Social Media presentation at St. Louis Business Journal Conference 1/28/10 -- Overview of questions to ask about your communications strategy, a grid to help you focus on what you are trying to accomplish, and tips to help you implement social media program within your existing communications and marketing efforts.

1. Social Media: How Can You Put It to
Work - Strategically?
Allison H. Collinger
AHC Consulting, LLC

2. Strategically - Key
 Social media can be an effective part of your
marketing communications mix
 Whether you are small, mid cap or large business
 Or a non-profit executive or a volunteer who serves
on a non- profit board
 Levels playing field: Rawlings “we can now compete
with Nike in our category” in large part due to
digital marketplace
©AHC Consulting LLC 2009

3. Questions to Ask
 What is your objective?
 Who are your stakeholders?
 What are you trying to get them to do?
 Why should they care?
©AHC Consulting LLC 2009

4. Action Steps
• Evaluate your organizational communications strategy
• Analyze how you are reaching each stakeholder segment
• How can you determine right mix? What is effective by
stakeholder? How do you vary your tools to reach target
audiences regularly? How do your stakeholders like to receive
information? (Have you asked recently?)
• Does it make sense to incorporate any social media tools?
• How does this fit with your existing business plan or
development efforts?
• Questions to consider: What overall policy on social media
should we consider? How will we allocate staff time to sustain
modest effort? Are there areas of communication we should
rethink/allocate? How will we know we’ve succeeded?
©AHC Consulting LLC 2009

5. Communications Planning/Analysis
Desired
Audience Message Vehicle By Whom Frequency Budget
Behavior
Endorse and Presence with
include the these
Strategic organization in institutions;
Unique program
alliance programming “partnership” Quarterly or
delivery with
partners for co- and marketing tab on each Staff and board annual joint TBD
strong track
branding and materials: others’ Web planning
record
marketing school districts, sites
YMCA, camps, Facebook
City Museum Twitter
Be associated We support a
with fun and unique local
valuable learning Board and staff
organization for physical fitness Ongoing with e-
person-to-
kids that’s and newsletter
Corporate person Individual
promoting performance updates to let TBD
sponsors outreach assignments
physical fitness, resource for sponsors know
LinkedIn
performance youth that about impact
E newsletter
skills and welcomes all
character kids and builds
building character
©AHC Consulting LLC 2009

6. Tortoise Wins the Race!
 Start slowly
 Ask stakeholders how they are receiving information
today
 Use stakeholder grid to build simple communications
plan by audience
 Consider developing a social media policy to guide
employees and other organizational stakeholders (Intel
has a simple one! Imitation is the sincerest form of
flattery!)
©AHC Consulting LLC 2009

7. Tortoise Wins the Race!
 Tie in with new business or development efforts
 Determine way to “roll out” strategies/provide overview and training as
appropriate
 Allocate time to communications efforts daily – fence it in
 Set milestones to measure
 Do a quarterly check up on how communications are working
 Learn and adjust accordingly
 Remember the largest companies in the US are wrestling with how to
incorporate these tools!
©AHC Consulting LLC 2009

8. Where To Find Me:
Twitter.com/ahawkcollinger
Allison Hawk Collinger
Blogs:
http://www.TalkingaGoodgame.com
http://www.AccessAthletes.com/blog
http://www.ahawkcollinger.blogspot.com
http://www.ahcconsulting.org
©AHC Consulting LLC 2009

9. Contact Me
Allison Collinger
AHC Consulting LLC
9200 Olive, Suite 200
St. Louis, MO 63132
314.994.7676, ext. 24, 314.680.1583
www.ahcconsulting.org