It’s fantastic that interest in social media is so high, but I’m alarmed at the number of brands and agencies that are ready to jump into social media to take “advantage” of audience concentration in Facebook, Twitter, and other fast-growth outposts. What’s lacking in most social media programs is an actual strategy. If you don’t know precisely why you’re in social media, with whom you want to engage, and how you’re going to measure success, you’re not ready to start.
I use a 7-step Social Media Strategy Worksheet to create a framework that governs what the initiative aims to accomplish. (You can download the Social Media Strategy Workshop as a PDF here, and use it as much as you like, with attribution).
Step One: Describe the Business
Sounds basic, but if you can’t describe the precise value proposition of the brand in a sentence (without a bunch of mission statement crap-ola), you need to figure that out first.
Step Two: Business Goal
Trying to do too much in social media muddles your message and confuses your fans. You can focus on one goal for a while, and then change objectives later, but don’t try to tackle multiple goals simultaneously. There are only 3 realistic business goals for a social media effort. So pick one of these.
- Brand Ethusiasm. Turning customers into fans, driving repeat purchases.
- Sales. Using social media to create first-time customers or to introduce your brand.
- Loyalty. Decreasing customer churn, improving customer service.
Step Three: Where Is the Audience Cyclically?
Huge segments of your customers and prospects have wholly different relationships with your brand. Some have never heard of you. Others are raving fans. Which are you trying to reach in this program? You need to be specific here because what your target audience already knows about you dictates what you can credibly have a conversation about in social media. Pick no more than two of these:
- Awareness. They’ve maybe heard of you, vaguely.
- Interest. They’ve heard of you and maybe have visited a Web site. No purchases.
- Action. They’ve made a single purchase.
- Advocacy. They are fans of the brand. Frequent purchases, tell their friends, etc.
Step 4: How Does the Audience Use Social Media?
Rolling out a social media program that features a customer photo contest is going to fail spectacularly if your audience isn’t prone to content creation. Using the Forrester Social Technographics Ladder, determine how your audience behaves within social media. You may have to guess on this one a bit, but better yet how about surveying your customers via email and ASKING THEM how they use social media? Pick one or two from among these: Creators, Critics, Collectors, Joiners, Spectators
Step 5: The One Thing
To be successful in social media, you need to distill your brand into the one thing that’s truly interesting, and in most cases it’s not product related. Figure out your one thing, and bring it to life in social media. Social media may be word of mouth on steroids (says Gary Vaynerchuk), but if you don’t give people something intriguing to talk about, they’ll never open their mouths.
Step 6: How Will You Humanize the Brand
Why do consumers love social media? Because it puts them on a more equal footing with brands that have been historically shrouded, impersonal and aloof. If your social media strategy doesn’t put a literal or figurative face on your brand in one or many ways, you’re missing the point.
Step 7: How Will You Measure Success?
Pick three metrics that matter to your company, and measure them consistently and well. Ideally, establish a baseline before your social media program starts. If your business goal is loyalty, you can measure true ROI by focusing on churn metrics. For brand enthusiasm, you can focus on repeat purchases. If you want to get more granular, there are dozens of potential success metrics like share of voice in social media, blog posts and tweets, comments, fans/friends in your social media outposts, etc. I’ll leave those details for another post or experts like KD Paine, but please pick only 3 success metrics. Nobody wants a 27-item results report or dashboard.
Tags: forrester technographics, Marketing Strategy, Social Media, social media marketing, social media ROI, social media strategy
Thanks for the article, Jason. I lead social media efforts at Squeaky Wheel Media and one of the biggest difficulties is getting clients to realize it’s not all about product pushing. There needs to be more on Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, etc. than an ad placement.
Thanks for the article, Jason. This is MOST informative and I’ll be passing this link around to everyone I work with! It’s important to get the basics down first before trying anything crazy with social media – and this explains the steps perfectly! Thanks again!
Hi. Excellent article, but I just wanted to let you know that the link at the end- the one that says “Go To Jason Baer’s Site” is broken. Just a FYI.
As an aspiring social media student, and intern, I found this information helpful, but also very original. Especially the “one thing” step, I have never heard it put that way before, but I will be sure to use it often. Thank you for the advice!
Excellent post and your checklist is a great starter! Thanks
@jacob – Thanks very much. Good luck getting clients to not think about tactics first. It’s hard!
@Erica – Thanks for the kinds words and the pass along. I find it’s not even about crazy vs. non-crazy social media, it’s about knowing why you’re getting involved at all. You wouldn’t buy an airline ticket without knowing the destination, but you see that every day in social media.
@Nathan – Thanks for the heads up. Looks like http was added twice. I’ve asked Marketing Profs to fix.
@Max – Indeed, the One Thing is something that I babble on about a lot, but I find it to be a critical component of social media success. Interesting is interesting. Boring is boring. Facebook and Twitter don’t change that.
@Diva – Thanks so much. Feel free to send the checklist around as much as you like.
