Rachel Happe and Jim Storer of The Community Roundtable[/caption]