21 April 2012

Richard Bailey | @behindthespin

Developing aSocial Media Strategy

Issues and questionsDoes social media require new theory?Is social media a strategy or a tactic?Who owns digital?Who are the new influencers?How can we measure results?

Strategy primerStrategy is ‘a continuous and adaptive

response to external opportunies and threats that may confront an organization’. Argyris 1985 cited in Moss and De Santo 2012

Strategy as a plan, position, perspective, ploy and pattern (Mintzberg 1987)

Strategy primerOperational management: the routine, day-

to-day decisions, controls and actions that enable an organisation to continue to function effectively

Strategic management: the key decisions and actions that determine the overall intended positioning and direction of an organisation, and the allocation of all the necessary resources to pursue the chosen strategies. Moss and De Santo 2012

Links to comms strategyCommunication strategies should link to

business or corporate goals‘Communication strategy defines the purpose

and direction for the organisation’s communication activities.’ Moss and De Santo 2012

C-MACIE

Commnication Management Analysis

Commnication Management Choice

Commnication Management Implementation

Commnication Management Evaluation

Feedback

Communication management process

Moss and DeSanto 2012: 42

Intermediaries‘The media most relevant to public relations are the mass media – newspapers and magazines, radio and television and, above all, the internet’ (Fawkes in Theaker 2012 p. 23)

Westley and Maclean 1973

Katz and Lazarsfeld 1955

New communications model'Who says what to whom in what channel

with what effect' (Lasswell) becomes 'Who says what, in which channel, to what

effect; then ascertain who hears what, shares what, with what intent, where, and to what effect.'

(Solis and Breakenridge 2009)

The new influentials‘Everyone, it seems, has the power to be an

influencer.’ Hoang in Holloman 2012Call for a Chief Influence Officer: 'the

incumbent... charged with making the art and science of influencing and being influenced a core organizational discipline... Ideally, the Chief Influence Officer will have a varied background covering marketing, PR, customer service, HR, product development and operations.’ Sheldrake 2011

Influencers 'In the good old days, influencers were

recognized leaders in business, media, Wall Street, or academia. Today, an influencer can be anyone who knows something about your product, your market, or your business. It can be someone with 10,000 followers on Twitter or 500 friends on Facebook...’

Influencers ‘It used to be that a good communications

program functioned like a food chain. You would educate key spokespeople and influencers on your message, and, assuming it was a credible message, it flowed down through the chain of media and ultimately reached your publics through a variety of credible sources. This top-down process of message control seemed reasonable, but was probably only a convenient illusion. Social media has proved it wrong and officially signed its death certificate' (Paine 2011 p.123).

Four Cs for social operating system(Heuer 2009)Context: how we frame our storiesCommunications: the practice of sharing

our stories; listening, responding, growingCollaboration: working together to make

things betterConnections: the relationships we forge and

maintain 

Social media principles

Be human Be awareBe honestBe respectfulBe a participantBe openBe courageousHeuer 2009

Four Cs of Social MediaMishra 2009Content: social media transforms consumers into creatorsCollaboration: aggregation of individual actions into

meaningful collective resultsCommunity: social media enables sustained collaboration

around shared ideasCollective intelligence: the Social Web empowers us to

aggregate individual actions 

"People don't build relationships with each other in a vacuum. A vibrant community is built around a social object that is meaningful to its members. The social object can be a person, a place, a thing or an idea." 

Creating a social media plan‘A compass is a device for determining

orientation and serves as a true indicator of physical direction.’

‘The Social Marketing Compass points a brand in a physical and experiential direction to genuinely and effectively connect customers, peers and influencers, where they interact and seek guidance online.’

Solis 2010: 269

Social marketing compassThe brand: at the centre of the compassThe players: these determine how, when, why and to what extent our

activity is intermediated across the social web. They include: advocates/stakeholders traditional media new influencers / trust agents champions 

Platform: every initiative requires a platform upon which to connect, communicate and congregate. They include:

Mobile; social dashboards; apps; forums and groups; blogs; social networksChannels:

search engine optimisation (SEO); syndication; user generated contentEmotions: the socialization of the web is powered by people. Successful

branding is made possible when individuals can establish a human and emotional connection.

Solis 2010

Building teamsA person or group does not own socially

rooted conversations; they simply map to them.

The simple truth is that everyone owns socalized media, including you.

Jazz improvisation: decentralised controlWithin a business or brand it’s impossible to

scale and perform harmoniously without leadership, instruction, and administration.

Solis 2010

Evolving relationships‘The true shift represented by the social and

real-time Web is not simply the ability to learn from public sentiment and the indicators that they signal to create a more aware, responsive, and adaptive organization that proactively leads communities through action.

‘It’s not what you say about the brand, it’s about what they say about it the counts.’

Solis 2010: 311

Measuring social mediaExposure: to what degree have we created

exposure to content and message?Engagement: Who, how, and where are people

interacting/engaging with our content?Influence: The degree to which exposure and

engagement have influenced perceptions and attituds

Action: As a result of the effort, what actions, if any, has the target taken?

Don Bartholomew

Measure what mattersSome possible measures:

Process improvementTime to marketNumber of new product ideasNumber of suggestionsTime to find solutions to problemsEfficiency with which a product is launchedLevel of social capitalChurn rates among customers / employeesCost of recruitment

Paine 2011

Recommended readingHolloman, C (2012) The Social Media MBA, WileyMoss, D and De Santo, B (2012) Public Relations: A Managerial

Perspective, SagePaine, K (2011) Measure What Matters,WileyScott, D (2nd ed 2010) The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to Use

News Releases, Blogs, Podcasts, Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly, Wiley 

Solis, B (2010) Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate and Measure Success in the New Web, Wiley

Sheldrake, P (2011) The Business of Influence, WileyShirky, C (2008) Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing

without OrganizationsThomas, M and Brain, D (2008) Crowd Surfing: Surviving and

thriving in the age of consumer empowerment, A & C Black