Few of us are immune to the buzz factor surrounding technology trends. It’s easy to be intrigued with a new, cool way of doing things without also understanding the challenges or how well it meshes with business objectives.
Too often, new technologies are evaluated by IT folks who are largely disconnected from the practical application. Anyone involved in the high failure rate of CRM tools earlier this decade will tell you it is vital to understand how new technology supports established business processes.
With the current interest in social media, strategy is the watchword. Instead of deploying technology for technology’s sake, marketers need to think about which social media tools fit their objectives and audiences.
1. Know your audience.
The degree to which marketers understand their audience is often a good indicator of marketing success or failure. A factor to consider in developing a social media strategy is whether you have a sound understanding of your audiences’ online usage patterns and behaviors.
How often are they online? What sites do they frequent? Are they most comfortable with unilateral podcasts and RSS feeds, or are they ready for user-generated content?
Marketers often don’t consider the different social media adoption levels within audience segments. By performing customer segmentation analysis with an eye on the level of participation in social media, it’s possible to formulate the right strategy for engaging core audiences.
2. Align marketing objectives with social media tools.
There are numerous social media tools available. The trick is choosing the ones that not only match the preferences of your audiences, but also align with your business goals.
For example, blogs are a great way to generate awareness, drive purchases and provide regular communication. But for those seeking greater branding resonance and new ways to connect with customers, third-party social networking sites provide additional marketing “oomph.” This may include placing ads on sites like YouTube or maintaining a MySpace profile. Or, in the case of Second Life, having a virtual store or sponsoring virtual concerts.
Still others are recognizing a need to develop their own social networking communities–sites dedicated to relationship building and information-sharing with and among their constituents. These sites provide capabilities similar to MySpace, but are under the umbrella of a specific brand. Examples include The Atlanta-Journal Constitution’s myajc.com and the Atlanta Falcons’ Falconslife.com. The sites create true “virtual neighborhoods” for building rapport with readers and fans, respectively. Additionally, they enable these organizations to reach outside geographic boundaries to a broader range of consumers. Such sites typically enable user-generated content and provide content aggregation, media uploading and sharing tools to enrich the user experience, encouraging repeat visits and longer durations of stay.
3. Establish operating procedures
The incorporation of social media into your marketing mix can have profound and sometimes unexpected outcomes. For example, blogs can sometimes yield negative comments by readers. Similarly, the addition of user-generated content tools on a company’s web site can result in the uploading of inappropriate or copyright-protected material.
The two-way nature of social media requires companies to assign a measure of trust to their publics. It also calls for well-defined content moderation and blogging policies.
Occasionally, both positive and negative commentary can appear about your organization on sites other than those it operates or frequents. Even the most conservative of companies ought to develop a social media strategy focused on monitoring and responding to brand conversations in the blogosphere.
4. Identify internal touch points.
Finally, a successful social media strategy requires the active participation of personnel across multiple departments. It’s crucial to solicit input and assess the impact social media deployment will have on other areas, such as sales, customer service, IT and finance. It also goes without saying that executive sponsorship is vital for sustainable social media adoption.
With new technologies, the impulse is often to dive—or at least wade—into the midst. Developing a strategy first will help to deliver a positive return on social media investments.
Bob Cramer is co-founder, CEO and chairman of social media solutions provider ThePort Network.
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