Developing Your Online Blueprint in 6 Easy Steps

I had the opportunity to represent PeopleClues at the recent Talent Net Live event in Plano, TX. Talent Net Live is a one day conference in Dallas that  brings the great information shared on #TNL chat each month to a training and networking, in-real-life, event.   Some of the top people in Social Media, Social Recruiting and HR training deliver the latest tips and best practices in the industry.  I co-led a session with Jim Durbin that I’ll share in a later post.  Today, I’d like to share one of the sessions that was most meaningful to me.

One of the most useful sessions I attended was led by Bryan Wempen, EVP of PeopleClues and one of the hosts of the Drive Thru HR radio show, and Maren Hogan, Head of US Marketing at Brave New Talent. Bryan and Maren led a session about building audience as an organization and how to build a talent community from a recruitment standpoint.  The biggest takeaway for me was to give thought to how a talent community can be created so that critical steps are not missed.

The steps can best be summarized as developing your online blueprint:

• What is your purpose or goal?   In order to have any chance of creating a talent community that will be valuable, time must be spent up front to define the goal.  By starting with this step, you’ll be able to work through ways to measure whether or not the goal has been achieved once the community is in place.
• What tool will you use?  Whether you use a company like Brave New Talent, a wiki, NING or other type of website, the important thing is to examine the different types so you land on one that will encourage the greatest acceptance internally, thus higher participation.
• Define your market.  Who are the people who will make the community robust and interactive?  Who will be the internal experts?  Setting the tone with certain employee users will influence how the employee base uses the community.
• Get buy in for company leaders.  This is a critical step.  No matter how robust the platform, if you don’t get leader buy in before you begin, it will not succeed.  Like most things, employees do look to their leaders for encouragement when it comes to a new tool or technology, even though they would never want to admit it.
• Develop content framework.  This can take many forms and can be tracked and measured.  Start by creating a framework of customized messages and use or create an editorial calendar so that there is a specific plan of what key information is going to be shared.
• Find internal ambassadors and external advocates.  In addition to having leadership support, you will also need ambassadors who may or may not have a leadership title but who are highly influential.  These are the people who can spread the word about the community, the purpose and the benefits of participating.

By following a blue print, you’re chance of success is high.  I also encourage you to reach out to companies like PeopleClues and Brave New Talent so that you have informed partners when it comes to creating, tracking and measuring.

What success have you had either creating or participating in a talent community?