Have I mentioned my most recent appointment as lead on a social media task force at my company? I know I’ve tweeted about it and posted status updates on both Facebook and LinkedIn, but perhaps I’ve failed to mention it here.
My passion for social media, voluntary brand monitoring and general evangelism put me in a great position as the obvious lead and the endorsements came straight from the top. I’m proud of that, and I won’t hide that fact.
But what I’m most excited about is how quickly we’ve been able to move and the level of excitement and commitment to this endeavor exhibited by the powers that be. With my role I’ve tried to do more listening than talking in an attempt to really understand how social media is viewed by others, so I could get my arms around any skepticism and capture the essence of what our brand means to those charged with owning it.
All of that resulted in a great mission statement. One with character, integrity and a bit of calculated risk that will allow us to try new things and even have fun along the way.
Once everyone approved the mission statement we moved on to the first set of guidelines which were compiled by a much smaller group. I figured we should have active twitter users creating guidelines for that platform so I invited a core group to the table to do that and it worked very well.
We met on Tuesday and had a finalized document that represents the mission statement to the fullest, two days later.
The mission statement is what it’s all about. It’s the ultimate guide. I encourage anyone currently active in the social media space or planning to become active to take a step back and really think about you want to accomplish and work on a mission statement that reflects that, Once you have that, the rest will come.
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October 3, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Is social media holding you hostage? « Online Community Strategist
[...] 3, 2009 in social media | Tags: social media, social media guid Crafting a social media mission statement is crucial if you want to avoid mindlessly spinning your wheels. I’ve found that every time I [...]
October 9, 2009 at 4:36 pm
ileaneb
Angela, thanks for encouraging me to think about this. Has your organization made any part of the mission statement public? I’m interested in what some goals are for your company and how that would compare to those for an individual.
I’ll visit some over post here to see what other goodies I can find.
-Ileane
October 10, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Social Media Marketer » Blog Archive » Is Your Social Networking Fun?
[...] it was too hard to keep up. While there are some ways to keep your social media working for you, as in a social media marketing plan, I think it goes beyond a plan [...]
October 12, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Angela Connor
Hey there ileaneb: Glad it made you think. We have not made our mission statement public, and given that my company is privately owned, we probably will not. But, I can certainly share some overall ideas behind it if you’d like. Send me an email. Angela-at-AngelaConnor-dot-com.
November 23, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Five Ineffective Social Media Guidelines for 2010 and Beyond « Online Community Strategist
[...] So there you have it. Five ineffective social media guidelines for 2010 and beyond. Now, could you combine some of these and create a more cohesive message for your staff? Absolutely, but do stay away from the one-liners that lack context, and do allow your guidlines to evolve. My biggest piece of advice here is to first start with a social media mission statement. [...]
November 24, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Five Ineffective Social Media Guidelines for 2010 and Beyond « The SiliconANGLE
[...] My biggest piece of advice here is to first start with a social media mission statement. [...]
December 15, 2009 at 11:10 am
Your (Crucial!) Social Media Mission Statement
[...] about it, what is your purpose here? What propels you and keeps you grounded? You may have a great mission statement for your company, but do you have one for here, in the realm of social [...]
December 16, 2009 at 5:08 pm
The Power of Personal Communities and Why ESPN Could Feel Threatened « Online Community Strategist
[...] Social media guidelines must start with a clear mission statement [...]
June 16, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Avoid Shoving Social Media Onto the Intern « Caliber Pulse
[...] communications team should know everything there is to know about the company’s mission and background, and have a stake in its [...]