Introduction: Sustainable Social Media Organizations

We all have strengths and weaknesses. We can acquire expertise, but that means we ignore an infinite number of things in order to focus on a few things. There are always tradeoffs for every decision we make.

This writing is largely the result of a request from Mr. Grizwald.

ok - since you seem to be branding as an HR consultant, what HR roles need to be filled by a self-sustaining social media presence/show?

I want to set the record straight about my own strengths and weaknesses in relation to Mr. Grizwald’s request. I am mostly an information technology consultant who is on a trajectory to become some kind of chief information officer should the powers that be permit such a thing to occur.

In addition to my IT specialization, I am a generalist problem solver with an interest in organization, project management, and people management. I’m not great at managing people and projects and organizations. But I’ve acquired knowledge which allows me to recognize when people are doing the things according to the books I have read. My spider sense gets activated when things aren’t going well. I can point at the thing that isn’t going well and offer up ideas. But I’m not great at motivating others to change despite having read many books about related subjects.

I hope I can be of service.

The Basics

I recommend recruiting and promoting trustworthy people. There is a lot of information baked into this concept of ‘trustworthy’ and the process by which trustworthy people can be identified.

The organization going through the startup phase will consist of very few people attempting to fill all of the roles and responsibilities for all the teams.

As an individual without a group, we can perform many of the roles and responsibilities identified in this writing. We can practice becoming a trustworthy person.

Information Technology Team

Information technology can allow us to do more with less and can help the organization overcome bottlenecks by facilitating learning and teaching.

For example, I am currently using version control and creating a blog post. Learning and teaching is facilitated by the process and the technology.

We can identify technology, processes, and roles which are needed as the organization grows.

Billing Team

An organization has basic needs. If you are an individual in a desert trying to survive then it will be difficult to accomplish other goals and this situation is not very sustainable.

Therefore, one of the first things about sustainability is funding. You need paths by which the organization and its goals can be funded. The more funding received, the easier it becomes for you to focus on relevant tasks and to delegate work to others.

The billing team helps pay the bills on time.

Human Resource Team

As your organization grows, you will need to recruit and keep trustworthy helpers to fill vital roles in the organization. The HR team can help keep your team happy by reliably providing information and services to the team with regard to the team’s needs.

Custodial Team

It’s good to have people who keep things clean and organized. Avoid the broken window effect. Don’t let someone like me, Gavin Palmer, lead the efforts in organizing and cleaning things.

When organizations work remotely, this team can be overlooked easily.

Management Team

As the organization grows, the owners will need to delegate to managers who oversee teams. You will have meetings with the board of directors who will need to come together periodically to discuss what is happening across all of the teams. Note that asynchronous virtual cooperation and coordination is possible.

The ability for your organization to grow depends on your ability to extend trust to managers and delegate responsibilities.

The management team needs to be willing and able to clean a toilet.

Social Media

Content Producers

Producers create the original audio, video, and text. Producers are responsible for equipment. The producer does not need to be the person doing the interview.

Content Editors

Editors can create the bumper for videos. Editors can proof read the writings. Editors can be responsible for the title and description of the content. Editors are responsible for improving quality.

Recruiters

These people are reaching out to prospects who may be willing to engage in an interview. The recruiter will select for certain kinds of people. I recommend that the IT team shares information publicly about the types of people being recruited. I recommend that recruiters inform people why they were not selected to be interviewed.

Interviewers

These people are curious individuals who have done their research and do recorded conversations with interesting people. I recommend the interviewer be capable of asking the right questions such that learning is facilitated.

Specifically regarding social media content, these interviewers will tend to produce content which might make people laugh while discussing interesting topics such that learning and teaching is facilitated in a fun way.

Distributors

The distributors are responsible for distributing the content on various platforms. These people will often use 3rd party technology to manage their content distribution.

Engagement

The 3rd party technology used for distributing content can also be used to receive feedback and engage with the audience. The engagement team could be considered vital for any organization because this is the means by which the organization can listen and learn.

Revenue

The revenue team is responsible for helping to acquire sources of income. This could be advertisements which are embedded within or alongside the content. This could be memberships which provide exclusive content. This could be supplemental technology which collects information about the audience. This could be revenue from selling products and/or services. Host events. Affiliate marketing.

The whole making money thing really gets into the ethical issues which contribute to our society’s sensemaking problems. The best information does not come from organizations attempting to attract the largest audiences because the largest audiences are primarily interested in comfort seeking activities. Most audiences are not attempting to put in significant and uncomfortable effort while consuming content. Most audiences are not looking to be be told that they are wrong and that they should change.

And that’s what a good sensemaking organization does. The good sense making system points at what is wrong and points at different behaviors which individuals can perform after being informed.

footnotes

Written by Gavin Palmer practicing a relationship with the Greatest Intentions

Serious content should have version control with historical changes.