Step 8: Define Your Social Media Integration
Determine the Social Media Management Functions You Will Integrate
Based on the level of integration you identified, review the SM management functions and identify a realistic expectation of what your team can support with the resources anticipated to be available to you. As you do so, ask yourself the following questions:
- Do we have the necessary staff to accomplish this? If not, can they be supplemented with other in-house staff or can the work be outsourced to a vendor? Do we use volunteers, and if so, what are the implications/impacts (training, user rights, liability concerns)?
- What training is needed for implementation and sustainability? How do we keep users proficient?
- What is our funding level? Can it support the tools we need?
- Are there any technical (software, network, security) issues that will impact implementation and use?
As a team, review the SM functions, discuss the options, and identify which ones you will implement. Make sure team members responsible for the implementation of these functions are present and have input. Reach out to other airport emergency managers and other community members for examples and lessons learned and use them to help develop policies, agreements, and procedures.
You can also visit the SM Tools tab of this WebResource and familiarize yourself with the variety of SM tool options for each of the functions, including scaling and optimizing approaches for the use of SM technology. Think about how these apply to your airport, given its size and complexity, the current level of SM usage, and the current tools being used, as well as the status/maturity of your EM operation.
In any case, do what you can with your current resources and keep looking for opportunities to improve your initial planning scope as you progress through your integration efforts. You can always add more later.
A Quick Check-In: Circle Back to Your Vision
Once you have identified your level of integration and included functions, circle back to Step 7 and evaluate the shared vision, goals, and objectives. Are they in line with what can operationally be achieved? You may find that your vision still holds, but your goals and objectives may need to be modified.
At this point, you are through the planning phase and are ready to begin integration. Step 9: Establish Your Integration Needs will guide you through developing the associated roles, policies, and success measures for your SMEM program. Following that, Step 10 will direct you in establishing the SM operating framework that will support and enable your integration.