You have just described a process that I used in a consulting job this month. You have to start with the ONE THING. Companies often need branding well before they need a social media plan because they don’t know what they are selling.
Jason,
Good steps to take no matter what marketing/communications tools are used.
Great post, Jason. This is very helpful for people (like me) who start new social media projects.
Can you provide some case studies for social media strategies?
I have been working a lot recently on the last of your “must-haves”. One the largest difficulties is to explain that measurable results are not dramatic and not overnight. I’m not sure what is being said in the mainstream, but aside from popular belief, social media is not a get rich quick scheme.
Great Post. Thanks for the information.
Step Five: The One Thing… This is so crucial to remained focused upon. I had an interesting reward earlier when someone in my network recognized how different modes of social media publishing I do were in fact linked and relevant to each other. Constancy painted that picture for him and provided for the eventual “aha” moment. From my perspective, the activity was pertinent toward “the One Thing” so sticking with it paid off.
Love the time and effort you took to bring us this detailed and informative blog.
An enjoyable read, nice work.
This is a very clear concise article, really helpful. I may even forward it to some folks who really don’t get it : )
This is an excellent and keen piece! I recommended this read to all of my colleagues.
The simplicity of following steps is what people overlook — it is good to be reminded of how effectual organization and the big picture can be.
Perfect – thanks! Will share this with others who can use the information, as well.
@francine Exactly. How can you engage transparently before you know what you’re about?
@Jim No question. Social media is blocking and tackling, not an overnight sensation. Post on ROI and long-term value of social media is on my blog.
@Richard I agree that the One Thing is the key to the whole deal. I’m glad you concur
@Karen, @Mark, @Jan – Thanks. Print out the worksheet and send it around. Go for it.
Hi Jason,
Thanks for the great post, you are right about boring is boring and interesting is interesting.Content not only has to be new but interesting as well, and it can be a struggle for the “One Thing” brand to be always new & interesting. That’s the challenge.
Jason: Keep up the awesome work! Your 7 Must-Haves is a great resource for all persons/businesses/etc who are considering social media as part of their marketing strategies. Thanks!
Jason, thanks for the excellent post and accompanying strategy worksheet. I have been working on something similar (the worksheet) and definitely got some good ideas from yours. The “one thing” in particular is something I had not thought about. Bravo.
Jason, great article. I’m responsible for determining our social media strategy at my company and was a little unsure of where to start. Looks like I’ll be talking to management to get our value prop/mission statement/other corporate slogan-type-pieces into ONE sentence before I go any further. Great advice!
It’s great to see a professional with their feet on the ground in Social Media. Too many clients are buying into fluff that does nothing except take up their time and money. Your points are fantastic strategies and common sense rolled into an realistic 7 step approach.
Keep it coming!
Great checklist, Jason… But is it really a SocMed checklist or just, you know… just a good strategy checklist? With the exception of #4, the elements of the “work” you list are all marketing/business/brand workshop stuff – that should be already done long before you even get to the social media discussion, right?
A good first step might also be something like… Should this company/brand even play in the SocMed space? 1. Do they get it? 2. What do they hope to accomplish? 3. Are they willing to truly commit to it? 4. What will be the five most likely reasons they will fail in that space?
Let them do the brand work first, THEN figure out if they are ready for Social Media. If the answer is ‘not yet’, then you haven’t wasted their time. If the answer is ‘yes’ then you can hit the ground running.
Walking into a SocMed discussion with a client who isn’t already clear about #5 and #6 would not be a good start.
This is an AWESOME post! Thank you! I will be recommending it to all my clients.
Cheers!
Thanks for the great post, Jason! I will definitely refer to it when recommending social media to my clients.
I was thinking about social media along the same lines recently and wrote a post about how choosing the right social media space or medium depends upon the message or goals of the organization. (http://myprrevelations.wordpress.com/2009/03/14/medium-is-the-message/).
Great info, Mr. J. Thanks for sharing.
Just have fun and be yourself, that’s all there is to it.
Thanks again.
Keep the faith and keep being YOU!
~Ronald
TrueBeliever & HopeDealer
Excellent article. I like how you suggested use of the Forrester Social Technographics Ladder. I have seen this posted in a few places both on twitter and blogs. Bravo
Nicole
I found this information helpful, but also very original. Especially the “one thing” step, I have never heard it put that way before, but I will be sure to use it often. Thank you for the advice!
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Constancy painted that picture for him and provided for the eventual “aha” moment. From my perspective, the activity was pertinent toward “the One Thing” so sticking with it paid off.
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Jason, Keep up the awesome work!
You have just described a process that I used in a consulting job this month. You have to start with the ONE THING. Companies often need branding well before they need a social media plan because they don’t know what they are selling.
Hi,
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Constancy painted that picture for him and provided for the eventual “aha” moment. From my perspective, the activity was pertinent toward “the One Thing” so sticking with it paid off.
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wow! I love this article thanks a lot for share the knowledge! Im kinda new on the social media so this tips are so useful!
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