I was in a Barnes & Noble store recently and noticed a shelf area called “Trends in Business.” On it was one book after the other touting the virtues of social media for marketing purposes.
What concerned me was that most of the titles related directly to tools. At least six of them were about Facebook, another six about Twitter, two were focused on blogging, there was one about YouTube, and so on.
This was evidence of a focus that, to me, is unhealthy. Consumers are putting much more emphasis on the “how” and less on the “why” … tactics before strategy. I think that is a mistake. It’s classic putting the cart before the horse. Unless you understand why you’re doing something, it makes little sense to learn how.
Here is an outline I like to follow when speaking to groups about this topic:
- Be aware of the problems that mandate the use of social media.
- Understand the principles underlying its use.
- Determine the purposes by which you need to use social media.
- Implement a plan of action.
- Decide on the practices (tools) to be used.
- Never forget that social media is about people first and foremost.
Though not following this outline explicitly, this slide deck explains my thoughts in greater detail: The Digital Handshake: Proven Strategies to Grow Your Business Using Social Media.
I admit to re-examining my approach to see if it can be a bit more tactical in orientation while working on the strategic aspects. I’m convinced, however, you can’t have one without the other.
How about you? Do you think a focus on tactics at the expense of strategy is a mistake? Is there an undue emphasis on the tool set at the expense of the mindset?
Tags: Blogging, Facebook, internet, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy and Tactics, Twitter
Couldn’t agree more. There’s an epidemic of tactics getting thrown out there with little rhyme or reason. If I asked the person executing these things why they were doing what they do, 9 times out of 10 they couldn’t give me an answer worth repeating. If there were ever a time where thought should proceed execution, this is it.
Hi Paul,
Very good pointers. It’s always most tempting to say let’s create a Facebook Fan Page and the Fans will come. Reminds me of the earlier days of the .com when it was – let’s create a web-site and traffic will come. Tools are aplenty. But the why (are we doing this), then the what (actions) and then how (what tools, and the ROI monitoring and measurement) are critical to drive impact in the market.
Nelson
Thank you for sharing this. Great structure also in the slideshare presentation.
People first. Companies choosing strategy before tactics also should think deeply about their current practice of setting policies for employees. Involve ‘Corporate Communication’ and ‘Internal Communication’ departments. First slide of such meetings should be a Robert Frost quote: “Before I built a wall, I’d ask to know what I was walling in our walling out”
Dulk: I love you for quoting Robert Frost here, and so appropriately. You just made my day.
Yes, yes, yes, Paul! There’s an undue emphasis on the tool set at the expense of the mindset. Almost every organization I ask tells me that they don’t have a social media strategy in place – but they’re doing the tactics anyway! I’m linking to your post and Slideshare presentation in my next newsletter. Thanks.
Thanks Elaine. I appreciate the link love.
Paul, of course you are correct, in theory. In practice not so much. Small business owners, the ones that make up the largest audience who buy those books, don’t create formal marketing strategies. They have the strategy in their heads. As professionals, we would tell them to write the strategy down or better yet hire a pro (us) to help them. Most of these business owners don’t have the time to create their own strategy nor the capital to hire professionals to help them. When they do hire professionals they want action (results) and cannot afford to pay for both strategies and tactics. They expect that the people they hire will add some strategy in with the cost of the tactics and that is exactly what happens.
You stated “Never forget that social media is about people first and foremost.” That is true about all marketing. We market to get people to buy something, do something or think something we are promoting. So marketing (and all it parts) is manipulative in nature. When we apply marketing to social media there is a tendency for some “Guru’s” to forget that the purpose. Social media marketing is not just about engagement, at least in the way many would espouse, it is also about presenting information that helps the consumer make a buying decision.
If you are a big company and have the resources to hire professionals to help you build a solid strategy I whole heartily agree. If you are a small company and have very limited resources you won’t be able to create a formal strategy and simple one, written in your mind, will have to do as you concentrate on tactics.
I wonder how many marketing professionals who are reading this blog actually have a formal marketing (written) strategy?
Paul Social Media, for that matter all marketing is a messy affair. One approach does not work for all companies. Even we pros are still learning and I believe there are no “Gurus” but rather we are all students. Granted some of us have been at it longer than others, but we all still have a lot to learn. I created a group on Linkedin SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IS MESSY. If you want to get into the mud come join us.
Paul, you always write blogs that get me thinking. Thanks for keeping the neurons active.
Happy to oblige Harry. Your comment got my neurons firing as well. I hear what you’re saying regarding small business, especially small-small business. My mother has been in business for 40+ years and I’m sure she has never drafted a business plan. And, you’re correct, in that small business people need something more direct and actionable than a full-blown, strategically-influenced marketing plan might provide. (Cut to the chase in other words.)
