Phase 1 – Make the content accessible. 

•  Don’t be stingy – share what you know, provide resources to inspire more creativity and s
  elf-development – then encourage them to share it back

Phase 2- Never believe that my planned learned objective is the only one. 

• What I had planned – may not be the only lesson learned, by them or by me. Stay open and flexible to the opportunity to engaged learning in action.

Phase 3 –  Make room for “learning nuggets” to emerge and take shape. 

• Creative thought and inspiration isn’t always pretty, smooth or even planned. Allowing room for the “aha” moment, then fertilize the process into a “nugget”.

Phase 4 –  Encourage “web-storming” those nuggets out!

• Don’t keep it “sandboxed”. Encourage them to be Tweeted, shared via Instagram, or Facebook it and built on – But use common hashtag  i.e  #MentorSFCA to unify the theme

Phase 5 – Make it real-time visible as a group theme.

• Encourage those “nuggets” get shared, but support the context of the workshop or moment using a “Trending Now” style dashboard such as the one here  #MentorSFCA 
• Consider plugins or programs that allow you to track hashtags and user profiles. (I used Powr.io for #MentorSFCA and  @FVStrona)

Some solid bullets to keep on your digital landscape planning; read the full article by Richard Brownell from PRNews here.

• Be real. Establish a genuine voice that is relatable.
• It’s not always about you. Not every post needs to be about you or your service. Comment on other posts, or share thoughts about current events.
• Offer a unique perspective. Stand out from the crowd.
• Messaging needs to match the channel. Construct your content within the social norms of the platform.
• Share great content. Enhance your level of social engagement.
• Visuals increase engagement. Enough said.
• Diversify your messages. Change things up and avoid boring your audience.
• Give people a reason to engage. Be entertaining and informative.
• Make content timely. Timely and relevant content will increase levels of engagement.
• Analytics don’t lie. Track your progress so you know how you’re doing.

More about becoming a great communications writer with PR News’ Writers Guidebook, available now. 

Follow Nolan Wilson: @Nolson17
Follow Richard Brownell: @rickbrownell

One of the articles trending this week takes on a highly uncomfortable topic and has been the switch for lots of debate. But I think this was an important attempt to open this topic up. I mentioned my concerned that these same people, while in college were also the ones who lacked an ability to show empathy beyond the “focus” of the cause and for some lacked an engagement philosophy. They want to ” call out” the issue – but let others do the work, while they sit from the “good seats” and use media to vocalize.

    “But millennials are grown up now — and they’re angry. As children, they were told that they could be anything, do anything, and that they were special. As adults, they have formed a unique brand of Identity Politics wherein the groups with which one identifies is paramount. With such a strong narrative that focuses on which group one belongs to, there has been an increasing balkanization of identities. In an attempt to be open-minded toward other groups and to address social justice issues through a lens of intersectionality, clear and distinct lines have been drawn between people. One’s words and actions are inextricable from one’s identities. For example: this is not an article, but an article written by a straight, white, middle-class (etc.) male (and for this reason will be discounted by many on account of how my privilege blinds me — more on this later).”

Well worth the read, for the full story  : https://medium.com/@aristoNYC/social-justice-bullies-the-authoritarianism-of-millennial-social-justice-6bdb5ad3c9d3

 My time in the Ebola Response Efforts; while taking me away from home for lengths of time allowed me to expand my skill set as a public health advisor and public health change agent beyond one focus area. New allies, experiences, methodology and opportunities that engaged me in real time in a ways that accreditation “exams” such as CHES  can never capture.  

This is actually a solid starter place to review for folks who use social media tools for bussiness, especially entrepreneurs, consultants and the small business owners.