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

Social Media is the answer … partially

A letter to a future client

Dear Prospective Client,

I’m looking forward to our upcoming meeting and excited to hear about your business and its goals. I’m glad to hear that you are anxious to get into Social Media and that you are willing to try a new approaches.

However, before we meet I would like to be sure we’re all on the same page and not going into this meeting with unlikely, implausible or even impossible expectations. I’d like to talk to you about …

5 Things Social Media Can’t Be

1. A magic bullet. While there are many wonderful tools in Social Media that will help you understand and reach out to customers, employees and/or the community none of them individually or collectively will solve ALL of your business problems.

2. A one- or two-string violin. No matter how many Social Media platforms we agree will help you they will still only be a part of your plans moving forward. We will be looking at integrating tactics in Social Media with some of your existing and traditional customer- and employee-relation, sales and marketing methods. Be assured though, this “multi-string” approach WILL make beautiful music.

3. Left to an intern. To get the best results from Social Media someone in your organization (and depending on its size it may be two or more someones) will need to dedicate time to managing Social Media. While a young intern may understand the tools they likely will need a lot of GUIDANCE on their correct use and the strategy you will be using in Social Media.

4. Cheap. It is true that Social Media tools are usually very cheap or free. However to use them effectively will require a commitment of your organization’s TIME (and other resources) … and well know: Time = Money.

5. Rushed. Setting up shop in Social Media is just the beginning. It should take quite some time for you to work through the steps of Listening, Engaging and then, and only then, Contributing. A small dose of PATIENCE early on can pay big dividends.

Thank you for your interest and I very much look forward to our future successful collaboration.

-- Mike Johansson at Fixitology

Related posts:
10 Commandments for Social Media
10 Things To Watch Out For In Social Media
10 Social Media No-Nos

5 Steps Before Jumping Into Social Media

Thinking before you jump will save you from ending up ‘all wet’

It seems everyone can’t wait to jump into Social Media. And for business this may present a real problem.

Think of Social Media as a giant swimming pool. Now if you have a simple goal of just getting wet, then by all means jump in.

But if you have some real goals and want a return on your time in Social Media you might want to have a plan.

Here’s a checklist of 10 Things To Consider Before You Jump into Social Media:

1. Do you have the support of all the stakeholders? Seems simple, but without buy-in from employees all the way up to the CEO and shareholders you may find yourself spending more time explaining and defending rather than engaging in Social Media. If you get commitments of time and money upfront you can focus on getting off to a good start.

2. Do you have clearly defined goals? Social Media can be a lot of different things to a lot of different users, but one thing it can’t be: A miracle worker. Muddled and confused presences in Social Media will look like everyone behind them does not know who they are and why they are there. Do you, for example, know where your target audience hangs out in Social Media? Take the time to do the research and create a plan (with benchmarks to measure results).

3. Do you know what tools will best suit your purpose? Blogs may make sense if you have someone who is a good writer and has the interest in maintaining the effort. Facebook and Twitter presences could help grow the audience or how about LinkedIn profile where you share something about your business and show off your employees and their skills? The point is: Not all tools make sense for all situations.

4. Do you have the knowledge and skill to do this effectively? The good news: Your organization may collectively “know more than it knows.” In other words there may be people on board who know different aspects of Social Media. Great! But if not then you’ll need to hire some help. You also need to consider who will maintain the effort and who will oversee it.

5. Do you understand the risks? These run the gamut from “What happens if we don’t engage in Social Media?” to “What happens if something goes wrong in Social Media - how will we react?” Will your existing policies on electronic communications be adequate to cover employees and others using Social Media tools? Ask lots of questions.

If any of these questions about Social Media efforts give you cause to pause then you may need to turn to a professional – someone who can guide the process for you: from research and planning to training, implementation and measuring success.

Resources:

Peter Kim writing for Mashable.com on The 22 Step Social Media Marketing Plan

Cory Treffiletti writing the blog Online Spin for MediaPost on The Problem with Planning Social Media (No Problem)

Social Media Academy is an education and research institute whose graduates work in many aspects of Social Media

For some national “heavy hitters” in Social Media see ReadWriteWeb’s postSeven Social Media Consultants That Deliver Tangible Value


Previous Posts
10 Commandments for Social Media
5 strategies to get the Boss into Social Media
Social Media Expertise Is Hard To Find
Social Media disasters

5 Reasons Social Media is Like Sailing

Or why sailors may make the best Social Media consultants!

There are many analogies between pastimes and business, but because I’m a sailor I have been struck by the parallels between sailing and Social Media. I also happen to think that business generally is best-served when sailors – or would-be sailors – are at the helm: they have faith in their skill, their vessel and their ability to navigate even the worst of tempests.

Here then are five parallels between sailing and Social Media for business (you may think of more and I welcome feedback):

1. You can’t control the wind
It is always true: You cannot control the wind, only the trim of your sails and heading of your boat. The winds of public opinion and customer satisfaction are unpredictable and constantly swirling. As a business you need to be aware of those winds and their subtle or not-so-subtle shifts. Social Media monitoring allows the business enterprise to react to sudden squalls of bad publicity and to get the most out of any favorable “winds” of opinion that come your way.


2. When bad weather hits
When bad weather hits … as it assuredly will: You, your vessel and your crew had better be prepared. Davey Jones’ Locker is lined with the boats and crews who set out ill-prepared for sudden changes in the weather. The same will happen to businesses ill-prepared to handle a crisis within their community and their customer base. A professional and rigorous Social Media Plan will help a business know what to do when the sudden tempests hit. It will also allow the “captain” to sleep well at night knowing his business and his “crew” are prepared and have a plan for any eventuality.

3. A well-founded sailboat is a sum of its efficient working parts
Just as a sailboat moves forward through a combination of hull shape, sails, masts and rigging, a business in the Social Media space needs to be about the combination of the right elements to keep it moving forward. A professional Social Media Plan will assess existing strengths, competitive threats and business goals to come up with the correct combination of parts to keep your business sailing forward.

4. The quickest route to port is NOT always a straight line
Like sailing, business in the Social Media world must navigate all kinds of challenges to get to its goals. Along the way there are likely to be winds (customer feedback) and currents (the business climate) that challenge a business trying to get to its port (business goals). The best-laid Social Media Plans will include contingencies to deal with these. Although the course may be less than perfectly straight, the business will get to its goals ahead of its competitors.


5. You can, and sometimes WILL, find yourself becalmed
What do you do if forward motion ceases? What can you do with the time on your hands? This is not something to fear. A thorough Social Media Plan includes a list of “To Do” items that are not pressing, but certainly help make the enterprise if not stronger at least better able to make the most of the next opportunity. Remember that the “calm usually comes right before the storm.” Using it to ready your business is just smart sailing!