That’s why I plan to develop some informational products (ebooks/whitepapers) as part of my service offering under the Social Media Handyman brand that will provide small business the information they need at a very reasonable cost. In fact, if I can get a company to sponsor the series, small biz folks with get it for free.
As to social media being more person-centric than other forms of marketing, I hold to that. So many other marketing channels turn people into nothing more than numbers. There is no personal interaction, no building relationships, etc. Social media is a return to the “corner grocer” relationship as Toby Bloomberg puts it. Therein lies its power from a business perspective.
Paul, I think the emphasis on tools is that the tools are easy to use. Anyone can set up a Facebook page or a Twitter account and start filling it with links. It’s even easier than setting up a website!
Strategy, conversely, is not easy. The commenter above gets right to the heart of it when he asks how many marketers have a formal, written marketing strategy in place. I would bet not many. When you get out of the realm of professional marketers and into the realm of small business owners, I’m sure the percentage is even lower. There’s a definite air of throwing anything at the wall that might work and seeing what sticks, particularly in this economic environment.
What professional marketers should bring to the world of social media is an insistence on strategy and planning before tools and tactics. It’s good old-fashioned brand worksheets, target markets and marketing mix before jumping with two feet into latest trend. Oh, and the willingness to tell some businesses that social media is super fun, but might not be the way to improve the bottom line.
Thanks Alison. Great points you make. Where small biz is concerned, perhaps there is an approach that can integrate strategy while putting the upfront focus on tactics. I’ll have to give that some thought.
Paul –
Great points – I agree wholeheartedly – hence the “Why” in my company’s name. I’ll go a step further – too many people don’t even understand the “what.”
When I work with small businesses, I find that more often than not, they don’t have a strong understanding of the various media – the “what” – to make appropriate strategic or tactical decisions about digital marketing. Without the really understanding the “what” any discussion of “why” and “how” isn’t very useful, and usually results in wasted time, energy and budget.
As practitioners we need to remind ourselves that most everyone else does not have our in-depth understanding of the media, its history, or utility. We need to make sure we establish a strong foundation before we start to build the why or the how.
All questions should be put on the table. All are fair game — Who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Paul – adding to the mix; when working clients I often pose three questions:
1. What are we trying to achieve? (objective)
2. Why will we be successful? (strategy)
3. How will we implement the strategy to meet the objective? (tactics)
Question #2 creates the most interesting discussions – as any good strategic planning should. No tactic can answer the ‘why’ question, so they all get tabled until there is a better understanding of what solution has the best chance of satisfying the needs of some segment of the market in order to fork over cash (the usual objective).
When a tactic is mentioned, the follow-up question should be: Why will [insert tactic here] increase sales? If there is a good answer, then it is considered; if not, then there’s more work to do.
Those are the same questions that have to be asked when considering any marketing strategy. We’re coming to the realization that social media is another channel, albeit a very powerful one, to which this applies.
I would add a supplemental question to #2. That is, what does success look like in terms of metrics.
Paul,
Although I always counsel business leaders to think before they act, many entrepreneurs are known for the “Ready, Fire, Aim” approach. I think this is true for many reasons. One of which is they see someone else who is successful with certain actions and then imitate the actions without a clear understanding of why.
Another factor is time. Most business leaders watch trends closely, and often they decide to ride the wave. They get in as soon as possible because they perceive that being the last one to join a trend gets little competitive advantage. This causes trends to be larger and faster. Some people are afraid that by the time they have everything understood, the trend will have passed.
The speed and magnitude of decision making results in illogical behavior. More and more I see businesses that take many semi-random actions, find one that works, then calls it a strategy.
I’m also guilty of taking that approach. I think it’s true of most anyone with an early adopter mentality.
Hi Paul: This is an interesting post and even more interesting comments. I love it when that happens…
In general, I agree with you. Knowing the Why before the What and How and Where (and everything else) is important, and having a sense of what success will look like is equally critical. I think even small business can manage that… whether it’s written in a document somewhere or perhaps only in the entrepreneur’s head.
But that said, social media platforms and tools evolve so quickly — where does that leave experimentation, if everything is rooted in strategy?
For example, I started on Twitter 2 years ago thinking it was the stupidest platform on this planet (and perhaps the entire solar system). MarketingProfs (a small business) had zero strategy there… because it wasn’t clear (to me anyway) whether Twitter was valuable at all. But I slogged it through those painful few months — like a lot of us — and eventually the bulb went on over my head (again, like a lot of us). In that case, the strategy came later. (BTW: I’m in a similar place right now with Foursquare. I’m hearing about the potential, but I’m not there yet in terms of seeing its value for our business.)
So what about experimentation? What about wading in and understanding the possibilities first?
