A Successful Social Media Strategy

A successful social media strategy involves listening, learning and engaging in conversations with your customers. You can do this by reaching out to customers or those who blog about your company. Wherever possible join in on the conversation. Many understand the value of a conversation in social media but there are others who just want to see the metrics (click throughs, page views, web visits). However, the metrics do not tell the entire story, numerous case studies prove that there is true value in the conversations. Many comments reveal ideas and inspiration about ways to improve your product or service. These are essential for the evolution of your brand or service.

1. Social Media Strategy: A social media strategy map helps your business think through objectives, audience, strategy, tools, and measurement to support your organizations communications and Internet strategy. The goal in social media is to build a broader audience and create solid business building relationships. Ultimately, this furthers your influence, creates brand awareness and can take you places well beyond traditional marketing.

Identify the following:
Who: Who am I targeting? Social media is a great way to find strategic partners, create brand evangelists, and identify new venues you may not have otherwise considered. Open your mind to potential connections that may be a few degrees away from you.
What: What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Consider your audience, and shift your mindset. This is not about “what do I want.” Think about establishing yourself as a thought leader, someone who comes to mind when people are faced with an issue.
Ask yourself the following questions:
i. “What does my audience need?”
ii. "What problems can I solve?"
iii. "What value can I add?"
Where: Now that you know who you want to engage in conversation with and what they need, determine where they participate online.

Research which of the ‘big five’ are relevant:
i. Twitter
ii. LinkedIn
iii. Facebook
iv. YouTube
v. Blogging

When: Now that you've identified where you want to go to engage with your audience, you'll also want to consider when they are there. If you distribute content when your audience is not online, your strategy will not be serving you. Research the behaviors of your audience and channels. LinkedIn has confirmed that Monday and Wednesday mornings are when profiles and activity get the most views.

Why: To build my business and make money! Social media is a great way to create and build relationships. Those who succeed in doing so are those who come from a place of authenticity. You can do this with business building in mind, but you need to tap into your deeper why. Why are you in the business you are in? What are your core values, how can you cater your message and content to convey those values. What is meaningful to you in serving others?

2. Social Media Training: Once a strategy is in place, you want to be sure you understand how to use the channels chosen in your ‘where.’ If you are newer to technology or social media in general, it is a good idea to take one at a time. Learn it thoroughly, get used to the rules of engagement and etiquette, and then layer in the others. Trying to learn everything all at once can be overwhelming and result in limited success.

3. Social Media Management Tools: Learn the tools that will help you become more efficient and streamlined. Tools like Hootsuite http://hootsuite.com and Tweetdeck http://www.tweetdeck.com allow you to integrate numerous profiles and schedule content distribution in advance. Tools like TweetAdder http://tweetadder.com help build a Twitter following in a more targeted fashion.

4. Schedule and Time Management: Create a schedule and follow it just like you would with meetings in your calendar.
i. Plan a theme catered to your audience and identify your content around that topic.
ii. Schedule your content using relevant third party tools.
iii. Engage with your audience; focus on 20 minutes or less a day!
iv. Set a timer for 20 minutes each day to devote to social media. Engagement efficiency will come with time.
v. End of week, spend fifteen to thirty minutes looking at metrics, and how they give you insights into how you plan your next week and evolve your strategy.

A solid strategy and planning will help you target, focus, and get online with a clear understanding of how to convey your message and brand in a voice that shares your mission, thereby facilitating the creation of authentic relationships that help your business soar!