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The social web is gaining ground and your organization is scrambling. If that sounds familiar, don’t worry. You’re probably not alone.

Now more than ever, organizations must be knowledgeable and agile at identifying pieces of the social media puzzle that would be of value and make good business sense to them.

And there are ways to layer Web 2.0 onto an organization’s existing communications and marketing efforts, including using wikis and corporate blogs.

photo entitled ‘The Conversation’ sourced from Flickr via catcetera

Is a blog for you?
Before deciding to start an external blog consider the following:

• who is it for (target audience)
• what do you want to share that will be compelling (content)
• will there be enough valuable content to keep it fresh
• are you prepared to have a dialogue with your audience
• who will be the resource(s) to manage
• how will this presence enhance an existing business development initiative (or create new ones)
• will you have a social media policy ready

Also, if you’re still leery of taking the blogging plunge, you may consider starting off on a smaller scale: micro-blog on Twitter.

I’ve seen a couple of effective corporate Twitter accounts used by large organizations: @TELUS (community/CSR), @RogersHelps (customer feedback/support).

Conversation
As you research, filter through the hype and determine how / whether or not to embed a social media strategy into the mix, you will be compelled to look at how well you engage your audience. Be prepared to listen a lot and to be responsive.

What has your tribe/organization done to start the conversation?