Brands need to use social media strategically, not get advice from gurus
31st January 2011, 06:41 pm by Richard Dalke
Image courtesy of Shutterstock
2011 is the year of the social media backlash. Well, apparently. Whether or not you believe this, there’s one thing that’s certainly true: this is the year when things will change for social media agencies and for brands.
A quote in a recent article by Tim Sanders really got me thinking about social media strategy. Some of the language used in the article is intended to provoke a response, but the content of the blog post, in essence, is excellent.
The article was based on a quote by Chris Kirubi, Chairman of Coca Cola Nairobi:
“You don’t need a social media strategy – You need a brand strategy that leverages social media. Don’t get off the brand strategy just because there’s a new communication channel; that’s how you lose the plot as a brand. Technology is the tail, not the dog.”
As you can probably imagine, this led to a lot of “social media consultants” backing into a corner or pulling together overly verbose, nonsensical reasoning to justify their existence. Instead, what they should have focused on is that everything, including social media, comes back to the company aims, brand strategy and more importantly business value.
As part of the social media strategy team at FreshNetworks (and I say that without worrying about that definition) our job is to look at how social media can be used to contribute to how the business operates. Yes, we do know alot about social media. But what sets us apart is that most of us come from a variety of business backgrounds with different skill sets and experiences. This really helps us get to the crux of how and why social media can be used for different business functions. By applying this knowledge, and providing pragmatic, expert advice, legitimate social media consultants have nothing to fear.
One way that we think about a strategic approach to social media is based on a model used by Prof. Gerry Johnson, Prof.Kevan Scholes and Prof Richard Whittington in Exploring Corporate Strategy (2006), which shows all the different aspects we consider when thinking about how social media could be used to meet business objectives. Key to this process are the following three areas:
- Analysis: understanding why you want to use social media, what is already out there, what your consumers want and the resources that are available within your organisation.
- Strategic choice: given all the information available from your analysis , the next step is to consider which tools and concepts will produce the best results for your company.
- Strategic implementation: social media is not just about a good idea or a campaign; it is as much of a cultural change as it is a technical one. It requires proper planning to ensure that what you have chosen is executed in a way that makes sense to the rest of your business.
I think by now most companies will have either tried social media themselves, or might have reached out to agencies for help, and will be wiser about the value of social media; they will know when they are being fed rubbish.
As a result, will the “blood-sucking social media gurus” , as Milo Yiannopoulos describes them, simply disappear? Lets hope so. And will there be a market for people who actually understand social media? Definitely. 2011 will just be a year of distinguishing between the two.
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Tweets that mention Social media strategy in 2011 | Social media agency London | FreshNetworks blog -- Topsy.com:
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by SocialMedio, Mouthy. Mouthy said: Social media strategy in 2011 | Social media agency London … http://bit.ly/gaMAng [...]
31 January 2011, 7:38 pmTweets that mention Brands need to use social media strategically, not get advice from gurus | Social media agency London | FreshNetworks blog -- Topsy.com:
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Matt Rhodes, Chung Hwa Chao, Martin Kloos, Vicky Puls, Esmée Schönfeldt and others. Esmée Schönfeldt said: RT @martinkloos: “You don’t need a social media strategy –You need a brand strategy that leverages social media." http://bit.ly/gWBmBm [...]
31 January 2011, 8:18 pmCharlotte:
I agree with you on what Kirubi says. But I know that as a social media coordinator it can sometimes be difficult to remember what your aims are. At times you really have to push a brand quite hard to get down to what they really want from social media, rather than just a presence.
Hard-nosed business types also don’t always realise that buying in 10,000 Twitter followers, for example, won’t necessarily benefit your brand. So you really have to sit down and hash out what returns they expect and what you think can be achieved taking into account your budget, what you’re selling, how much control they want to retain etc.
Very interesting article Richard.
1 February 2011, 10:43 amRichard:
Thank you Charlotte,
I think this approach is different for businesses when looking at social media (although not a unique way of approaching strategy development)When discussing social media, and the return, we find it helps us to look at three levels:
Engagement data – Social Media Managers,
Social media analysis – Business Managers
Impact on company objectives (CSAT, Reputation, cost reduction etc) to Senior Management
Thank you for reading and taking the time to comment,
Richard
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2 February 2011, 5:29 pmNick Stamoulis:
A social media strategy really needs to be created with the brand in mind. It might be easy to stray from that, but that’s why it’s imporant to stay focused. There can be a lot of distractions in the world of social media and it’s tempting to do what other people are doing. Remember to always keep the brand and your company goals in mind when using social media.
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6 February 2011, 10:31 amJasmine A. Davis:
I definitely agree with you on the last point – too many companies jump into social media because it’s “the thing to do.” People should slow down and consider the strategy behind it.
15 February 2011, 6:15 pm