1. Definition
2. Discovery
3. Development
4. Delivery

Step 1 – Definition

A social media strategy should always be a part of your overall marketing plan and must always align with current marketing goals and objectives.

Therefore, it’s crucial to define the following:

• Mission Statement – define the Mission of the Organization, the reason for being
• Vision Statement - define the Vision, what you are aspiring to be
• Marketing Objectives – define the Goals (brand awareness, sales, customer loyalty, etc.)
• Situation Analysis
  • How do people view your company? Listen to your customers, take surveys, read customer reviews, and use online listening tools.
  • Conduct a company S.W.O.T.analysis
    • Strengths (What do you do well? What makes you unique?)
    • Weaknesses (What are you not doing well?)
    • Opportunities (What can you do to improve?)
    • Threats (What could go wrong?)
  • What can you invest? Resources, staff, time, etc.

Step 2 – Discovery

The next step is to document your current process.

• Identify current assets – website, blogs, social media channels, email lists, mobile apps, etc.
• Identify potential new assets – new social media channels (Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr)
• Review and evaluate effectiveness of prior marketing initiatives – mailing lists, flyers, social media, print/digital ads, etc.
• List upcoming marketing opportunities – promotions, sales, sponsorships, events, etc.
• Determine resources – including budget, time, staff, technology, etc.

Step 3 – Development

The third step in the process is to develop a Social Media Roadmap:

• How will current and new assets be leveraged?
• What is your value proposition? Value = Benefits – Cost
• Who is your target audience? What opportunities exist to to cultivate “Brand Advocates”
• How long will it take to implement? What are your short terms vs. long term goals?
• Identify monitoring tools and measurement techniques
• Ensure consistency between all channels/platforms
  • Similar look and feel (logos, colors, etc.)
  • Set messaging standards

Which Channels?

“Those who insert themselves into as many channels as possible look set to capture the most value. They’ll be the richest, the most successful, the most connected, capable and influential among us. We’re all publishers now, and the more we publish, the more valuable connections we’ll make.” – Pete Cashmore, Founder of Mashable

While this is true, not every channel will work for every brand. So how do you determine which channels to use?

Choose channels that are relevant to your company/brand and comprised of your target audience. For example:

• Facebook – Facebook has over 900 million users. Most of your fan base is sure to be on Facebook and can easily find you. Take full advantage of Timeline for Pages.
• Twitter – Twitter is a great tool because you can easily search to find people and other businesses to network with. To use Twitter Search type in a keyword and start browsing.
• LinkedIn – LinkedIn is great for B2B networking. Join groups relevant to your industry and follow companies.
• Google+ – Google+ is extremely similar to Facebook. The majority of users are male in the 25-34 age range.
• YouTube – Upload your videos to and share across networks, create a YouTube channel for your brand.
• Pinterest – The Pinterest user base is mostly female mothers in the 25-34 age range. It’s very visual, food, fashion, and design brands would do well on this channel.
• Instagram – A mobile app for photo sharing, another very visual tool. Search Instagram by tags to find users and photos.
• Tumblr – Tumblr is a blogging platform where you can post text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos. In addition users can follow, like or reblog content.

Step 4 – Delivery

The last step in this process is Delivery. Continue to monitor and revise your strategy as needed and you will be on your way to success.

• Implement your strategy
• Monitor and measure results
• Evaluate the effectiveness
• Revise strategy if necessary

Our team member Alison Kimszal recently had the opportunity to speak about Social Media Best Practices at the Jersey Shore Tech Meetup and decided this was a great topic to translate into a series of blogs over the next few weeks.

What is Social Media?

Social media can be described as a blend of online technology and social interaction. It allows users to connect with the people, websites, & brands that they value most. It’s a two-way conversation vs. one-way broadcast like traditional media and provides businesses the opportunity to promote, listen and respond to clients and customers in real-time.

Social Media Research Has Revealed

Why is social media so important for companies and brands? Research has revealed:

• One of every four minutes spent online is spent on a social site or blog (Nielsen, 2010).
• 81% of respondents said they received advice from friends and followers relating to a product purchase through a social site (Click Z, 2010).
• There are over 901 million monthly active Facebook users (Facebook.com 2012).
• 77% of consumers said they interact with brands on Facebook primarily through reading posts and updates from the brands (Mashable 2011).

Media Types

Traditionally there are three media types: Owned Media, Paid Media, and Earned Media. Social media is changing the way companies and brands are using these media types.

Consumers Trust Earned Media

It turns out that customers trust earned media. A recent report from Nielson indicates that:

• Earned media sources remain most credible.
• 92 % of consumers around the world say they trust earned media, such as recommendations from friends and family, above all other forms of advertising.

