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I start with a conession. I am a Twitteraholic. I’ve been hooked on Twitter or more days than I can remember.I even hate mysel or not being able to look away rom my TweetDeck o ollowers and people I’m ollowingbecause, well, I kind o have to get some other work done. In other words, I’m a an.But I also realize that there is much more entailed with building a true social media strategy and I think someolks are missing the point i they eel that just being on certain sites like Twitter and Facebook is how a brandautomatically grows. Not so.Worse yet, you probably have some people rom within or outside consultants saying, “We need social media!” or“We need to be on Twitter!” or “We need to be on Facebook!” or several other methods. But they aren’t explainingwhy you need to be on those things. Why, because everyone else is doing it? That’s kind o a lousy strategy. Andwhat will you do once you are on some o these sites? Just talk about yoursel? That’s not a particularly good wayto establish a relationship.So you get social media is important, but you don’t understand all the areas o it that have relevancy to you,how to ully harness its potential in relation to your brand and how to tie it back to the concepts you may bemore comortable with, like customer satisaction, customer retention, ROI and brand loyalty. Am I anywhere nearthe challenge you’re acing? I you are challenged by any o the above, you have good company. In a survey releasedearlier this year by the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) and Anderson Analytics, 67% o executivemarketers consider themselves beginners when it comes to using social media or marketing purposes.

For the time being, let’s not talk o what type o social media you need to use. Considering this or that techniquebeore appreciating what motivates your audience is not the right way to approach brand building, whether youuse social media or not. Put another way, it’s like a doctor making a diagnosis beore he or she knows thepatient’s symptoms.Let’s talk about a better way to build a more customizable social media plan.

“Marketing Executives Networking Group Releases Second Annual Top Marketing Trends for 2009,” MENG, January 2009

“Get on twitter” is nota social media strateGy:

Pg b b     .

1) s     b .

It’s “social” media. Not “selling” media. In other words, there’s a dierence between the social mediarealm vs. advertising. What is the dierence? I you aren’t interested in having a conversation withpotential customers, existing customers and colleagues and instead want to go with hard sell advertising,well, there’s a place or that. But this isn’t really it. You run an outdoor recreation store and want to make asmall microblog post that this weekend you’re running a special on snowshoes? Go or it. But don’t make“selling” the only ocus o your existence, regardless o where your social media presence is. This is anopportunity to get an opinion on the issues your audience is acing and to hear it in their own words.

2) thk b  g  h h    ( h ).

You do this or other orms o media, don’t you (I hope)? Remember, the term “social media” can reer to alot o dierent things, not just Twitter. What has prior research told you about how your audience uses andinteracts with one another on the web? Has research suggested that they use many dierent orms o socialmedia, such as blogging/commenting on blogs, text messaging, photo sharing on Flickr and more? How otendo they do this? What time o day do they do this? Which methods do they seem to be gravitating towards andwhich ones do they shy away rom?

3) H   p  g/hg h   h ?

I don’t believe every single comment you convey to the world in the social realm has to be planned outlike a speech. Because that’s not really the way human beings talk naturally. We engage with one another.We talk like people, not corporations. But when we do talk, why do we stay interested? Because the otherperson is giving us something o value. Think about it in this way. Ask yoursel:

“If I’m going to be on(SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLET HERE), what sort of information do I want to give my audience that will be of value to them in return?”

Remember, it’s about 2-way communication. You’re not shouting news rom amountaintop down to a community below with a bullhorn. Things that interest them need to be o interestto you and commented upon by you. Be ready to give and receive.

4) J b ’ pp’  ’ gh   b.

O course many, many people are working themselves into a lather over Twitter — and in some cases,rightully so. It’s a great tool and may very well be right or you. However, beore you run into someoneelse’s oce and say, “Get us up on Twitter now,” take a step back. Breathe. Realize that what you wantbeore the type o technology you choose is the act that you want a direction that makes sense or yourtarget audience (which we’ve done above) and a strong Return on Investment (which we’ll talk about shortly).

5) c, , .

Again, even though social media is dierent than traditional media (socializing vs. being advertised to),the principle o building brand attraction in the name o a consistent presence remains true here as well. You’ve got to keep the commentary on your industry coming, the inormation stream about your companycoming, the responding to your ellow community coming. That means you and/or someone you’ve hiredneeds to be able to commit a sizable portion per week o communicating things about your company,communicating with the outside world (in the case o Twitter, these are “ollowers,”; in the case o Facebook,these are “Fans,”; you get the picture). For example, are you going to be on Twitter? Great. Then be a regularpart o the community by posting and responding regularly. When their comments or links on Twitter havevalue, share that with others (called a Retweet). Ask questions o them. Post a link to a blog post on yourcompany’s main site (or other sites) that may be useul to your audience.Or to take another example, are you going to be using mobile communications? Then don’t send out a textone week and then sit on it or three months. That’s a waste o your time and rankly, your audience’s as well.In other words, there’s a daily requency that needs to be maintained. I you can be doing the tactics youselect on a daily basis, you’re building not only a presence but hopeully a rapport as well. Granted, it’s nosmall commitment to ensure this level o consistency is maintained. Now you know why some companieshave created entire positions or a Director o Social Media. You don’t necessarily need that, but you doneed a steady stream o give-and-respond.

Tip:

One o the best ways I’ve seen social media consistency maintained is not by one person at all but byseveral people in-house. Not only does this make the overall content load easier by spreading the wealth,but getting dierent people to take turns blogging, texting, etc. on behal o the company allows you todistribute a greater variety o viewpoints and tones, which can build interest.

6) P .

Let’s say research uncovers 4 dierent key areas to reach out to your audience through social media.Does that mean you have to be into those areas tomorrow? No way. It means you’ve smartly discoveredsome routes to connect with people. But i you’re reading this on a Friday, it may be very unrealistic to bea blogger, podcaster, texter, Twitterer, YouTube uploader, etc. this coming Monday. Even i you’ve hiredsomeone else to do it ull-time.So once you’ve identied your best areas or audience connections, pick one or two tactics maximum tobegin with. Then start getting your eet wet — and don’t put a lot o pressure on yoursel as to what you’llbe saying as much as just getting yoursel comortable with the tactics you’ve initially chosen. Send out a post.Read someone else’s blog. Find something worth commenting on? Then do so. Has someone chosen to“ollow” you or become a Fan? Then ollow them right back and become a Fan too. Ease into your comortzone but keep going. As you nd a steady rhythm that involves using the initial tactics you’ve chosen, thinkabout the next one you can comortably add to your plate. Remember, you can’t do everything and beeverywhere. And you don’t have to be i you’ve gotten a sense that people are responding to your messagein particular areas.