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We learn by doing.

It is a blinding glimpse of the obvious but somehow this point gets missed over and over as big companies approach social media by rolling out training.   Don’t get me wrong – training is good.  Training is necessary.  But training isn’t enough.

We learn very little through training because most training is conducted over a small window of time, has no follow up and is conducted in a general absence of real-world context.  In training you do not get to see the product of your thinking meet real-world conditions.  You do not get to learn from failure, or make adjustments.

If you want your staff to grasp the operating principles inherent in social media it is definitely good to set up a training program.  But don’t stop there.   Create apprenticeship models, conduct reverse mentoring sessions and get your employees actually using these tools.