Social Media in the mainstream

In Josh Bernoff's blog "Help me get your boss to understand social technology" he asks:

How do we reach the managers who aren't using social technology?

Here's my 2 cents:

• Get the staff using social media to connect with each other and your organization online.

• Use every venue at your disposal to market how you are using these tools both internally and externally. Use your enewsletter, internal memos, emails, stakeholder meetings, hallway conversations, bulletin boards (real and virtual), etc. Saying it once doesn't cut it.

• Follow those opportunities up with one-on-one, group, or online training and discussion to get more people talking to each other and leveraging the tools.

• Track and market social media metrics -- numbers AND success stories/anecdotes.

• Encourage staff to share stories -- crowdmarket these tools.

• Look for good return on investment (ROI) stories -- your own and others. Look for opportunities to replicate others' success stories and make them your own.

• Recognize that time and timing are key ingredients and they come at a cost. Help people recognize the time-saving and cost-cutting opportunities social media provides.

• Make sure the organization is prepared to provide support and guidance to those who are in the process of shifting their workload to the online space.

All this should create an avalanche of information and move social media into the mainstream.

Of course, it is already becoming more mainstream anyway. But hopefully this will speed up the process.