Social Media: Reach with Intention

As Social Mediatician for Angela Maiers Educational Services, I get to do a lot of work with schools desiring to use online tools to reach their teaching and learning goals.

This year, our mantra is Teach With Intention. In my department, I've modified it to Reach With Intention. This mantra will be echoed in my work with businesses as well.

So what does Reach With Intention involve? Great question (thought you'd never ask). Here are three questions to start with:

1. What do I know is valued?
2. What do I know about my audience?
3. What do I know about myself?

You might want to get outside assistance in gathering these answers. As my friend Drew McLellan often says, "You can't really see outside the bottle because you exist inside of it." A paraphrase I'm sure, but your answers may be biased based on your position.

Let's dig deeper:

• How does using (fill in the blank for a social media tool) fit with what we or our audience is already doing?
• Does it add value or enhance the experience of those we're trying to reach. If so, how?
• Will it engage our audience and help build stronger relationships?
• Is independence on the radar? (This is big in schools. In marketing, will your user be able to spread your message independently? Is it the same message as yours?)
• What happens next? What's plan B? (Especially important if you're trying to do something viral -- how do we nudge it if it stalls?)
• How do I know understanding has been achieved (or if our message has been received)?
• How do we measure our efforts?

There are three things I always (always) recommend:

1. Sign up for everything that is free (especially if you keep hearing people talk about it. You can decide how much you use the tool after answering the questions above. Remember, having an account shouldn't force you to be active.
2. Use tools that will add value (enhance learning, build better relationships, etc.)
3. More Knowledge, Less Time. Many social media tools might synchronize your communication.

We'll explore this more as the season goes on. What are your Intentions with social media? How's your reach?

Photo on Flickr by ~diP

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