Strategic Approaches: Project Management & Social Media
APRIL 17, 2013
Project Management & Social Media
Kathleen M. Jenkins, Sanger & Eby
Two Approaches
• Project Managing Social Media
• Social Media for Project Management
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Important, But Not Urgent
• The big picture is important, but unless you have a plan for implementation, it stays just that: a picture.
• We’re all busy: it’s easy to de-prioritize things that are important but not urgent in favor of things that are urgent.
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The Downside of Urgent
• When we focus on the urgent and deprioritize the important, we’re forced into being purely tactical
• The important things, the strategic things, don’t get done
• Business growth stagnates
• Lose competitive edge
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Successful Strategy
• Defines vision
• Distills vision into critical business issues
• Distills critical business issues into projects
– Discrete deliverables
– Resource allocation
– Project timeline
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– Project plan
• In other words…
Project ManagementProject Management
If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll probably end up
someplace else.
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someplace else.-Yogi Berra
Strategy & Social Media
• A clearly defined social media strategy is critical to success in the social space
• Effective social strategy defines:
– Audience and audience needs
– Communication and business objectives
– Platforms
– Voice, tone, and interaction
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– Voice, tone, and interaction
– Specific, measurable success metrics
Developing a Social Media Strategy
• Developing an effective social media strategy requires effective project management
• Follow process
• Allocate resources
• Set project schedule
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Process and Timeline
• Competitive Analysis and Benchmarking
• Clearly defined audience
• Research on habits and practices
• Articulated goals and objectives
• Appropriate platforms
• Engagement strategy
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• Engagement strategy
• Resourcing and management plan
• Measurement and analytics plan
• Scheduled checkpoints, review, and approval
Project Managing Social Presence
• Important versus urgent
• Resources
• Coverage
• Frequency
• Content development
• Monitoring and communications management
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• Monitoring and communications management
• Escalation plan
• Measurement and analytics
Social Media for Project Management
• 2/3 of Project Managers Surveyed believe social media is a key issue for their industry
• Primary Benefits Identified:
– Collaboration
– Communication
– Networking Opportunities
– Increased Efficiency
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– Increased Efficiency
– Financial Benefits
Source: Harrin Survey 2011
Social Media for Project ManagementSocial Media for Project Management
In the Past, PMs Could Assume:
• Most team members in a single office location
• PM software on a desktop workstation
• Status reports delivered at weekly meetings
• Monthly executive review
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The Way It Works Today:
• At least one team member likely to be physically separated at least part of the time
• Sponsors expect realtime access to project data
• Executives want to view multiple projects as a portfolio
• Global teams & the 24-hour workday
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Overall Benefits of Social Media
• Influences how people communicate
• Communications to whole team in realtime
• Develops relationships
• Builds trust
• Increases transparency
• Provides cultural context
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• Provides cultural context
What Social Can Do for PM
• Knowledge sharing & project visibility
• Identify, organize, and deploy project teams
• Collaborate across departments
• Collaborate with remote resources
• Real time information to project stakeholders
• Meet the demand of the “24 hour workday”
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• Meet the demand of the “24 hour workday”
• Reduce traveling expenses
• Document best practices & project learnings
How PMs Use Social Tools
• 48% use for document sharing
• 36% communicate with project stakeholders
• 34% for task collaboration
• 32% hosting online meetings
• 27% use for project status updates
• 25% manage their teams
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• 25% manage their teams
• 19% task tracking
…and…
• 90% networking online
• 71% participate in online PM community
Source: Harrin Survey 2011
Online PM Communities
• 6,500+ LinkedIn groups
• 8.5 Million PM professionals on LinkedIn
• 35,000+ members in LinkedIn’s Project Manager Networking Group
• 1MM+ YouTube videos on PM
• PMI’s Online Communities of Practice
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• Yahoo’s PMP Best Group (13,000+ members)
Social PM Platforms & Tools
• SharePoint
• GoToMeeting
• SlideShare
• Tibbr
• Yammer
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• Blogs
• Wikis
Getting Started
• Define a social media policy
• Define the purpose of social for PM
• Develop list of acceptable platforms & uses
• Establish rules of engagement
• Determine proprietary data – what to share
• Establish roles and permissions
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• Establish roles and permissions
• Use your secure network
• Monitor and manage (usually the PM)
Want to Know More?
Great! This is what I do all day. ☺
Kathleen M. Jenkins
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Kathleen M. Jenkins
www.sangereby.com
@sangereby
LinkedIn: Sanger & Eby
www.linkedin.com/in/katjenkinscinci
513.784.9046
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