When was the last time that you heard, "We have to do something in Social Media!" come down from your
manager, or from your manager's manager? Then you turn out to be the one tasked with figuring out exactly what
they mean. But when it comes down to it, "Social Media" is just the buzz word,
and what you're really being asked to figure out is the "who, what, when, why
and how?" of Social Media.
But where do you begin? You're fairly familiar with Web 2.0
tools such as blogs, wiki's, forums and other tools to increase interaction and
content within your site, but where do you begin with Social Media? First, you need to take a few steps back in order
to figure the answers to those "who, what, why..." questions out.
Take a Step Back
Now that you are tasked with this undertaking, where do you
begin? The key is to understand what is driving the interest. Is it "because
everyone else is doing it." Is it to drive sales and revenue? Are you being truly honest with yourself and
wanting to drive this initiative to engage with your audience? Or is it all of the above? Figuring out the
answers to these questions from "the powers that be" is important to ensure
that your undertaking will drive the results that are being expected.
Now that you are tasked with this undertaking, where do you begin? The key is to understand what is driving the interest. Is it "because everyone else is doing it." Is it to drive sales and revenue? Are you being truly honest with yourself and wanting to drive this initiative to engage with your audience? Or is it all of the above? Figuring out the answers to these questions from "the powers that be" is important to ensure that your undertaking will drive the results that are being expected.
Internal Assessment
I believe that this is one of the most important aspects of
your strategy to ensure that you start your project off on the right foot and
not repeat past failures. You likely already touch your customers/employees in
some way/shape/form. Whether an email
blast with links to your intranet, or a newsletter out to your customers, you're
touching your audience in some way. Who is in charge of this? Is it currently
working? What are you getting out of those touch points, and how can you
leverage them? Meeting with the proper stakeholders to brainstorm how existing
avenues can be leveraged is a great starting point.
Granted that this is just the tip of the iceberg when you
talk about Social Media and an Online Community strategy. But it is of utmost importance that you begin
with these two simple areas so that you can focus on your goals, understand the
reasoning behind them, and ensure that you do not duplicate past failures and
leverage current successes.
Is this where your plan/strategy begins?
I think your social media strategy has to start with a discussion about what you want it to accomplish, as you noted. Until you understand where you're going, you can't possible identify the best path to get there.
When we work with our clients, we talk about the benefits of using social media and try to help them understand how it can benefit their business specifically. Once they start to see the light, we work on building their strategy.
Too many people see social media or social network and immediately think of Facebook. In reality, I guess what I'm saying is that SM needs to start with an education of what SM really is.