How Do You Create Earned Media?

So how do you create earned media? It’s all about engagement; earned media is grown organically with Likes, Shares, and Comments. Create engaging content, and people will interact with your brand.

Research shows that people tend to share what they have a strong emotional or passionate connection with or something that provides them with a benefit (discounts, contests, etc.). When sharing occurs (Likes, Tweets/Re-Tweets, and Pins), your message is maximized, thus creating earned media.

Get your audience talking by posting images, videos, and questions. Ask for Likes, Comments, Re-Tweets, Pins, etc. Keep in mind that the quality of your audience is more important than the quantity. You could have 200,000 Likes on your Facebook page, but if your audience isn’t engaging with you, does it matter?

What has been your experience with earned media? Do you have any additional tips and tricks to share?

Promoted Posts

Promoted Posts are a paid offering to promote any recent post on your Facebook fan page.  This feature will increase the number of people that will see your post in their news feed. Promoted posts will be displayed to your page’s current Like audience, and if they interact with your post their friends will see it.

Any post can be promoted for up to 3 days after the date it was initially created.  If you created a post 1 day ago and decide to promote it today, the promotion can only run for 2 days.  This feature is available for all Pages that have 400 friends or more. You can also target Promoted Posts by location and language.

To create a Promoted Post click the Promote button on the post.  For more information on Promoted Posts visit https://www.facebook.com/help/promote.

Post Scheduling

Facebook has also added the ability to schedule a Post for the future.  Posts can be scheduled for up to 6 months in advance in 15-minute intervals.

Admin Roles

You now have the ability to give different level of access to your Facebook page, this is great if you want to control who can Post content and Moderate.  There are 5 different roles available.Manager, Content Creator, Moderator, Advertiser, and Insights Analyst; see the chart for an overview of what tasks each role can perform.

To manage roles on your Facebook page Select Manage > Settings within the Admin Panel.

Then Select Admin Roles from the left hand menu

Under each Admin select the Role Drop Down Menu.  Select the new role and click Save.

What are you thoughts on these changes? Will you be using any of the new features to manage your company page?

• Timeline for Pages
• Reach Generator
• Premium on Facebook

Timeline for Pages

• Cover Photo – Highlight your brand with a larger photo
• Pinned Posts – Anchor the most important post to the top of your page for up to 7 days
• Friend Activity – People can see how their friends are engaging with your brand
• Star and Hide Stories -  Highlight important stories and hide other ones
• Milestones -Define your Key Moments with photos/videos
• Page Insights – Insights will be in real time
• Messages – Brands will be able to receive private messages and respond to fans via the Page
• Offers – Coupons/Discounts that can be redeemed  via e-mail or mobile device.

Reach Generator

• Reach 75% of your fans on a regular basis
• Increase the volume of engagement with your brand (likes, comments, and shares) by 2x
• Receive custom monthly reports that show reach, engagement, and brand tracking

Premium on Facebook

Facebook is definitely trying to kick up their ad revenue with these new features just in time for their IPO, however they will not be available for all brands.  Will you be taking advantage of any of these new features?

This morning Facebook confirmed the rumors that have been circulating for the last few weeks, Timeline is coming for pages!

When we originally heard about Timeline we recognized the value it would bring for brands.  Think about all the history and exciting milestones your company can highlight with these new features. In addition users can see how many of their friends like the page and public statuses mentioning the brand is displayed on the Brand Timeline.

When you view your page in Facebook you will now see a message that reads “Coming Soon: New Facebook Pages – On March 30, 2012, all Facebook Pages will get a new design. Preview your page now to see what it looks like and try out the new features.”

You can check out Timeline for Pages in action here.

Are you excited for Timeline?  How do you plan to highlight your brand in this new format?

Yesterday Facebook announced 12 new media Open Graph applications will allow users to share and discover even more content.

“Today’s launches join existing apps ranging from the Guardian’s social news app to Washington Post Social Reader. These apps create new ways for readers to discover content, while giving publishers the opportunity to reach new audiences. They’re built around news and content people care about and identify with and provide easy ways to control the social experience.

As media organizations build new timeline apps, initial results show significant increases in traffic and engagement, while allowing media sites to reach new – often younger – demographics.”

The new apps are:

• Buzzfeed
• CBS Local: Los Angeles and New York
• CMT
• The Daily Show
• GetGlue
• Huffington Post
• Mashable
• MSNBC.com
• MTV News
• Pixable
• Sporting News (launching in March)
• TODAY Show

How do you feel about these media apps?  Do you like knowing what your friends are reading? Or is it too much sharing?

