One of the most common questions I get is “How can I use social media tools to communicate?” I addressed this during my presentation at PMI Leadership Institute Meeting in Dublin. I used the Chartered Management Institute as an example of how others are doing it.
CMI makes great use of social media tools to communicate with their members. The CMI’s methods can be used to communicate with members of your local project management group (PMI or APM), with project management community members within your organisation, and with external stakeholders. These approaches could be adapted to communicate with project teams.
Adi Gaskell (Content & Communities Manager) spoke to me about his process and the benefits he has experienced.
Adi, which social media tools do YOU use to communicate with CMI members? And how do they work?
LinkedIn – The LinkedIn group is an easy-to-use destination for members to discuss management topics. It’s a closed group, which is a refreshing contrast to the CMI site’s public forums.
Twitter – While Twitter can be a great platform for promotion of various things, its greatest value is in being able react to members’ issues and to reach out CMI stakeholders.
YouTube – YouTube is the home to all media mentions as well as an increasing number of footage from branch and central events. Last week, I uploaded all footage from a recent CMI Wolverhampton conference. The footage from the previous year’s event already has nearly 2,500 views. It’s a great way to reach new audiences.
Facebook – Although Facebook is still relatively new, it is a great way for you to connect with a diverse audience. Our analytics show that the average age of the group members is around 30 years old, which is significantly younger than CMI. This will be a key tool to reach younger managers and school children.
People tell me that project management communities want to reach a wider audience – to both share their expertise as in PMI Colombia and to be able advise local communities on public sector projects. I recently wrote about the work of the PMI Educational Foundation in schools. I agree that Facebook is a key strategy to engage this audience. Any other suggestions?
Slideshare – I upload all our research reports and a growing number of PowerPoints from events onto our Slideshare page. Each slide can be embedded in the CMI site, which makes it easy to view and promotes them via Slideshare. A Slideshare page featuring a presentation from a branch was recently featured. It has been viewed nearly 1,500 times.
Flickr – We use Flickr to host a lot of our photos as well as other imagery. Common uses include combining event photos into a slideshow that can be embedded on the CMI website.
Blogs – The Management blog continues to grow and attracts over 1,000 visitors per day. It has allowed us expand our reach via syndication to sites like Google News and LinkedIn.
Discussion forums – Members can discuss current news and issues that affect their professional lives in the discussion forums. This can be done in the national forums, or in the specific forum that each CMI branch has. Although widespread adoption of the forums was difficult, there have been more than 8,000 comments so far.
Wow, that’s a lot! Which one has been the most successful?
Our Slideshare account and our LinkedIn group are the two most successful external social media channels. The LinkedIn group has a high membership growth rate and a substantial amount of engagement in discussions.
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