Friday, October 23, 2009

Questions Are Recipe for Social Media Success

Some key ingredients will help you cook up a great plan

If you want Social Media to be part of your recipe for business success perhaps you need to think like a great chef.


Celebrity chef Bobby Flay knows a thing or two about the ingredients of success:

“Cook ingredients that you are used to cooking by other techniques, such as fish, chicken or hamburgers,” he says. “In other words be comfortable with the ingredients you are using.”

Social Media is no different. You need to be comfortable with the ingredients you will put into your SoMedia plan.

How do you get there? By asking questions that lead to a better understanding of your real Goals, Strategies and Tactics for Social Media.

To get started you might consider these questions as a path to cooking up a plan for Social Media success:

Goals:


  • What are my overall business goals?

  • What are customer goals?

  • Which of my goals makes sense for a hands-on Social Media approach?

  • Are some of these goals best served by traditional media?

  • Why are we going into Social Media?

  • Which aspects of Social Media fit our culture?

  • Are we OK with Social Media taking time?

  • Can we be good Social Media citizens?

  • What will Social Media success look like?

Strategy:

  • Who will we listen to?

  • When is the appropriate time to join a conversation?

  • Who will we talk to?

  • How will we earn trust?

  • If we earn trust … then what?

  • Who will we help?

  • How will we help others?

  • How will we handle any kind of problem?
  • What will we be known for or remembered for?

Tactics:

  • Will we try a single platform? Or multiple platforms?

  • Will we have a single Social Media champion? Or multiple users?

  • Will our presences be heavily branded?

  • What personality will each presence have?

  • Will different platforms have discreet purposes?

  • Can we commit the appropriate time to this?

  • Can we be transparent?

  • Can we accept ALL kinds of feedback?

If these questions give you cause to pause before rushing into the Social Media kitchen that may be a good thing. But when you do answer many or all of them you will have the basis for a plan (recipe): Bon appetite in Social Media!

Related Posts
5 Steps Before Jumping Into Social Media
10 Commandments for Social Media
5 Really Useful Sites for Social Media Newbies

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