Busy as beavers in social media, Cisco social media mavens maintain over 100 Twitter identities, 26 Facebook pages, 300 YouTube channels, 61 communities and 37blogs. In an interview with SmartBlog on Social Media Senior Manager of Global Social Meida LaSandra Brill explains how the company can avoid duplicate and cross-marketing of these accounts. To do that, it has internal lists identifying the owners, which provides an easy way to communicate with each other.
The Global Social Media Marketing team works with its Services organization, who manage some of its largest communities, as well as the Social Media team within Corporate Communications, to develop policies, governance and training programs. But as part of Cisco’s hub-and-spoke dandelion approach, the management of the different channels is left to each group.
Brill says social media has had an impact in engaging with customers in new ways; extending the reach of Cisco’s traditional marketing; and reducing costs. And she advises her peers not to think of social media as just another checkbox on your list of things to do. You need a strategy and ways to listen to determine where to focus. It’s not just about putting information out there, but listening and engaging in conversation.
