Strategy: A plan, method, or series of maneuvers or stratagems for obtaining a specific goal or result: a strategy for getting ahead in the world. In military terms there is a distinction between strategy and tactics. Strategy is the long-range planning and development that leads to victory. Tactics deals with the deployment of troops and weapons in actual combat.
For your brand, there is no shortage of marketing activities that can draw your resources and without employing a strategy, this can lead to little impact and mixed messages online. How do you know which ones to choose? What social media channels do you need to be involved in? Unlike ever before, there is the opportunity to engage and connect with your audience but even more chances to miss the mark.
The sheer volume of information on this topic is mind blowing and it easy to get carried away with the next thing without first thinking through the best practices. The myth is that social media is easy, free and available to everyone. I would argue that it is effective and empowering but not easy, your time is not free and not everyone will know how to use it.
How do you know when to take the messages offline or how both spheres best complement each other. The hand should know what the foot is doing in for maximum leverage. A large though disconnected army, has a big disadvantage against a tight, concentrated team.
So lets look at Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz ,Vimeo as the ‘tactical’ elements then the overarching strategy it as the ‘why’ we are doing what we are doing. Below are elements we include in any social media strategy and answering all of these questions below is healthy start to getting you on track.
What are you trying to achieve?
You need to understand how your audience is using Social Media? Finding, listening, monitoring is all part of strategising ways to engage with your target market across multiple Social Media platforms.
- What is your unique value proposition? The one thing that makes you unique. Just simple copying what your competitors is doing leads to nowhere.
- How Will You Measure Success? Setting up measurement KPI to test and measure what channels are working best, what adjustments to make or what to freeze altogether.
This post doesn’t even touch the surface of the ‘what and how’ of a social media strategy. I intend to go into more depth by the guidance of your comments, so feel free to comment below in regards to what you want to know. I can’t wait to blog about strategy further! 
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Hi Natalie,
I’ve recently started using social media as a way to develop an awareness of my recently (Dec 09) started business. I’ve not yet received any inquiries, yet I have received feedback from colleagues who find my blog of interest. I guess my SM strategy is still being developed, and I’m using it in conjunction with personal selling (ie networking).
You’re right about how much information is out there, and I’m still not sure if it’s a good or useful medium for marketing of a professional service (Human Resources), however I’m not ready to give up just yet!
One of the most difficult things I am finding is the measurement of what is working, and who is looking! (and how I can turn those who are looking into those who are using my services).
Looking forward to more from you about Social Media!
Geoff Snowden
I’m glad you pointed me to this article, Natalie. I agree, the foremost criteria before everything is to identify who you are, what’s your goal and targeted audience. If we manage to analyze that including the resources we have at hands, strategy planning will be much easier and productive. Looking forward to your strategies, keep us all updated.
@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker
Well done on starting your blog Geoff & thanks for your comment.
It can take a little tinkering to find out what generates interest and later sales conversions. For every business it is going to be different. An important step is benchmarking, so you can start to see – be it in little increments the pages/post/links that generate the most response. The interpretation on these elements are going to be different for every business and this is where strategy fits in.
Spreading yourself across numerous social media channels without doing this is merely activity for activity sake and not strategic at all. I would recommend keeping to two or three channels until you learn to get this right. Indeed with the correct strategy in place, you may only need that many channels period.
One point on sales conversion – you may need some form of call to action. Thinktank Media often do a planned competition or mini product launch for our clients. These equate to giving people bite size pieces to try. Remember it is a risk to try something new – if people choose wrong they either lose money, time or effort and they would rather settle for what they are familiar with than regret it later. But again this should be planned and be a part of your overall strategy.
Natalie
@nataliegiddings
Hi Natalie,
You’ve made some serious sense here! I agree that social media involves some effort and commitment to see results. We have used the advice of ThinkTank Media and set up competitions for our followers, which has received positive responses, helped entrants remain interested in our (accommodation) product for future potential sales.
I’ve just spent a few hours today putting together graphs and statistics on our Social Media marketing efforts, and have proven that our sales and hotel occupancy have increased in line with traffic to our website and blog (from Google Analytics). This tells me that social media is increasing our brand awareness – which is awesome for a small business!
Great post Natalie,
Social Media is so important right now, especially for businesses. Utilizing these networks provides the opportunity to reach a huge audience with relevant information. I work for a small advertising agency, and have seen our clients reach impressive success rates in a short period of time. http://www.mediarevo.com/. I’m not sure that social media will remain popular forever, but it’s what’s happening now, and I’m definitely on board.