Be Prepared for your Social Media Presence !

Social Media is here to stay as more companies join the band wagon every day, many companies believe the first step in Social Media is to create their company presence with a  Facebook Page, Twitter Handle, LinkedIn company page, Pinterest presence and finally a Google Plus+ presence and maybe a few more to be safe !

Most companies do not have a social media strategy or a social media management agenda or team, most of the social media management is outsourced to ad agencies or social media specialists. Companies need to understand  they are best equipped to respond and support their customer through social media; customer engagement is too valuable to be outsourced ?

Business could use the services of social media strategists who can help them with their campaign and build a road map for their social media presence and  so train their team to handle social media in real time.

Companies who do not handle social media in real time are doomed and will stand  out as non-customer focused companies.

The Toddy Tapper - Social Media is Heady but Be Prepared !

The CEO must lead the social media charge with a Twitter handle and a blog page at the minimum, CEO's could learn from Sir Richard Branson  (@richardbranson) who has a great social media presence. 

Social media affects your company in multitude ways and is unforgiving, one social media gaffe could  be the death knell for your company. Companies need to understand that social media is  double edged sword, it can hurt and maim with equal ease as it can conquer and subjugate customers.

To get your social media strategy right, start in small increments, big bang does not work for social media, maybe start with a Facebook Page and Twitter handle, tend it well like a good gardener and reap the harvest in abundance. Like a good gardener you must know what to plant, when to harvest and when to leave the land fallow for best outcome of your social media strategy.

Be Prepared before you venture into social media; Be ever watchful like a good gardener and enjoy the benefits of your Social Media Presence!

The Papal Office and Social Media

His Holiness the  Pope issued his first tweet: "HABEMUS PAPAM FRANCISCUM," which translates to: "We have Pope Francis.". This was immediately retweeted by the followers all over the world into multiple languages with the same meaning, more then 25,000 retweets in 10 minutes.

The twitter handle "pontifex" not only means pope in Latin, but traces its roots back to Roman times and also means bridge builder. His holiness has to reach 1.2 billion Catholics across the world and most of them do not speak or understand Latin. 

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/new-popes-first-tweet-habemus-papam-franciscum-1C885235

The Vatican needs to tap the social media vehicle for getting His Holiness message across to Catholics across the world. As the believers look for answers and solutions from the Vatican City as the religion stands on its crossroads and needs a new impetus and direction.

It is a momentous occasion a first Latin American Pope and also the first Pope from the Jesuits.
I had the fortune of spending my formative years in a school administered by Jesuits and I have great admiration for the value and character that they have imbibed in me  which I retain till today.
They were great administrators and also managed to  instill the universal values of the Roman Catholic Church and the Bible to even to people who were not Christians into their everyday life.

Coming back to His Holiness twitter alone will not be enough to address the believers, there is a great need for the Vatican to publish a blog of all the Pope's mass, sermons and other official pronouncements so that Catholics across the world can follow their spiritual leader in real time.
This will be a departure from the traditional snail mail of passing down from the Pope to the Bishop and finally to the Padre conducting the mass to the followers.

The Catholic Church leadership has a great opportunity to use the social media like You Tube, Blogger, Facebook and even if required Linkedin and other business social  sites to bring the faithful together under the Catholic umbrella globally.
It is time for the Catholic Church to start its Digital Crusade to keep its faith alive.