Oct
28
How to use Social Media with an Existing Strategy
October 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Social Media is no longer a new word, though there is still a lot of new innovation associated with it. Often we read about having Social Media Strategies, which is ideal. But what happens when one doesn’t have the resources to create a new strategy, but need to integrate it into an existing strategy?
Strategy objectives and social media
Usually when you are creating a new strategy you would have to determine what you want to achieve from Social Media. With an existing strategy these already exist. Social media is a tool that you would use to achieve your objectives, just like the other tools you have in your arsenal. You need to take a look at these objectives and think “can I achieve this using xyz social medium?”
Social media: thinking out of the box
Sometimes this requires you to think out of the box. Get creative and innovative and write down your ideas. When you have your list put on your sensible and logical cap and look at the practicalities involved in each of your ideas. Will they really work? What is involved? What is the cost? What is the time investment? What resources do I have at my disposal? Now make a short list.
Choose and test your social media ideas.
From your short list pick one or more winners, which you think are most likely to help your current strategies, to test. Each business is different. You can look to competitors or others to see how they are doing it for inspiration too. But when it comes to your business it has to work within your environment and achieve your business objectives. What works best for you would need to be tested, especially if you have not used the medium before. What you think may work great, may not work as well as you think and require a rethink about your approach. I think the testing approach is a great way to approach social media when it is not certain that it will work.
Social media doesn’t suit all strategies.
Don’t use social media for the sake of it. If you feel that everyone is using it and think you must jump on the bandwagon and don’t think it through: It could fail miserably and taint future views on social media within your company. Not all objectives can be achieved through social media. It is not the answer to success, but rather another great tool.
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