Buzz words abound these days – viral marketing, social media etc. The phrase Business Plan is old hat if you were to follow some companies and their strategies. Some companies have not looked at their business plans for months, instead they are pouring all their energies into social media and viral marketing strategies. First of all – businesses don’t run on business plans – I realise this, but at the same time the business plan is a point of reference. All those elements you study – your S.W.O.T. analysis etc. are constantly changing and therefore need monitoring.
Social media strategies are, at the end of the day another plan. Having said that, many companies fail to plan and thereby plan to fail. There are lots of useful tools online highlighting the pitfalls or the “What not to do“. Armed with this information some organisations go half cocked into the realm of Twitter and Facebook etc without a clue. After a period of time, the aforementioned organisation sit back on their laurels, marvelling at the fruits of their labour.
“If a company launches a social media campaign that “they” feel was successful, well then guess what, it was successful; regardless of what anybody else says. As outsiders or observers it is always easier to critique and analyze something, I do this frequently.” This is taken from Jacob Morgan who had an interesting view on this in his blog post “Social media, the obvious and the not so obvious“.
I have to agree with this statement in some respects – I may not be the target of the “conversation” but if I AM the focus of the conversation and I do not feel engaged…………something has gone wrong. Great post on “social objects“ which will hopefully explain where I am coming from in terms of the “conversation” I keep referring to.
So what can an organisation do?
- Have a clear corporate message
- Decide who your audience is (might be worth going back to that business plan)
- Familiarise yourself with social media platforms
- Outline a social media stance across the whole organisation
- Call in the experts and if they are any good they will guide you along the route rather than prodding you with a stick from behind.
- Talk to your customers and THEN decide if the strategy worked.
- “Don’t limit your audience by insisting they pay to see your work. Instead, let your content roam freely online, so it generates as large an audience as possible. Then cash in on your fans’ desire to sport merchandise that declares their allegiance to you.” Wise words from Nic Brisbourne.
View Aoife Ross's profile