Every company, business and institution seems to be trying to make their presence in the social media technology world. On countless blogs, wikis, and social networks there are businesses trying to sell me something, get me to click on something or get me to go somewhere. It seems that some efforts are misplaced. Is a presence on Twitter the best option for a nursing home? Are they really attracting the right audience? Perhaps companies, businesses and institutions should give more thought behind their selected uses of social media technology.
The POST method is an acronym for the "four-step planning process" that Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff (2008) describe in their book Groundswell:Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies. POST is designed to help companies and businesses interested in incorporating the groundswell strategy into their social media plan. POST stands for People, Objectives, Strategy, and Technology.
Libraries can also incorporate POST into strategizing whether or not a social media presence makes sense for their library and, if so, what kind of presence is appropriate. Here’s how:
PEOPLE- Li and Bernoff (2008) stress that it is important not to start a social media strategy until you know the capabilities and social media interests of your customers (Li & Bernoff, 2009, p 67. In libraries, it would be wise to gather demographic information about your users to find out if social media technology even makes sense. If your public library caters to a senior citizen community, social media may not work. If you are in an academic library, a social networking presence is ideal.
OBJECTIVES- What does your library plan to get out of a groundswell approach? What is the library’s mission and/or goals? If your library is an academic library, perhaps you’d like to provide ample research assistance to users. If you are in a museum library or special collections library, perhaps your goal is to gain more attendees at your special events and exhibits.
STRATEGY- How does your library want its relationship with the users to change? Do you want them to become more engaged or do you want more traffic in your library? This is important to consider as it determines how to measure progress, prepare you for the ultimate goals, and what kind of social technology is most appropriate.
Technology- The absolute LAST thing, according to Li and Bernoff (2009), that should be considered is the technology. An academic library may consider using social networks such as Facebook to connect with their groundswell of college-aged students. An art library at an art school may consider using Flickr to connect with their groundswell. It truly depends on the audience and your objectives.
The groundswell technique is about concentrating on the relationships you have and hope to have with your audience. This comes before using technology. Especially in the library setting, proper research is needed to ensure a library’s successful attempt at a social media presence. “We want to get involved with Twitter because everyone else is doing it,” is not the groundwell approach. Building meaningful relationships with your users is the groundswell approach.
More about POST.
Buy the book.
Find it at your library.
References
Li, C., & Bernoff, J. (2008). Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business Press.
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