Merging onto the Highway of Social Media

Posted on February 9, 2010. Filed under: Public Relations, Social Media | Tags: cme group, delicious, digg, Dow Jones, Facebook, LinkedIn, Public Relations, Social Media, Twitter |

Last week, we had the pleasure of hosting Chicago area PR professionals for breakfast. We were also lucky enough to spend an hour interviewing Allan Schoenberg (@allanschoenberg on Twitter), director of communications at CME Group. Allan’s team has been using social media for several years, and he shared some tips and best practices.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Allan’s objectives for his social media strategy are to create enthusiasm for the CME Group brand, distribute information, provide customer service and advocate for the brand.
• The team’s primary channels are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and social bookmarking tools like digg and delicious.
• Allan compares starting in social media to merging onto a busy highway. He suggests joining existing conversations and engage in dicussions around current topics of interest. Eventually, you can incorporate your own messages and create conversations that positively affects your brand.  
• On Twitter, he follows a 70/30 rule:  70% of postings are focused on market drivers and news, but only 30% is about news and events that are designed to drive people back to CME Group’s website.
• He recommends that employees understand disclosure rules and best practices. His advice: “If you don’t want your CEO to read it, don’t post it.”

Allan also said Mashable.com was one of the best sources for keeping up on new social media trends and tools.

Diane Thieke is marketing director at Dow Jones.

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