Has your company embraced social media with Twitter, Facebook or YouTube profiles yet? Even if your marketing department hasn’t engaged audiences in social media channels, chances are your company’s name and brand are already out there in some form of user generated content by employees, customers, critics and/or fans. By now most marketers should understand that companies cannot exert full control over their brands, but what you can do is create a social media strategy to maximize opportunities and minimize risk to your brand.
Establish a Social Media Strategy
With all of the attention being paid to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, it is tempting to open profiles on all of the popular social networks, however it is important to think through a social media strategy first. It is also critical to keep in mind that you do not control the message. This is not a one-way form of communication and if an organization is not comfortable or equipped to deal with the possibility that people will manipulate and challenge their information and media, you need to think twice before jumping to social media channels.
1. Research and think through your audience, objectives, tactics, tools and metrics. Who do you want to reach and why? How do you plan to engage them? How will you measure success?
2. Investigate how your target audience is currently using social media channels. Are they being used for entertainment value, communicating with friends and families, researching employment opportunities, etc.? Is this the right channel to engage them? What are the best social networks to reach them on?
3. Once you’ve determined your objectives for engaging in social media, figure out whether or not the branded messaging your company wants to communicate has any value to participants. Understand that with social media, organizations need to give value to participants before expecting anything in return.
4. Create a social media map. Inventory the current social media groups/pages that your company is affiliated with and determine where the gaps are and who would be best to maintain responsibility for these groups. It is important to keep in mind that there is an organic, unrestricted nature to these groups, and mandating participation to reluctant parties will result in poor experiences.
5. Allocate sufficient resources to manage and maintain a presence in these social media channels. There is no use in asking participants to follow you on Twitter or join a Facebook group if you cannot offer fresh content, respond to questions and engage in a dialogue with participants. Commit resources and time to be successful or you may end up harming the brand and risk alienating participants who have signed up to engage in a relationship with you.
6. Track and measure the results of using social media. If you do not have the capabilities internally, look to an agency partner that can offer their expertise. Ensure the metrics roll up to objectives that are relevant to the social media channel.
7. Create a social media policy for your company. It is prudent to outline a social media plan and policy to ensure that employees understands what is acceptable conduct and content to share when they are representing an affiliation with your brand.
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