The Bird Man of Notre Dame - ©2010 Olivier Blanchard
Just a quick note to start off the week: Purpose matters.
Just a year ago, many of us were bemoaning the absence of major brands on the twitternets, myself included. PR departments were too slow to get into the space. Brand managers were still, for the most part, alien to the world of Social Media. Most organizations were at best cautious to enter the space when not overtly reluctant to do so, even dismissive.
Today, as companies and their agencies are finally beginning to dip their toes and even try a few strokes on their own in the deep end of the pool, we seem faced with a different problem: An epidemic absence of purpose.
The thing (social media) has, in many instances, replaced the why.
Instead of hearing executives ask “can we use Social Media to increase our reach, to better manage our brand’s reputation, to improve customer service, to recruit better candidates or to grow our business,” what I still hear most often is “What should our Social Media strategy focus on?” Or, as it where “okay, we have a Facebook page and a Twitter account. Now what?”
Wrong approach.
Here is how it works:
Business problem –> Business Strategy to solve the problem –> Incorporate Social Media into said business strategy
Example:
Business Problem: Angry customer voices are impacting our reputation. This threatens our ability to acquire new customers and retain existing ones. We could see a drop in sales over the next 6 to 18 months if we don’t fix this.
Business Strategy: Address angry customers’ concerns. Set the record straight on fallacies, while acknowledging legitimate grievances and promising to make necessary changes.
SM Integration: Monitor conversations in digital channels. Respond to positive and negative comments and mentions. Track changes in sentiment over time (manually). Establish discussion zones on appropriate social networks and via adequate social web platforms – This will help funnel topics and showcase the way we respond to the crisis. Use the space to ask for suggestions and ideas – This will help turn negative comments into constructive recommendations and a portion of angry customers into strategic assets. etc.
See?
Here is how it does not work:
Social Media is the new big thing –> Get into Social Media –> Develop Social Media Strategy –> Wait… what?
Every program or campaign an organization funds supports some kind of business objective:
Acquiring net new customers.
Retaining existing customers.
Attenuating a PR crisis.
Managing a company’s reputation.
Amplifying the reach of a particular message.
Selling more stuff.
Gathering business intelligence.
You name it. There are dozens upon dozens of possibilities. I am not even talking about R.O.I. here, but outcomes in general: Business outcomes. The types of outcomes which serve a purpose.
Wondering what an organization’s Social Media strategy should be is very much the same as wondering about what its telephone strategy would be: It is the wrong question.
Furthermore, as we will discuss later this week, if hiring a Social Media Manager serves the purpose of driving a Social Media strategy, then the purpose of the Social Media strategy is to drive… what? A Social Media Strategy? (No.) Strategies are driven by objectives and objectives are driven by purpose.
Before jumping into the Social Media pool (and you should), consider the why of it. As an organization, why do you want to be active in Social Networks? What will your activity there aim to drive for your business? What is your purpose for being there?
To engage more? To participate in conversations? Okay. But why? Those are activities. They are not purpose.
Before launching a program or assigning resources to a new Social Media program, figure out where you want to go with it. Think about purpose and results, not just emulating your competitors.
Cheers,
Olivier
This could not have come at a more opportune time for me. Thanks for a great post. You never disappoint.
Cindy C.
Fantastic post! Thanks a lot.
[...] today I read TheBrandBuilder’s post on Social Media program planning 101: Purpose matters and found we’re pretty much on the same page after all with Social Media ROI and the [...]
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Very rightly pointed out. Lately my firm worked for a legal outsourcing company in India, i guess this company is going through the same problem. They want to jump into the pool but they have no purpose. As Stephen R Covey says ” begin with the end in mind”.
Thanks for sharing.
>Track changes in sentiment over time (manually). Establish discussion zones on appropriate social networks and via adequate social web platforms – This will help funnel topics and showcase the way we respond to the crisis.
Essential to implementing any strategy is understanding the utility of the given social media platform(s) you, as a business, wish to employ as tools to solve your problem. This way, if you need a “hammer,” you don’t show up to the conversation with a “screwdriver.”
Great post. Thanks for sharing.
Best, M.
Well! for small companies, that’s how it starts. 1st thing you do is open an account with your corporate name. The purpose is to open another channel to communicate. It can be for PR, customer service, new clients, job posting, watch competition….Let the conversation to take its own course. its a informal way of communicating, very casual .. if you are adament of your business objectives you might loose friends, fans & followers.
[...] Social Media program planning 101: Purpose matters Published: September 6, 2010 Source: The BrandBuilder Blog The Bird Man of Notre Dame – ©2010 Olivier Blanchard Just a quick note to start off the week: Purpose matters. Just a year ago, many of us were bemoaning the absence of major brands on the twitternets, myself… [...]
You’re dead right: ‘what are you trying to achieve’ is probably the question I pose most frequently to clients and colleagues (…asking ‘why?’ is also an invaluable planning tool: a deeper understanding of underlying objectives usually opens up lots of other routes to get you where you’re going).
But there’s another relevant question too: ‘Am I making unsupported assumptions?’
It’s less obvious than the error you highlight but possibly more common and certainly more dangerous: because the things we assume are often both intrinsic to our beliefs and they’re rarely tested.
The one I now see most often is neatly summed up in your post (and apologies right now for subverting a very fine post in order to make a slightly different point!)
“Here is how it works: [...] Incorporate Social Media into said business strategy.”
Trouble is, much as I love social media, am fascinated and challenged by it, I also believe that it’s wrong to assume it should necessarily be incorporated into business strategy.
Sometimes social doesn’t work.
Some sectors (and workplaces) just aren’t that social. Aren’t ready yet. Won’t find benefits from social. And even in places where social has potential, the *best and simplest* business solutions are sometimes left uncovered because we spend too long working on the social stuff.
So: purpose matters: absolutely.
But: utilising the most effective tools does too: even if they’re not the most sexy, shiny ones on the shelf.
@brookcalverley
Let’s face it, seo is far too time oinsuming to handle on ones own. pay to establish a footprint.
The challenge for some businesses and agencies will be going back and figuring out their purpose. Except they might have to admit they were wrong or that Facebook/Twitter/whatever network was not the right fit for their business. Not sure that’s likely for some companies. They will just stick with an empty strategy and get average to no results, disappointment, and then abandon the effort and curse social media….
Hopefully we can help graft a purpose into existing efforts!
Great post and an excellent point. Thinking ahead is necessary, and not just for two or even three steps ahead, because what some fail to realize is that, if you build your campaign around one finite thing, there’s a chance that later on, it will no longer fit into your future strategies. When I did a study on social media companies for our company I was appalled to find that some companies would launch campaigns and then lose engagement once the campaign ended. One company in particular even amassed thousands of fans only to delete the page later on. Purpose is essential.
[...] Social Media program planning 101: Purpose matters « The BrandBuilder Blog [...]
Thanks for your article I actually learned a thing from it. Beneficial content on this site Always looking forward to new post.
[...] Before launching a program or a new Social Media program, figure out where you want to go with it. Think about purpose and results, not just emulating your competitors. via thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com [...]
Good post and often overlooked. Sometimes social media is pretty tricky to REALLY justify.
Only when execs looking for justification don’t yet understand what SM can do.
[...] steak, which wouldn’t matter so much if social media still needed enthusiasts. Instead it needs pragmatists. Businesses large and small need answers that they can use to drive [...]