Remember, social media isn’t a conversation; it’s where the conversation takes place. Just having a Facebook page or Twitter account or YouTube channel or blog doesn’t mean you or your clients are engaged in the social Web. It just means you’ve checked a box and built a shell.
Social media isn’t the Yellow Pages—showing up counts for very little. It’s also important to recognize that the only unassailable truth in digital marketing is that change is inevitable. Ten years ago, Yahoo had 66% of all searches and Google hadn’t been invented. Just three years ago, MySpace was the dominant social network in the U.S. Just two years ago, Twitter didn’t exist.
That’s why it’s so critical to consider tools last when developing a social media strategy. Otherwise, you don’t really have a strategy at all, just a short-term tactical plan that will force you to constantly play catch-up as the prevailing technology shifts.
To help you and your clients build a social media strategic plan that’s sound and sustainable, consider the following eight-step process:
â–¶ Step 1: Build an ark. One of the terrific by-products of social media is that it can bring disparate corporate entities together. Make that happen by convening a cross-functional team from marketing, PR, operations, legal, finance, R&D and customer service to strategize and govern your social efforts.
â–¶ Step 2: Grow ears. Use paid or free social media listening tools to determine what’s being said about you and your competitors, where it’s being said and who is saying it. Use this information to inform your outpost selection and humanization plans.
â–¶ Step 3: What’s the point? From a business objectives standpoint, there are only three types of social media programs: awareness, sales or loyalty. Which one is right for you?
â–¶ Step 4: Analyze audience. What are the demographic characteristics of your audience? Age, gender, geography?
How does your audience use social media? There’s no such thing as a social media “type” —not when Facebook has 400 million members. Different demographic groups have proclivities toward different social media aspects, like content creation, status updating, ratings and reviews, etc.
Forrester Research publishes terrific data on this in their Social Technographics reports (www.forrester.com/groundswell). Not everyone is Steven Spielberg and wants to create a YouTube video for your brand. Using their data and overlaying it on your audience demographics, you can determine what assignments might be for your social program.
Step 5: What’s your one thing? Passion is the gasoline of social media, and your features and benefits are not likely to be passion-inducing. Thus, you need to engage in some brand anthropology to find how your company is truly unique. What’s the soul of your company? Volvo=Safety. Nordstrom=Customer Service. Disney=Magic. What do you equal?
Whatever it is, that forms the basis of your social media strategy. Remember, your “one thing” must be found, not intellectualized. Ask your customer service team. Observe your customers in the field.
â–¶ Step 6: How will you be human? Social media is about people, not logos. How can you put a human face on your organization? Can you make an employee the star? Many employees (like Zappos.com?) Maybe your customers are the star? Or your CEO?
â–¶ Step 7: Select outposts. Every social media strategy needs a home base, the place where you prefer your audience to interact with you. That could be a blog, a Facebook page or even your corporate Web site—although that’s not usually the most “social” environment.
Once you’ve decided on a hub, add relevant social outposts where you want to engage with your community. This could be Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and YouTube, but it doesn’t have to be. Use services like Quantcast to match audience characteristics to relevant social outposts and consider how your audience uses social media when picking outposts. If your audience is more likely to be creators (based on the Forrester data), you might implement something like 12 Seconds (a short-form niche site that’s like video Twitter).
â–¶ Step 8: Pick metrics. Measuring social media is the No. 1 priority for CMOs in 2010. Depending upon whether the objective of your strategy is awareness, sales or loyalty, selecting the right success metrics is critical. PRN
CONTACT:
Jay Baer is founder of Convince & Convert, a social media strategy consultancy. Read his social media blog at www.convinceandconvert.com. He can be reached at [email protected].