Keep the 5 Step “Hype” Cycle in mind to make your adoption of new channels more intentional.

Gartner, Inc. explains their research findings into the adoption of emerging technologies in clear phases in this article. Here’s a quick look:

Applied to your organization’s adoption of new social media, you will need to keep in mind how risk-friendly or risk-averse you want to be in seeking out new types of channels. While emerging social media tools frequently look free at the outset (no out of pocket costs), the downside cost of investing the time necessary to identify, understand, and populate new social media channels can be prohibitive. Depending on your resources for communication and content creation, you may be an organization that wants to take a wait and see stance until others have made it through the disillusionment phase and you can begin to see successful applications discovered through enlightenment.

But my audience is all over the new channel!

Never forget:  I’ve talked more than once about remembering to regularly research your target audiences. Where are they, and where do they congregate? Matching that data up with a good understanding of the cycle of adoption for your audiences can also help you to weather the inflated expectations phase without jumping prematurely into what looks like the newest biggest thing; only to find your audience members abandoning your channel in droves.