Social Media Strategy

Social media channels can be used strategically to address business, marketing and communication challenges.

Manage communities

•Create, lead and guide communities•Use existing platforms like www.facebook.com•Or create your own www.ning.com

Improve customer service and support.

Respond to customer queries in the social space.

Manage online reputation by responding to social mentions (positive or negative) and owning searches on your brand name.

Consider SEO - Social Media provides additional assets to be optimised.

Social Media offers two-way communication

It offers quick responses and up to date information.e.g.http://status.twitter.com

Social Media offers advertisers:

•Targeted adverts•A platform where users spend a lot of time•Different options for small businesses and large organisations

Facebook offers:

•ASUs (Ad Space Units) on a CPM (cost per thousand impressions) or CPC (cost per click) basis

•Or Facebook Engagement Ads which are bought on a CPM basis with a minimum spend threshold

Twitter offers:

•Promoted Tweets•Promoted Trends•Promoted Accounts

Advertising options start at $5 000 US per month. http://business.twitter.com/advertise/start.

YouTube offers:

•Promote Your Video (PYV)•Brand channels

www.youtube.com/t/advertising_overview

Linkedin offers:

•Self service adverts

Selecting a target audience: job title, job function, industry, geography, age, gender, company name, company size, or LinkedIn Group. www.linkedin.com/advertising

Add a social layer to a commercial experience to generate leads and sales.

e.g. Levi’s Friends Store http://store.levi.com/

Understand more about your market, or your brand or product.

Use:

•ORM tools to track mentions and sentiment•Social network ad planners to give you rich information about your market

Consider the risks and challenges when creating a social media strategy.

What if no one cares?

Make sure you interact where your customers are.

They should be happy to hear from you.

What if there are only unhappy customers?

Use it as an opportunity to fix problem areas.

What about the up keep?

Budget the time required to make the strategy a success.

How do I measure the impact?

Start by measuring things that are easy to measure. Watch out for case studies!

Planning is key

Consider conversations

•Around your brand, industry and competitors•Where do they take place?•Who is doing most of the talking?

Ask:

•Where should your brand be?•What groups already exist?•Who are potential brand ambassadors?

A Brand Ambassador is passionate and positive about your brand.

He can’t stop talking about it.

e.g. The Coca-Cola Facebook Fan Page: www.facebook.com/cocacola

Social Media objectives should be in line with overall business strategy.

•What do you want to achieve?•By when?•How will you measure success?

Create an Action Plan and implement it!

Don’t forget to track, analyse and optimise.

Use:

•Web analytics•URL shorteners•ORM software•Social media dashboards

Put guidelines in place. Build on existing documentation: brand and tone of voice guidelines, PR policies, etc.

Start with the Social Media Checklist

Create community guidelines. Set the tone but keep them friendly.

Look at:

Flickr: (www.flickr.com/guidelines.gne)

YouTube: (www.youtube.com/t/community_Guidelines)

The Guardian UK:(www.guardian.co.uk/community-standards)

Create a conversation calendar

Use it to:

•Plan•Report•Maintain momentum!

What if several people interact on behalf of the brand?

Create an escalation protocol

Include:

•Anticipated messages and standard responses•Escalation channels•Contact details etc.

Remember there is market data available to you, just take a little time to find it!