Beware! The Social Media Dog Strategy Mentality
08/15/2010
With over 13,500 views on YouTube, my dog Max thinks he's a social media rock star pup. Shh.. don't tell him there are videos with millions of views and he is at most a blip on the celebrity circuit. It would hurt his feelings.
In all honesty, Max doesn't really care if 13,500 or 13,500,000 viewed his cute video. Max is a dog. Max is not a brand. For him quasi social media star status is good enough bragging rights at the doggy park.
What is disheartening is many organizations/brands have similar, let's call it a "Social Media Dog Mentality" where cute and counting are the extent of their planning process. Tweets and Facebook status updates fly into cyberspace that are little more than "cute" spins from a marketing campaign. Success is determined by the number of likes, followers, connects, comments or views rarely taking spam bots into consideration or if the "right" people are engaging.
A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of speaking at a conference, sponsored by Connuntelligence, about how to build a social media strategy. I presented a 3 phase model that might be helpful to you as you build your social media strategy.
If your organization is new to social media, or if you jumped in without an enterprise direction, I would encourage you to spend some time on Step 1: Align the Enterprise.
Our customers' expectations of how they make purchasing decisions (peer reviews, online conversations with peers and with the people behind the brand) are changing. That change impacts every traditional customer touch point e.g., customer care, sales, marketing. Business units that rarely, if ever, had direct customer contact may find themselves center stage.
Step 1: Align the Enterprise .. Develop the Social Enterprise
Face the Gorillas in The Room, Determine the impact on the enterprise, Determine cultural compatibility, Identify social media champions, Inform all your staff
Step 2: Build the Strategy
Objectives/goals support business outcomes, Conduct social media assessment audit, Conduct industry and competitive analysis, Identify target audience, Ensure Brand consistency, Determine tactics and Content direction, Determine metrics for success
Step 3: Create Awareness
Cross promotional, Social media, Traditional marketing
I'm happy to share the deck with you - below. Thanks to Dorothea Boziconlona-Volpe for her help transcribing the participants' comments about Barriers. @socialespinonage
Puppies are fun and a Social Media Dog Strategy Mentality may be great people talk at meet ups or tweet ups. However, it is not a business strategy. Max sends woofs to you!
Social Media Strategy In 3 Steps
Learn more about Social Media Strategy in my ebook Social Media Marketing GPS and from the companion podcast series, Social Media GPS, sponsored by the American Marketing Association.
