A Social Media Game Plan

When you are presented with new options and ideas, do you jump on board or wait and see?

This week I met with a doctor who signed for a Twitter account and yet is not sure what to do with it. Over the years I have met many business people who are avoiding social media for the same reasons. But just because you don't understand it, doesn't make it unimportant.

I am on Twitter. You can find me @ScLoHo. Follow me if you want. I do not automaticly follow everyone back. I have a game plan for using Twitter just like I have a plan for using Blogs, and other internet based resources. I also have a plan for my real-life, face to face meetings and work and networking. And my plans are working the way in the manner that I want them to work.

Coming soon, I will be doing some marketing presentations based on a number of topics and one will include the tools we call social media. In the meantime, I want to give you some food for thought. (Twitter is responsible for this article show up right now on Collective Wisdom. Earlier today, someone that I follow on twitter, wrote a headline with a link to this article.) The article was found here.

These days, I am hearing from many friends and clients who lead various types of businesses that they are being pitched social media strategies from all angles. Their own employees are excited about Web 2.0, and are offering their ideas to management. At the same time, outside marketing consultants are cold-calling company leaders with offers of grand, off-the-shelf social media plans. Often, executives and managers tell me they feel completely overwhelmed with all of the possibilities, and they don’t know where to start.

Unfortunately, I see too many companies start by getting completely ahead of themselves. They are so eager to get “out there” with something related to this hot, new area of communications and marketing that they don’t lay the same solid foundation they would if they were, say, launching a new product or opening a new location. Instead, they are deploying their social media planning in a relatively scattershot way, with little information to guide their direction. Unfortunately, results from such an approach are likely to be just as unfocused and random as the implementation.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. By taking a step back, and spending a little extra time on the front end with a “first things first” approach, companies can reap meaningful benefits from the time, energy and money they spend on their foray into social media.

While the specific tools and opportunities presented by social media may still be unfamiliar to many businesspeople, these same folks are real pros when it comes to smart strategizing in general. It’s those stellar planning and execution skills that put them into corporate leadership positions to begin with. And as it happens, smart, effective social media campaigns benefit from that same thoughtful, executive-level planning process, a process that puts first things first.

The Three Fundamentals of First Things First Social Media Strategy

• Define your goal(s): Ask yourself and your leadership team what specific results you hope to achieve with the resources to be allocated to social media. For one company, desired results might be unaided brand awareness, while for another, it might be all about the number of customers who walk through the door. The strategy should be crafted to produce these results. Without clearly and proactively defining goals, however, your plan can end up a complete misfire.

• Survey the landscape: No businessperson would spend money on a traditional marketing plan without some basic research to guide their execution. Social media implementation benefits from the same preemptive intelligence gathering. A well-implemented social media monitoring plan offers useful data on the online conversation already taking place about a particular brand. Social media marketing and public relations is all about developing authentic relationships and conversations with customers and potential customers. In order to get that two-way dialogue underway, you first have to go where your target demographic already is. By thoughtfully gathering some preliminary information, you will know whether that’s My Space, Google Groups, niche site message boards, Yelp, or Twitter - each of which requires a distinctly different and nuanced approach. Again, this sort of up-front data collection can prevent misdirected allocation of social media resources.

• Work from the inside out: Odds are that many, if not most employees of any given company are already engaged in some sort of social media usage in their private or professional lives. Whether it’s a Facebook or Linked In profile, neighborhood listserv participation, or an employee-authored parenting blog, these pre-existing, internal online networks can either work to a company’s social media advantage or disadvantage. The vast majority of employees want to do what they can to promote their employer’s success and profitability. What these loyal employees need is some validation and specific guidance in best practices (as well as the big no-no’s) in how to conduct themselves while online. By creating an official Social Media Engagement Policy that is clear, reasonable and positive, companies “start at home” with their social media strategies - a smart approach. Not only will such a set of house rules help to prevent unintended public relations snafus by employees, it can also yield tangible benefits. As an example, imagine what a cost effective recruiting tool it could be if a female employee who happens to author a popular mommy-blog on her personal time were to write about her employer’s generous maternity benefits. Voila! Instant and authentic brand evangelism, which is pretty much the holy grail of social media marketing.

These three fundamentals of social media planning can prevent a lot of waste and stress in the longterm. Unfortunately, a lot of companies are feeling pushed to jump ahead of themselves when crafting their strategies, skipping over these important steps.

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