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Last month, on the twenty-ninth floor in the Mansueto Ventures offices in NYC, the introductory event for EWIP’s new group, Women in Digital Media was held. Attendees of the luncheon gathered in the bright conference room to talk about “Great Ideas in Social Media”. 

The day’s guest presenter, Colleen DeCourcy, CEO of Socialistic, offered a blueprint for publishers wanting to make a strong mark in social media. “There are three main elements that make social media work” she said, “and a smart publisher pays attention to all three. Tagging, sharing, and temporality.” DeCourcy went on to discuss the important ways a publisher can leverage all three of these elements to build an integrated social media strategy. Here are seven of those recommendations:

1. Post content in progress. One of the biggest errors a publisher can make is to mistake this medium for a distribution channel. Remember this is a fleeting medium and you are posting at a specific point in time. Don’t wait to finish a product or duplicate over what you’ve done. Instead, use your content to start a conversation that draws the audience in and makes them look forward to what is coming.

2. Open and close your discussion times. This creates more timeliness and urgency and can lead to more participation.

3. Share content out.  Work with your editors to coordinate the slow authoritative voice of print with the speedy colloquial hit of social media.  Break your content down into information bites and be generous in your postings. Respond to conversations. Listen. 

4. Let people post in their own language. You benefit by broadening to a global audience.

5. Double down. Attach your people to a current topic that is relevant to your category, get in there, and amplify. Go where people are found, to the trending topics, and tie them in to what you are doing. Pay attention to top tweets, hits of the day, what’s hot and getting hotter, and do more than just join in—take the lead. 

6. Use hashtags that specifically draw people into the conversation. 

7. Integrate your virtual efforts with physical marketing. Print your hashtags, splash them up on billboards or across magazine ads. Be seen offline as well as online in ways that complement one another. 

EWIP thanks Colleen DeCourcy for sharing her great ideas, and to Linda Ruth and Anne Marie O’Keefe for their help organizing the event.