I’m not minimizing the need for experimentation. I believe few of us have the luxury of affording time to devote to it. That’s why, in my book, I stayed away from covering too many of the more avant-garde tools in favor of those that had some degree of precedent behind them (although it could be argued the chapter on micro-blogging did fit that mold).
Most of the people I deal with fall into a late majority category. Many of them are still struggling with blogging, for example. Plus, they’re small businesspeople with little time to experiment. That’s why I do what I do. Experimentation is part of my job. I try to find the business case, cull the bad from the good, and share that information with them.
While, with this post, I paint a picture with an azure sky, in reality it does come down to a mixture of both — strategy and tactics intermingled. As Calvin said, “Ready, Fire, Aim!”
Bravo!
This is a discussion that has been lacking in the social media world. As a traditional marketer before becoming a social media marketer, I’ve always focused on objectives first, followed by strategy, then tactics. It’s not only small businesses that don’t always remember that, but larger ones too. That has been my rallying cry in my blog posts over the last few years.
On the other hand, there is a point to having a strategy of “being there first”. Like Ann, I joined Twitter two years ago, not quite sure exactly what I was going to do with it. But having been involved with a new media start-up (Green Options) and seen how a few big players on Digg and Stumbleupon could drive massive amounts of traffic, I knew I wanted to get on Twitter and be at least somewhat of a player before it became impossible to be visible at all. This is of course, a tried and true strategy of internet start-ups – just get there, figure out how to make money later.
And, this strategy of “being there” is not so foreign a concept in the traditional marketing world either! Think Superbowl ads. I spent several years and several million client dollars working to develop a presence in Disneyland – was it strategic at the time? Could we calculate ROI? Well no. But it built brand image.
Most of my clients have already established a presence on the major social media sites. They hire me to figure out what to do with them. – that is get strategic and align them with their marketing plan in their proper role as a tactic. Which doesn’t mean I don’t also advise them to brainstorm and grab names as they would domains on emerging sites even if they can’t quite figure out what to do with them!
Maryanne,
I think you’ve struck the balance that exists between the ideal and the real. There is certainly advantage to showing up (was it Woody Allen who said showing up is 90% of life), then figuring out how to wrap your arms around it strategically.
I think my ultimate point is that we can’t forsake strategy, even if it comes later rather than first. Objectives > Strategy > Tactics…that applies to social media as well as to traditional forms of marketing and I’m glad we’re at the stage where such thought process is being applied in this realm.
For years, we didn’t really know what to do with social media. Now, we’ve peeled back the onion enough to understand some semblance of its value, both from a brand-building, PR and ROI perspective.
Some time ago I said 2010 would be the year social media shows up in terms of its efficacy from a business standpoint and that’s happening. To cite one example, there is much talk about measurement. People like KD Paine have gotten a firm grasp on how best to do that.
I think 2011 will be the year when social media becomes a no-brainer, just part of the marketing mix.
Who are YOU talking about Paul? All you vaguely reference is “consumers”.
Is that the trained Internet Marketers that are looking to brush up on some new tactics, maybe get a new bullet or two for their holster?
If so, how is that “unhealthy”?
Is it the large small business, whos CMO is browsing the shelves of B&N to undterstand the tools the tools and technologies that the consultants are preaching to them?
If so, how is that “unhealthy”.
Is it the small business owner who has contacted an online marketing consultant or company and realized they can not afford the service, but are determined to learn about it themselves to see if they can impliment it to increase traffic?
Is that “unhealthy”?
Is about “traffic” right Paul? Bottom line is getting traffic to your site.
I mean really, besides looking at the binds of the the books as you stroll by with your decaf latte… if you open the books and read them, most are very good on explaing the “why”. Please give a specific example of a book you read recently that did not cover the”strategy” as well. I have read most of them cover to cover, and I cant find one. Your post to me seemed to be just meeting some quota you had. My apologies if this comes off rude, I was just reading throught all the mindless comments and thought I would say what nobody else seems to see…I wanted to actually contribute to you, give you so REAL feedback, so you know that some of us actually read and try to make sense of the words.
Substance. or as John Jantsch calls it, ‘Remarkable Content”. Content you want to pass along to others so they know this too. Content is what gets you noticed and keeps them/us coming back. If you are writing for the sake of SEO and pushing your own agenda or to make some quota for Marketing Profs, then stop writing, but if you really care and want to share some valuable insights, at least make it worth something to the reader. Give us a tip, something we might not know but only an experienced veteran in online marketing (like you right?) would know…or something we can use that is valuable….something Remarkable!
My time is VALUABLE and I feel like you just wasted it.
First, Tom, thank you for your comments. Your points are well-taken. Second, I’m sorry I wasted your time. Third, thanks for your passion. I’ve not had such a strong opposing viewpoint in quite some time. It’s refreshing, frankly.
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