As Social Media is being integrated more and more in companies marketing and communications plan, needed strategies are rising to utmost importance.
Questions like – What do I need?, How do I begin?, What do I say?…Who to put in charge? Are screaming in marketing departments everywhere. Some companies are just ready to jump on the bandwagon without any long-term commitment. WRONG! Read the following prerequisites and strategies from several great strategists.
First things first – Make sure your upper-management team believes in social media and that the first goal is not to sell, sell, sell. In other words, if your business is jumping into social media because “everyone else is doing it” or because you want to sell product rather than to build relationships then forget it, it WILL NOT GO ANYWHERE!
Great lineup of strategies from Raz Chorev read the following excerpts:
#1: Determine Your Goals and Objectives
Keep it Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic/Relevant, and Timely (aka be SMART!).
#2: Research, Research, and Research Some More
Rather than jumping into social media, prepare yourself so you know what to expect.
#3: Create a Digital Rolodex of Contacts and Content
When social media is done correctly, relationships will build naturally.
#4: Join the Conversation to Develop Relationships
You can start joining the conversation by posting comments on blogs and forums, answering questions on Yahoo! and LinkedIn, joining groups related to your industry and joining Twitter chats.
#5: Strengthen Relationships
It’s easy to hide behind your avatar or profile picture, but face-to-face is incredibly powerful.
#6: Measure Results
Goals and objectives of your social media strategy.
Measuring social media is a never-ending debate. What metrics do you use to measure social media? What objective are you measuring those metrics for?
#7: Analyze, Adapt, and Improve
Your social media strategy doesn’t end with measurement; it goes beyond that. You need to analyze your social media campaigns, adapt any new findings into your current processes, and improve your efforts.
Testing and experimentation will perfect your social media efforts.
For a detailed look at these strategies visit http://www.razchorev.com/2010/07/28/creating-a-social-media-strategy/
Additional Strategies from Coherent Social Media include the following:
Social media is social—your strategy is an attempt to create and shape the social environment to support your business goals. But the communities and their members are the ultimate owners. Social Media strategies must be flexible and dynamic. Plan to review, update, and adjust your strategy regularly during the course of its execution.
Use a table as the core of a social media strategy document. The core table defines three main elements:
- Social media goals—It all starts with your business goals. The goals are first point the client needs to establish, and they drive everything else.
- High-level strategy—Each goal has a high-level strategy describing the general plan for accomplishing that goal.
- Success criteria—Success criteria are the lynchpin of my social media strategy. The success criteria crystalize the goal and drive the tactical plan, the tools requirements, and even the processes.
- Interim measures—Data to track and evaluate during the execution of the strategy, in order to ensure you’re on track and make necessary adjustments.
For an example of what a table would look like visit Coherent Social Media.
