Like I have a plan! But here’s my thought process on social media.

• We need to be where our readers are, and where they will be in 20 years. This means Twitter, Facebook and Flickr today. Could mean something totally different tomorrow.
• Twitter is personal. Editors each Tweet under their own accounts, and it’s the editor’s chance to chat with readers and promote whatever they like.
• Facebook is more promotional for the magazine, but we also link to outside content. We use RSS here, so our news feed appears on our Facebook page. There’s a chance here to have our readers get to know us. Something I’ve been meaning to do is take pictures of editors at their desks so readers can get a behind-the-scenes look at us.
• Our Ning site belongs to our readers. I don’t want to see too many posts from our editors here. I wouldn’t frequent a forum where the editors are doing all the talking. We generate conversation when there’s a serious lull, but it’s not about promoting ourselves.
• Flickr and YouTube are the hard sell right now. I’m not getting across the message that the communities around these sites are important to tap into. We pretty much have the attitude that we should keep images and video on our own URLs to drive traffic. I don’t disagree, but I think we’re missing out on an opportunity with these sites. I put photos up on Flickr myself, but it’s not a priority.
• I have a Delicious account, but I mostly use it for personal stuff. I’ve been thinking about starting an account for our magazine brand, but I’m still thinking.

Past this, I don’t have much of a plan. It seems that of all these, I need a better plan for our Ning site. It is the most marketable to advertisers. We have quite a few members, but they could be chatting a little more frequently. So how do I do that?

Before you go, look at this presentation. It’s  awesome.