10 Nov, 2008
Using Social Media, 300 Businesses Can’t Be Wrong.
Posted by: dean In: eExtension Strategy
Extension is a social business. It is a business of sharing information, building networks, supporting decisions, and hopefully sharing victories. More and more businesses are developing Social Media strategies to do similar things, build networks, listen to customers, offer after sales support and so much more. Before long a business without a Social Media presence will be thought ridiculus, round about the same time an Extension Program without an eExtension Strategy incorporating Social Media will unthinkable.
Monty C. M. Metzger is an entrepreneur, trend consultant and blogger from Germany who recently published on his blog
a list of 300 businesses who have an active social media presence. It’s worth a look there are some very clever strategies amongst them. Let’s have a look at some Monty’s examples.
American Red Cross uses a blog Red Cross Chat, as the centre for their Social Media strategy which is a really smart idea. However they also use other Social Media tools to bulk up their presence including Delicious (social book marking), Flickr (photo sharing), Utterli ), Youtube (Video Sharing), Sprout (widget maker), Facebook (Social Network), Twitter (Microblogging). All of these tools can be used for free provided you have a computer and an internet connection. So whether you have a small Landcare or Environmental group or you work for a government department you can have a configuration like Red Cross for your eExtension Strategy
The National Marine Sanctuaries amongst other Socail Media tools, Twitter. Twitter is a Microblogging platform which allows users to post a short message (max 140 characters) easily to the web. Those messages can then be posted on websites, read as a feed, received as text messages on a mobile phone and dozens of other nifty things.
The Sydney Writers’ Centre like the Red Cross uses blogging, podcasting and 2 social networks: Facebook fan page. MySpace page to spread their message and engage their audience.
Timberland uses the tree planting program is an incentive to have Facebook users share their Earthkeepers application with friends.
As you can see from these couple of examples many organisations are using Social Media to engage and interact with their clients, their audience and others. There are many creative and meaningful ways to engage your Extension audience with Social Media. The first step is to develop an eExtension Strategy that will complement and enhance your current Extension workflow. If you would like to know more about developing a eExtension Strategy you may wish to subscribe to THINKeEXTENSION or browse our Archives
What Social Media tools have you seen Extension programs using or are you using? Leave us a comment below
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