Developing A Social Media Communications Strategy

When developing a social media strategy there seems to be a tendency for managers to turn straight to the social channels they’ll be using ! should we start with Twitter or Facebook, or should we create a blog? This is the worst possible way to develop strategy; indeed it’s not strategy, it’s tactics :)

Strategy development for social media should be informed by demand analysis of customer channel adoption and the commercial potential of the approach. Customer adoption of social media channels will vary according to customer segments and markets. So it’s important to start by completing a marketplace analysis to see which social platforms and engagement techniques are most effective for the target audience.

Next, the commercial benefits of social media need to be reviewed and goals defined. Some marketers will see social media primarily as a way of gaining new customers through the viral effect of social media as existing customers or contacts discuss or recommend your content or products. For others, the benefits may be centered more around how recommendations, reviews and ratings can increase conversion rate. Public relations specialists will want to listen to the conversations for positive and negative sentiment about brand and then seek to manage this by increasing the positives and managing the negatives.

Finally, social media can be viewed as a customer engagement and retention tool.

Cheers (Team Expertek US)
www.expertek.net