Look before you leap!
We still come across companies that have jumped into social media without a clear plan. Most times they’ve registered a few social profiles and then hit what I like to call…’the Great Silence.’ So where do you start? I always work through this checklist when I first sit down with clients.
It’s important to establish that social media is not a ‘quick-fix’ strategy, it’s a fundamental shift in the way that companies and organisations now relate to their audiences.
What are the Social Media outcomes you expect?
It’s now universally accepted that Social Media can…
- aid in Branding & build awareness
- build community around brands & organisations
- extend customer service
- drive leads & sales
- enhance/protect reputation
- lead to opportunities like product development
What do you want it to do for your brand?
Brand Positioning
- Is there a clearly defined brand strategy ?
- How will we integrate social media with other brand/marketing stratgies ?
Start with gaining audience intelligence….
- how much do you know about your audience ?
- what can your current data tell you?
- where does your audience congregate?
- what are conversations already happening around your brand?
- who are the influencers?
- what are your competitors doing?
You’ll be amazed at the social insights you’ll glean when you take the time to listen to the conversation.
Think strategy before tools….
- search strategy
- content strategy
- social strategy
- how do you plan to integrate social with other activities?
- who are the key stakeholders that need to be involved?
While you’re finding out about your audience…
- develop your Social Media Policy
- conduct a social media audit
- assess your social media capacity/resources
- establish staff guidelines, training & support
- set Community Management guidelines
- agree on a process to manage the function
Review your website:
- optimise your landing pages for SEO & social sharing
- QA your website ‘infrastructure’
- review your website ‘community functionality’
Engage your audience:
- embrace consumer empowerment
- set social media objectives
- review objectives & kpi’s
- build relationships not campaigns
- leverage employee participation
Establish a Brand Maintenance Program…
- monitor conversations
- identify influencers, manage critics
- identify trends
- track metrics against agreed to KPI’s
- how will you measure success ?
If you want to add anything to this checklist we’d love to hear from you...