Unless you have been under a rock, you know the National SHRM Conference opened in Atlanta today (Sunday June 24th). And there are many SHRM members that are unable to attend. My ragtag local membership attendees rolled out today headed to Hot-Lanta with a spreadsheet of SM names and numbers and a few twitter handles to be able to spread out yet keep in touch by smart phone.
I’m back in Nashville lurking.
Why lurk?
There is lots of great stuff being talked about through Social Media Channels! Looking for nuggets to tweet under @mtshrm or put on our chapter Facebook. Looking for opportunities to ask questions of attendees or reinforce good ideas. Will tweet out some of my marketing. I’d be in trouble if I did not since that is my day job.
Why do I really lurk?
Okay- I admit, I really want to be there with my friends. The Instagram smart phone posts are killing me with the glasses raised and the great food porn shots. The opportunities to network, talk shop and see the people I interact with on social media in real-life. Connecting in real life is a cement-maker and unmeasurable. It is a powerful moment that social media brings to a conference with thousands of attendees. Who should you talk to and hang out with? Your social media network can be a determining factor. Do you like bacon?
So how am I going to make sure I can catch as much of the missed conversations and conference nuggets as possible?
Tweet Chat Room: Aggregating all tweets with conference hashtag #shrm12
http://tweetchat.com/room/shrm2012
Download the SHRM Conference App on itunes for droid and iphone: you can see all the sessions, speakers and make your own pretend “if I could be there” schedule. (Pain moment for sure when you see all of the great speakers.)
Check out the SHRM Conference Buzz Page: Honestly I have visited the SHRM.org site more in the last few weeks than I have all year because of this page. Even if you are #notatshrm12 you can sign up as a social Media Buzz contributor. The backchannel is important too.
Connect with your chapter tweeters. Know your social media influencers that are in Atlanta and follow them tightly!
Map your favorite sessions and watch for “Sub-Hashtags”. It is a lot to follow such a large conference. The #SHRM12 hashtag is the umbrella. But, with thousands of tweets going by how do you make sure you don’t miss out on sessions and info you’d like to lurk? Watch for the sub-hashtag. A second tag created just for the session or party. They usually appear as the session starts. Or find and follow your session speaker. They sometimes have one in mind already if they are social media savvy and understand the marketing piece that will enrich their session with message reach outside the room. And #notatshrm12 is an active hashtag right now. We are ready to support the conference twitter backchannel!
And the Bigger Reason for Lurking: Show our Social Media Community Support for SHRM. I quote Dave Ryan @DavetheHRCzar “My worst fear (for SHRM12) is that it has become a case of go big, or go home, with the analogy being this. If we (SHRM) don’t see some tangible results from this event we will contemplate a “push back” from social media. I hope my fears are unfounded. To help all my fears I implore all of you to share in the conference via social media – even if you aren’t there.”
Yep – you heard it. A rally cry. This “tangible” measure has given marching orders to many a social community manager in the corporate world. Sad really. This is a new media platform. Metrics for measure are in its infancy. There is so much intangible that it is almost unfair results could be based solely on the SHRM Buzz Page. Ridiculous really. Engagement is the meat of social media and that is taking place on chapter Facebook pages, locked down LinkedIn groups, personal tweets, instagram posts, blog posts and scads of unmeasurable sharing that is the larger reach of influence in the Human Resources online space. Want to engage the under 40 crowd? You’d better be on social media. Just saying.
AND
It will not stop after the conference is over. We will KEEP talking about it. Blogging about it. And those conversations will continue to happen in spaces unmeasurable in forgotten hashtags and bad SEO unseen by metrics monitors and hard data bots turned off since the conference is over and everyone is headed home.
So here is some reading and requests from me. Go sign up on the BUZZ. And if you are not a SHRM member, consider becoming one. The value of membership is worth it beyond all this social media stuff and after all isn’t that the real measure.
http://hrofficial.com/2012/06/the-buzz-site-shrm12-and-social-media/
http://list.ly/list/1Gc-the-shrm12-social-circle
2 Responses
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Joan Ginsberg Says:
Great post, Lyn. Shared with my Detroit SHRM peeps.
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Lyn Says:
Thanks Joan. And thanks to all the Detroit SHRM and all SHRM peeps adding to the online value.
