The buzz is all about the buzz. If social media channels are not part of anyone's marketing strategy today, the so-called marketing director should be packing their office and planning for a long retirement away from business.
We're obsessed with social media. That's usually one of the first qualifications on today's job descriptions; knowledge and experience with Facebook, Twitter et. al. On one hand the biggest agencies and brands are touting their accomplishments using social media to extend their reach, create chatter, develop brand advocates and drive revenue. On the other hand there are a number of skeptics who claim that social media cannot be accurately measured, requires a lot of attention (care-and-feeding), and offers little ROI.
Which ever side of the fence you fall on, social media is a factor you need to pay attention to; at least until the next technical innovation. Sure, social media is a valid tool in your arsenal, but just jumping-in wantonly does not a successful campaign make.
To be sure you're getting the most from your efforts, here are a few suggestions that might help reduce the headaches, misfires, and poor results of a social media attempt that has not been thought-out like a typical media plan:
Approach social media channels like any other media outlet, by planning! Too often it's easy to just jump-in and create a Facebook page for your company. "Look, we have a Facebook page!" the director shouts. Great. Now what? Do you have a plan to turn that page into a value-centered hub where your current and potential customers can come back to time and time again? Do you know who those people are, their habits, preferences, attitudes, likes, language, hideouts?
Get your staff and associates to buy-in and participate in social media. "Sure, you believe that Twitter is important, but gee, I've got a million other things to do" your colleagues may say. If they won't help the social media cause (or commit halfheartedly to it) then you haven't done a good job convincing them of the importance of social media. Either get them on the bus or drive on. Social media requires regular, committed, enthusiastic participation. As they used to say with web sites, content is king and that applies to social media as well. Just posting a press release, or tweeting generic blabber will not create a valuable engagement.
Share your vision with your associates. Tell them why you're using social media, and how the value chain works. Show them metrics and results of your social media efforts. Include them in every success story. Provide them with resources to help them easily and effortlessly contribute to the overall social media efforts.
Have proper resources and provide adequate attention. One of the biggest challenges in social media is garnering the proper resources to plan, launch, maintain and monitor your channels. Aligning the resources to give it the proper attention it deserves is critical. Don't make the mistake of treating social media as a "when I can get to it" medium. To me, it's "either you're in it, or you're not" kind of approach. Since you've decided to get in, then treat it as an integral part of your overall marketing plan and tactics.
Have a content strategy. As I mentioned before, if content is king then social media has a huge appetite. You need an enormous supply of content (as well as content editors) in order to fulfill your editorial calendar (you do have an editorial calendar, don't you?) If you're just posting "stuff" as the whim hits you, or putting something out there because your boss told you to, then you've got no plan. Think newspapers (remember them?) just publish sections the day they think of it? They have year-long editorial calendars that plan for seasonal interests, events and such. Your social media efforts should think this same way, as well as capitalize on current topics of community interest, or product relation.
You also need to have already prepared statements and positions on "unexpected" situations so that you're not knee-jerk reacting to something. Are your editorial/content guidelines addressing material that is compelling and offers value?
Speak with one voice. I've worked with many companies and organizations that allowed its divisions to create their own social media platforms. Since social media came to life with early adopters who could create a YouTube channel "on the side" and put content out without any formal process or approval, there are certainly businesses that have a dizzying array of social media outlets that often differ from one another in design, approach, tone, and even content.
Be sure to corral these channels into a single umbrella of style (based on audience type), and most importantly, voice. Establish an overall social media guideline document that contains the "do's and don'ts" as well as an editorial style guide that helps each corporate contributor align messaging across all platforms, and most importantly, with current marketing initiatives.
Link content for consistency and sanity. Remember you are not just publishing your content on one media vehicle. If you're on one, you're probably on many others (including your web site). Save yourself the headache and time. Other than tailoring your content for the media channel's audience, don't reinvent the wheel for each post on each media. What systems do you have in-place to leverage that content across all channels? Do you have a linking strategy that helps support your communication efforts?
Setting the bar low enough. We're still in uncharted waters. Measuring the effects of social media (except in such circumstances as direct couponing etc) can be tricky and downright difficult. Consider your work in social media as a work-in-progress. As with a real-life relationship, it takes time to build friends, trust, engagements and interaction. You have to be doing all things right in order to get traction. All to often businesses and organizations put up a Facebook page and expect thousands of friends. That doesn't happen unless you've got Justin Bieber on your staff.
As well, many social media efforts approach the tactics first, and handle the strategy after nothing meaningful has happened. If you're approaching your social media as part of a campaign, have you done the necessary pre-campaign research? Do you have a plan? Are you executing on it properly, making adjustments as you go along?
Setting the bar lower will not create unrealistic high expectations; either on the part of your upper management, nor your content contributors. If you've never played in the social media pool before, you'll need time to learn and experiment.
Social media takes a lot of effort, despite what appears to be simply sitting at a laptop and pounding out some text. For a successful campaign (short or long term) you need to think of social media as simply another channel that requires thought, strategy, planning, resources and monitoring. Don't fall for considering social media as a stepchild to your "main media" campaigns. Handled correctly it can have a positive influence in your marketing efforts (and we'll figure out how to measure the ROI in the not-to-distant future!)
© 2011 Bob Chernet - View all of Bob's articles at: Bob Chernet's Marketing Best Practices . Reproduction of Bob Chernet's Marketing Insights in any manner is unlawful, without the written permission of the author.
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