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Holtz Communications + Technology

Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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Introducing SME2, mapping your staff competencies to your company’s social media goals

Introducing SME2, mapping your staff competencies to your company’s social media goals

SME SquaredSocial media has passed the point of novelty. The days of optional engagement in the social space are far behind us. Between the online behaviors of our audiences, the expectations of our customers and the implications for the enterprise, engagement in social media has become a requirement. This is no surprise to most organizations, which has to some degree embraced social media and even integrated it into their bigger-picture communication thinking.

The challenge today is operationalizing social media. Companies cobble together structures for social media, staffed by a mix of existing employees and new-hires identified for the social and digital skills. These employees are expected to execute strategies to drive social engagement, from content marketing to social customer service management, and more.

The question is, do your staff’s actual skills align with the strategy? And have they attained the right level of expertise in each of the competencies required to achieve the organization’s social and digital goals? If the skill-sets required to execute a strategy are missing or inadequate, you could be committing a lot of resources that still can’t get the job done.

Binhammer and DollinsI’m excited to announce that as of today, there’s a way to find out. For the last several months, I have been working with two highly-respected communicators with the experience and savvy to crack the social/digital competency nut. (They’re also good friends, which makes this even more exciting.) The culmination of that work withRichard Binhammer and Mark Dollins is SME2, a disciplined approach to cataloging the competencies of your staff, mapping them to your strategy, and identifying gaps and the ways to fill them.

Richard, Mark and I have identified more than 30 social and digital media competencies for communicators, marketers, PR professionals and others working in this space, in four distinct categories. We have created the diagnostic tools for identifying the competencies for each of the members of your team, and the methods for synching those competencies to the ones required to pull off your strategy.

Our early briefings with industry analysts have been gratifying and encouraging.

For those of you who don’t know them, Richard was one of the key architects of Dell’s legendary social media strategy. Mark ran corporate communications for Pepsi before launching North Star, where he helps companies identify their communication competencies and address the inconsistencies that emerge.

On our microsite, you can download a briefing paper with more details our our approach, how we segment levels of skill in each competency, and more.

Any of the three of us would be happy to talk to you about how a competencies audit can fill in the gaps and help you make that long step toward operationalizing social media in your organization.

Mark and I are both at the IABC conference starting on Sunday and will be happy to speak with you about SME2. Mark has a booth at the trade show—North Star Consulting—where he has a handout that offers additional detail on our venture.

Comments
  • 1.Congrats Shel! Would love to set up a chat with you to learn more.

    Sean McDonald | June 2013 | NJ

  • 2.Congrats Shel. You're working with smart people. And that's always a good place to start. Lots of success will surely follow.

    Joseph Thornley | June 2013 | Toronto

  • 3.Really interesting Shel, I am excited for you all.

    Kami Huyse | June 2013 | United States

  • 4.Seems very relevant. Congrats.

    Raul Goncalves | June 2013 | Portugal

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