Just Joan

Seeing the response to SHRMChat and the increasing involvement of interested people and chapters gives me great hope for the use of social media at the state and local chapter level, and for the increased communication between SHRM and it’s affiliates in general. Let’s keep the momentum building!

JANUARY RECAP:

Our January chatters discussed platforms and their respective goals. Here’s a general summary:

1. Linkedin is the preferred platform.  My own experience tells me that Linkedin is trusted by a larger amount of HR pros, and reaching them where they live seems to be a wise strategy for all of the chapter and council leaders. It was generally agreed that Twitter, which we all know and love as individuals, is too hard to learn for most chapters to adopt as a major communications platform. We are sure that time will change that.  There was little discussion of Facebook as a platform.

2. Not everyone is using specific strategies and/or goals in their social media efforts. Some leaders prefer to use social media in whatever way they see fit, without being tied down to a strategy/goal model. Others have very specific goals in mind when they determine effective strategies. Increase in membership numbers seems to be a common goal.

3. Fear of social media by members is an obstacle to overcome. This issue was also discussed in our first chat.  It is common experience among all of the tweeps that members are fearful of social media, and that fear creates limitations in the success of social media efforts for chapters.  ”Baby Steps” is a mantra that is continually repeated during these discussions. Unfortunately, most don’t know how big my feet are – baby steps are just plain hard for me.

FEBRUARY THEME:

As I mentioned in last month’s blog, the people who have participated in SHRMChat so far seem to be very interested in taking this chat beyond social media. Most want to talk about all things SHRM, and it’s interaction with the locals and states we work so hard to support with our volunteer efforts. With that in mind, I have only one theme and related questions for February:

Which programs or issues do you think are important and appropriate for a future SHRMChat?

For example, the SHAPE initiative has already be discussed to a degree as a way to increase social media use among chapters. What other programs should SHRMChat consider discussing in-depth? If we have a particular program or topic assigned in advance, it would be helpful to get someone from SHRM to be a guest and discuss.

PLEASE JOIN US FOR SHRMChat on Tuesday, February 14th at 8:00 pm EST/7:00 pm CST at #SHRMChat on Twitter.