Social Media Primer for Board of Director Members
I recently had the privilege of presenting to the board of directors of the NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association, which represents about 900 independent, community-based telecommunications companies.
This presentation was custom-tailored as an overview “social media primer” for the local board members representing a mostly retired demographic. When polling the audience with a show of hands of who was on the following networks, this is an estimate of the results in the room:
- Twitter: less than 5%
- LinkedIn: less than 15%
- Google+: about 1%
- Facebook: about 45%
These numbers are frighteningly low and surprised me as well as the members of the audience.
The presentation was positioned this way to NTCA board of director members:
“People are already talking about your company via social media. If you aren’t aware of it, you certainly can’t do anything about it. Learn where to focus your attention and what you need to know to be a social-media-savvy member of your company’s board.”
I found a great connection with bridging the technology divide of this audience by reviewing their Core Values: Our Guiding Principles of the NCTA:
“The NTCA is committed to a culture of trust, respect, support, collaboration, communication, and innovation. We are dedicated to forging industry partnerships and outreach to government agencies and related organizations to advance our mission. We will deliver exceptional service to every member every time.”
Community outreach, collaboration, trust, respect, support, communication, and innovation all sound like some of the core elements of a well-orchestrated content marketing and social media strategy. Despite being an audience of technology neophytes, the room’s census was that social media is a growing force that needs to become a larger part of the overall marketing strategy and why they offer educational seminars just for their board members.
Additionally, as disruptive technology like the Internet of Things (IoT) changes consumers’ behaviors and their reliance on broadband and cloud-based solutions, traditional business models like the NTCA see the need to adapt their business model to maintain their market share.
NTCA Speaking Profile Page: http://www.ntca.org/rtime/speakers.html#obrien
Presentation to NTCA: http://static.coreapps.net/rtime15/handouts/5302add1b9e3fc08ee02ddb4b8f32f11_1.pdf
