Useful introductory resources for social media

I’m on a bit of a social media kick this weekend due to all the fantastic resources I’ve found on the topic in the last several days.

I wanted to flag a couple of these in particular that I found useful, and may be useful for others.

My first great find was a CIO magazine article from May this year, Enterprise 2.0 – What is it good for? (A 12-step guide to getting the most out of Web 2.0 tools and making it safe-for-purpose).

This article provides a good step-by-step approach to getting your toes wet in the social media space, starting with creating a Web 2.0 strategy, getting buy-in from all Senior Management (as it’s not simply a technology decision), establishing ownership, developing appropriate policies, monitoring and response times.

The seond resource was the Cook & Hopkins Social Media Report – 3rd edition.

As a free online resource this is an enormously valuable tool for establishing a basic understanding of some of the social media options out there. If you’re new to the area, or need to provide information to someone who is, this resource can provide a good starting point.