Web Directions Year round learning for product, design and engineering professionals

This is the hard part right? All of us have got the social media bug and can think of dozens of great projects we could implement this afternoon, if only our boss, or client, would go for it. This really clear headed article over at Digital Web, Integrating Social Media into a Web Content Strategy, has some great hands on advice for making this happen:

Make it clear that social media is not about technology, nor about keeping up with the latest trend. The primary goal of using social media has to be communication, not technology and not viral marketing.

and

Now that you’ve researched the objectives and tactics of the existing content, expand your options to include the types of social media tools that might better meet the goals for each type of content. Don’t start a list of Web 2.0 all-stars; just list the broad category of tools that would better serve your client’s or company’s needs.

There were a few people at Pubcamp here last week in Sydney who could benefit from a quick read of this article before they weighed in to adversarial debate methinks. For myself I’m a total social media booster, but, at the same time I keep my feet firmly in a world filled with people who (rightly!) are not impressed by Web 2.0 buzzword compliance. I don’t think there’s anything to be gained by embracing the assumption that these people are not open minded. It’s just that they will need to be convinced by people who can soberly demonstrate an understanding of their business and empathise with their legacy.