How would we develop and execute a Social Networking Strategy Map? What might the media components be and how would we implement them and measure success or failure?

Some people may say there are seven steps to the media strategy while others would say there are ten steps. For instance, a person might list corporate acceptance of the media strategy as a step … we’ve assumed the corporate guys are on the Social Media bandwagon. For this discussion let’s use twelve steps. If you want to break the plan down to more granular stages; have at it.

Let’s get started outlining our media strategy; here are the steps:

1. What’s the point of our Social Media Strategy?
2. Why Social Media in the first place?
3. What people-types do we want to engage in conversation?
4. What Social Media Channels will we use?
5. What are the channel participants talking about today?
6. How can we add to the conversations already underway without being over promotional?
7. How will we involve people?
8. Who will maintain our Social Media presence?
9. What is the length of our commitment?
10. Can our company culture adapt to the demands of Social Networking?
11. How does Social Media fit into our overall Marketing/Communication Plan?
12. How will we measure success? Failure?

What’s the point of our Social Media Strategy?

If the reason for adopting a Social Media Strategy is because the competition is using that tactic. Or because, “Hey! we’re cutting edge” then the strategy is built on a pretty shaky foundation. Better reasons would be to boost brand awareness & engagement, customer locality, and revenue generation. These are goals that we can measure.

Try not to put too many demands on the Social Media Strategy if this is the first foray into this venue. The more complicated things are the harder it will be to clearly measure how the strategy is working.

Why Social Media in the first place?

Answer these questions, are our “ideal” prospects using these social media tools, is this the best way to spend our marketing dollars, will we receive a greater return on our investment using social media, are we trying to generate word-of-mouth about our products or services or listen in on what our customers are saying? The same investigation needs to be done as when defining the internet watering holes where your “ideal” prospects hang out.

What Social Media Channels will we use?

Some social channels require immediate interaction. One “tweet” per week just won’t do it. Others using that channel will quickly understand your commitment is not serious. Blogs and networking sites do not require an instance response and might better work into how the company operates. Take the time to understand how the various media channels work and what demands they will put on time and resources.

What people-types do we want to engage in conversation?

There needs to some “intel” gathering at this point to understand who the participants are in the social group you’re contemplating on joining. Are the participants technoids, engineers or C-level people? Are the conversations underway sales related or marketing focused? Don’t join just to be in the group. Play the role of an observer until you know whether or not the group can benefit by your membership and or there is potential revenue to gain. This last part of the previous sentence would not sound so cold and capitalistic; if it said whether there is revenue to be gained or not, hopefully the group will benefit by you’re being a part.

What Social Media Channels will we use?

Some Social Media channels require more attention more often. For instance, if a presentation were uploaded to SlideShare.com the bulk of the work is complete. The presentation sits there until some visitor keys in the tags (marketing, lead generation, lead nurturing) that were used when the slide show was uploaded. Think of this as a trolling exercise looking to snag some strippers as they swim by. Other media channels involve conversation such as Twitter. You get 140 characters to converse with your followers or the global Twitter audience at large. Twitter demands more attention. When people send out questions (tweets) they’re looking for immediate answers. Think of a person walking across a parking lot heading for an electronics store. He tweets; can anyone recommend a good digital camera? Five followers reply. Those that reply hours later are probably too late. The purchase has already been made and the camera is already in action. On Twitter timing is everything, perhaps it’s the only thing.

What are the channel participants talking about today?

I belong to a group on LinkedIn.com titled; Internet Marketing. Some might say the title is too general while others would say it’s right on target. Let’s see. It depends what type of conversation you’re looking for in the group. Here are six titles for discussions currently ongoing in the group:

• 1. Headline Writing: Four Essential Attention Grabbing Elements
  2. Article Marketing Finally Exposed
  3. New Year’s Resolutions: The I’ll Start in January Syndrome
  4. The Truth About Pre-launches & Ground Floor MLM Opportunities Exposed
  5. Successful Time Management Strategies
  6. Twitter Marketing: 8 Simple Steps to Follow

As we can see the six people who started these discussions all have a very different idea of what should be talked about in a group focusing on “Internet Marketing”. This is one good reason for being an observer to the group until you believe there will be value in joining.

How can we add to the conversations already underway without being over promotional?

Don’t think by this statement that all social media people do is try to sell each other something. There are certainly plenty of social groups that were created for just that reason; being social, plain old friendly conversation. There are Good Samaritans in most social media groups, people who like to help other people. For instance, a successful entrepreneur might like to spend time giving other entrepreneur novices a hand up. Some companies launch social media apparatuses to strengthen their branding or shore up customer care. Think about what value can we add in terms of knowledge, opinion or content? Then we come to those that know what buyers will surely do; buy. So why not buy our solution? It’s an admirable goal; but do the solicitation with grace and panache. Don’t join a group and launch six discussions that masquerade as information subjects while the intent is to sell something. The other members are bound to get upset and withdraw your group membership. And because members usually belong to more than one group, your name will be passed along and everyone will know what you’re up to.

How will we involve people?

If you build it they will NOT come. That’s the way things work on the internet. Just because someone puts up a blog does not mean visitors will start flocking to it to read the latest post. Visitors need to be drawn in. It’s no different than opening a retail store in a new location. How will people know the new store is open for business? Advertising, that’s how. So the questions are, “how will visitors be engaged in the social activity” and “is there a budget to make that happen?”

Who will maintain our Social Media presence?

Building a Social Media presence takes time – it just won’t happen. Don’t assign the task to people who are too busy or who have little to do. The best fit is someone who already has a social bent. The marketing team can feed the social individual or individuals brief, concise, compelling content to converse with. The goal here is not to keep someone texting all day or visiting social sites to see what’s happening. The Social Media Strategy is to generate brand awareness or revenue or both.

What is the length of our commitment?

When someone starts a blog the readership thinks the blogger will be there forever. Forever is a long time. How long will the company commit to the media strategy. Is it just for a specific product launch or a mainstay of the marketing/communication plan?

Can our company culture adapt to the demands of Social Networking?

A Social Media Strategy fits a nibble business much better than it does an organization that needs to have endless discussions about things. Social Media is happening now … all around that organization as it meets. If the company is not talking to their customers the competition is or surely will be. Can the business react quickly to a situation that needs attention? If someone slams the company’s product will the company respond and how? Or will they overlook it? Circumstances such as these need to be mapped out ahead of time; the company cannot answer the claim weeks later. The die is already cast. What the person said about the product is now part of that product’s lore never to be erased. It would be good for most companies to produce a series of Social Media Guidelines … this is what we talk about online … this is what we avoid talking about … this is how we answer that question. The ones involved in the Social Media Frontlines must understand the company’s value proposition, brand promise, elevator pitch and target audience segmentation. These talking points will be weaved throughout the online discussions.

How does Social Media fit into our overall Marketing/Communication Plan?

The Social Media Strategy cannot exist by itself. It must be part of the company’s overall marketing/communication plan. There needs to be cross-platform integration. The media messaging must support the other marketing pieces and vice versa. The clients or customers must hear a consistent message.

How will we measure success? Failure?

What success metrics will be developed? Will we succeed based on the number of leads generated, the number of comments or subscribers to our blog or the number following us on Twitter? What constitutes failure and what will we do about it? In the Social Media space a lot of people get excited about numbers. As long as those numbers stand for the new revenue generated then all is well.

I hope this help in deciding whether Social media makes sense to your organization Good Luck! I’ll see you online.