Photo by My TwiStEd wOrLd
I have had so many discussions lately with marketers and PR folks that are practically in a panic about how to engage in social media. Suddenly, their CEO or their clients are adamant that they need to be on YouTube, FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, blogging…. and a host of other activities. They want them to go from zero to 100 miles an hour by Friday. With budgets shrinking and appetites increasing for customer engagement and revenue generation, executives are right to turn their attention to social media. But, it can’t ALL be done overnight if you want it done right. So, here are a few tips:
1. Pick one medium – one form of social media – and do it right. You don’t have to be on every channel. Pick one, commit to it, own it.
2. Incorporate social media into what you are already doing. Can you add widgets to your website to allow people to save, share or discuss topics? Can you expand your profile on LinkedIn or add a button that says ‘Follow Us’ on Twitter to your existing web campaigns?
3. Set Expectations. You’ve read about the runaway successess that companies have had with social media campaigns – you might not. Set realistic expectations and work towards those goals. Once you meet them, raise the bar again.
4. Get some ROI. Make sure you are picking a platform to invest in that is going to give you some tangible ROI (to show your boss). Will it increase web traffic? Sales? Downloads? Registrations? It’s good to listen, engage, and keep the customers happy, but usually the person paying the bills wants something a little more hard core to budget dollars and time against it.
5. Find an expert – in or outside of your organization. If you aren’t sure where/how to begin, find an expert that can help you. You can hire a big gun at a pricey agency, or small guns (like us!) that can be affordable and efficient. Surprisingly, you might just have one in your organization as well – an employee with an active blog, a master networker on your sales team with 1000 Facebook friends, a Twitter addict on your IT team. If you don’t have the budget for outside counsel, use your internal resources or search for free ones on the Web.
6. Collaborate. Putting together any successful social media program usually requires interactivity – with customers and influencers on the outside as well as on the inside of your organization. Check in with legal, take the pulse in IT, talk to marketing and see if you can pool resources and brain power to make it work.
On a final note – don’t let the fear of making a mistake paralyze you from making any progress. If you have good intentions, you’ve done your research and you’ve thought out your strategy, you’ll probably be in good shape. As the wise Rob Key, CEO of Converseon, once said on a panel with me regarding what your social media usage policy should be – “Just Don’t Be Stupid.”
Good luck! Let us know how it goes.
{ 0 comments… add one now }