Facebook and Twitter have done it again. One more time, we’ve seen these tools used to cause real social change.

This week brought us a controversy about the pulling of financial support for Planned Parenthood by the Susan B. Komen for the Cure Foundation.  On Jan. 31, the fight was on when Planned Parenthood used Twitter to announce that they felt they had been wronged. Three days later, news sources reported that Facebook was recording 20 negative posts per minute about the Komen controversy. The next day, on Feb. 3, the Komen Foundation reversed its decision and reinstated their funding for Planned Parenthood.

Similar results occurred last month with the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) controversy. On January 18^th, thousands of web sites went dark in what was reported to be the largest online protest in history. Two days later, on January 20^th, Congress shelved the proposed acts.

It’s a whole new world when it comes to public protest. No longer do you need to spend hours painting signs and chanting slogans out in the cold. Not that that doesn’t work too. But we all now have access to a virtual Town Square that is immediate and worldwide.  And since it’s so easy to participate, more people than ever are out there fighting the good fight.

It’s exciting to think about where this is going to take us. Social media tools are still new to many users. Businesses, civic groups, and advocacy organizations are only starting to think of them as part of their marketing and communications strategy.

Maybe someday, bills in Congress will be voted on by all of us using Twitter. Who knows? Instead of taking back Washington, we can just take it over!

Which online protests have been most interesting to you?

Learn more about the Komen and SOPA online protests:

How the Internet Changed Komen’s Mind

The Best SOPA Protests Online – in Pictures

Web Sites Go Dark in SOPA Protest Against Plans to Ban Online Piracy

AYTM, the DIY online survey platform, has created an infograph entitled “Branding And How It Works In The Social Media Age” to understand how customers in the US are using social media to interact with brands.

Per the results of the survey 58% of users have liked a brand on Facebook, 42% have mentioned a brand in a status update, and 41% have shared a  link, video, or story about a brand.  In addition social media users  love to receive coupons, promotions, and discounts from their favorite brands via short updates on Facebook and Twitter.

What it all boils down to is sending your loyal fans relevant messaging via these social media channels and they will communicate and share about your brand.

See the full infograph below and let us know your thoughts.

Source: AYTM Market Research

Its here! Last week Timeline was released  in New Zealand, but today December 15th  it is now live across the world.

Timeline is a new enhanced profile that displays an overview of all your activities on Facebook, think of it as an online scrapbook of your life.  Once you upgrade to Timeline, you’ll have 7 days to preview your timeline before other people can see it, this will give you some time to decide what information you want displayed and who can see your posts and pictures. Via the Activity Log you can view and manage everything that you share on Facebook.

Along with Timeline there are new Life Events with categories for Work & Education, Family & Relationships, Home & Living, Health & Wellness, and Travel & Experiences.  You can highlight the story of your life starting from the day you were born up until today. While I don’t foresee the majority of Facebook users going back in time to fill out these significant milestones, I do think the younger users will love these features.

Have you upgraded to Timeline? Comment below and let us know your thoughts.

Branding and identity are more important than ever!

Today we have so many key communication channels in which to market, including the internet, social media, mobile, video, and print. The better you brand your company and build your company image, the easier it will be to grow your business and increase profits.

What’s Included in a Marketing Plan?

A good marketing plan develops your company’s focus on your target audience, your messages, goals, identity, and branding. It establishes a structured benchmark by which you can measure all marketing activities and helps prevent wasteful spending on ineffective marketing.

A marketing plan can simply contain three basic areas:

1. Develop a company profile and a customer profile. Identify your key competition and their strengths and weaknesses.
2. Define your products or services in detail.
3. Define your objectives and key future strategies. Develop a list of marketing and communication initiatives that support and reinforce the company’s positioning, objectives, and strategies.

The Importance of Marketing Materials

How many times have you heard a business owner say “I don’t need marketing materials, I just need to talk to the customer.” Marketing helps plant a seed about your company for the future, and your customer’s needs will change in the future. They may not need you today but they may need you tomorrow. Marketing materials, branding, and identity allow your customer to know what services and products you offer and who you are. Even if they don’t need you now, marketing materials may remind the customer about you down the road. And getting marketing materials to a customer before a sales meeting ensures that when you meet with your customer, your time can be spent wisely talking about your customer’s pain and how you can help them.

Incorporating Social Media into Your Marketing Strategy

Social media has become a great way to attract and communicate with potential customers. Social media has overtaken email as the number one activity on the web. You can use social media to build your client base, develop relationships with potential customers, and develop customer loyalty with existing customers.

Once you’ve used the marketing basics to develop a strong message, social media is a great way to spread it.