Social media is a medium still in it’s infancy, but undoubtedly will continue to grow and evolve as a platform that is heavily used for expression, information, and communication. This poses a challenge for businesses to determine how to effectively use social media and how to achieve the results they desire. The task can quickly become very overwhelming as there are many different networks to manage which all function a little differently. Here is a list of things to consider when developing your social media strategy so that you can be efficient from the outset and not spread your resources too thin by attempting to conquer too much.
Things to consider when developing a Social media Strategy
- Resources – One of the benefits of social media is the ease of use. Very little technical skill is required to get started in social media which contributes to it’s popularity. Many third party applications are available that make using social media even easier. The main resource that is required to participate in social media is people and time, which can be fairly expensive. The effective use of social media requires regular monitoring and engagement in the community and offering valuable information to others. Many businesses make the mistake of being too sales oriented in their social media efforts which is usually ineffective because it lacks an authenticity that is required for social media success. Social media is about developing trust within the community and indirectly increasing your business through those efforts which leads back to the need for people and time to make that happen. Social media is a significant time investment that should not be underestimated. If only 15-30 minutes per day are allocated to social media, that is simply not enough. Your company must commit the time necessary to adequately participate in social media. Only allowing for a small amount of time will be time wasted.
- Expectations – Setting realistic expectations is probably one of the most difficult aspects of social media. Two questions that must be answered are 1) what your company hopes to achieve and 2) how long will it take to meet your expectations. A myth in social media has been created that causes people to believe that the results are immediate and the response is overwhelming. This is simply not the case. With consistent effort and a clear focus, social media can produce positive results, but if your efforts are concentrated into one hard week of work and waiting for the phone to ring, then you are probably wasting your time. That is similar to extreme dieting and simply is not an effective strategy. It must be clear to your leadership that social media efforts are a long term strategy and not a quick fix and also many times the results are not as tangible as other media.
- Goals – Setting goals for social media can be difficult especially if your goals include lead generation. If goals are loosely defined by such things as “more exposure” or “increased fan base” then those are easier to obtain because they do not have hard numbers. When setting goals for your social media strategy some things that should be included are a defined increase in website traffic, a defined number of leads that should be produced, and a goal of revenue to generate. These metrics are important since resources will be allocated to social media, the ROI of these efforts must be compared to all other marketing efforts to determine future direction. Without clearly defining goals for you social media efforts, it will be difficult to assess how successful your efforts have been and if it is worth moving forward.
- What networks to participate in – The short answer is all of them, but that is a little naïve and unrealistic depending on the resources you have available or are willing to invest. With finite resources as all businesses have, the decision must be made as to which network will give you the most return on your investment which as I discussed earlier, is not an easy metric to measure. The best guide should be determined by your targeted audience and which platform they participate in most heavily. For most B2B companies, this is going to be primarily Facebook, Linkedin and Youtube, with some usage of Twitter and Myspace. In B2C, all five are equally valuable. There are many other smaller networks that can be targeted that are more topic specific. A simple search on Google or Ning.com can identify many of them. So the challenge for business owners becomes how to effectively manage these networks and produce results that make their efforts beneficial. Starting with one or two networks and gaining momentum is your best bet.
- Two way conversation – The ability to broadcast your message to a large number of people is an intriguing aspect of social media and when used properly can be very effective in reaching your target audience. This may include press releases, promotional offers, and just general information. The other aspect of social media is that it allows your audience to speak back to you and sometimes in unflattering ways. Just like every other medium where customers can voice their opinions, it is usually those that are the most unhappy that speak up. This requires the engagement of these people within the social media community and constant monitoring of those communities to identify when opinions need a response. The larger your company and your client base, most likely the more potential for these types of responses. When developing your business social media strategy, consider that there needs to be an understood company response to certain accusations as well as a focused message when using social media to obtain maximum benefit. If social media is not treated as a two-way conversation, you will have a hard time being effective.
The ROI for social media is still very sketchy for both B2C and B2B. There are very few reports from successful social media campaigns measured using tangible data. Success thus far has been measured in statements like “exposure” and “engagement” which are tough to measure and this identifies a lack of strategy and lack of numerical goal setting. Using the list outlined above when developing you social media strategy should lessen the learning curve and ensure that your efforts are aimed at the tasks that will produce the best results.
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