Mar
24
Lessons Learned in CGT581
After passing the halfway point in the semester, here are three important social media lessons learned in CGT 581: “Social Media in the Workplace”.
Market with people, not too them. Although this class is about social media in general, this idea has stuck out to the point where the phrase lives on my desktop. Marketing is not my undergraduate major, however it is simply the nature of life in any income based business. An individual has to sell themselves if they ever hope to sell a company’s product or service. Allowing others (individuals or institutions) to accredit your abilities exemplifies this principle of social marketing. LinkedIn, for example allows others to recommend you for your accomplishments. Others are helping you sell yourself in this case, just like positive feedback in a product forum is likely to sell more product than a well intended advertising campaign.
During the Skype conference we had with Shel Holtz he discussed the idea of defined, yet open social media policies in the workplace. Companies need to clearly define the rules, and employees need to understand them. Any ambiguity from either party can and will lead to a train wreck!
Understanding the context of a content creator or contributor (someone who tags or classifies contant) is almost as, if not more, important as understanding the content itself. A Twitter user in Africa may be discussing political issues that are mere nonsense to an American audience, simply because the audience does not truly understand the time, place, and environment of the African microblogger. Working with clients in any workplace requires a fine-tuned sense of context in order for successful collaboration.
