Once you have established your SMEM program, you should turn your efforts to sustaining the program. Part of sustaining is an emphasis on continued improvement. Without it, the program will start to feel stale and stakeholders may lose interest in keeping it going. The key to improvement starts with having the right mindset: one that understands the value of improvement and continually looks for ways to improve through each experience. To do this, the program champions need to build upon existing relationships and seek new ones so stakeholders remain engaged. Additionally, as you utilize the SMEM program, work collaboratively to improve on your success measures, monitor the program, and share the results with your stakeholders. As you learn more and become more proficient, consider adding more SM channels for listening or finding ways to advance your level of integration from basic to intermediate and, eventually, to complete integration.

Another way to sustain your program is to continually seek out innovation. This includes maintaining a current understanding of the rapidly changing digital and social landscape. It also includes studying adjacent or entirely unrelated industries to help you spot truly "new" opportunities for innovation you can apply at your airport.

Last, to sustain your program, you should continually refresh your team's training plan. Although it will initially be more focused on mastery of the tools you just deployed, it should grow toward advancing the collective ability of the entire team. Sustainable SMEM programs require that your team stays well trained and informed.

Conclusion

It is our desire that this WebResource provide you with the understanding and direction necessary for a robust SMEM program. We see great potential for you to develop better situational awareness, build stronger relationships, and provide excellent service to your customers. We encourage you to take full advantage of the many resources and reference materials available to you through the WebResource for building or improving your program.