Reading your organization for social media
As a marketer or business owner these days, I’m sure you’re inundated by the articles and webinars on getting involved in the social media conversation. Recent headlines include: “Social Media Top Marketing Priority for CMOs Worldwide”, and “Fortune 500 Companies have Room to Grow on Social”.
If you’re working for a company that still has not jumped with both feet in and made a big mark on the social media landscape, there is likely a good reason why.
For many of our clients, it’s often not a question of “Will we” or “Should we” but “HOW will we…”, which is likely one of the reasons there are still 40% of Fortune 500 companies with no presence on Facebook or Twitter.
We work with many consumer facing companies, including pharmaceutical and medical device clients where certain rules must be followed. Even if you aren’t in a regulated industry, it’s worth it to stop and think about how you’re going to get the conversation going with consumers in a way that increases your company’s comfort level with the world of social media.
So, what can you do to get the ball rolling?
- BE FOCUSED. Narrow the field by defining where you should play (at least to get started). While you may feel pressure to be everywhere, a good strategy doesn’t mean your brand should be on every social media venue you can think of. Which ones will best advance your marketing /brand strategy? Where are your competitors focused and where have they been successful? Which ones present an environment which can be managed well within your company’s culture?
- DRIVE EARLY INVOLVEMENT: Bring the key players from legal, regulatory, and other departments into the discussion early so they can understand how you think social media can build your brand, where you’d like to play, and what your competitors are already doing successfully. Seek your peers’ input early and often to leverage their insights and engage them in the process.
- ESTABLISH SOCIAL GUIDELINES for how your company is going to handle the kinds of issues that might be keeping your legal, corporate affairs, or regulatory groups up at night. Ask and answer questions like:
- Will we be in places that allow comments?
- How often will comments be monitored? By who? Will we allow third party monitoring or only internal?
- How and when will comments be responded to? In what case, if any, would comments be edited or removed? If so, who will do this? (a decision tree is helpful here. We can help you develop this.)
- How do you respond to incorrect information? To a product complaint?
- Will you engage with bloggers? If so, how? What legal agreements do bloggers need to comply with?
- Establish and publish a list dos and don’t for employees and third parties
Not thinking through these questions could lead to disastrous results (ala the recent debacle in which Chapstick deleted consumer comments on Facebook).
- THINK AHEAD. Anticipate what content you want to develop and questions your consumers might ask that require your response. For example, if you are on Twitter, you can prepare a list of tweets ahead of time and get legal and regulatory to review and approve so you have a stream of content at the ready.
- DO A REGULAR TEMPERATURE CHECK. You and your counterparts will feel more comfortable if you have a way to measure your impact, especially vs. your competitors. Develop dashboards (updated weekly or monthly) to review the key metrics that your company has agreed to. It’s also helpful to use external, independent measures such as Klout, PeerIndex and Twitalyzer and compare your brand’s scores to your key competitors. For example, the Klout score is made up of 3 components: True Reach (how many people you influence), Amplification (how much you influence them), and Network Impact: (the influence of your network). These third party evaluations can help provide some objectivity and pave the way for future social media engagement.
By taking the above steps you can create the elements to give your company solid footing in the social media landscape right from the start – so it won’t be social media that’s keeping you up at night.
For more information about how Compass Marketing has helped its clients use social media successfully to meet their goals, or to see if we can help you achieve yours, contact me at Lynda@compassmarketinginnovation.com
