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Module 5:

Strategy

Building the community

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Determine where you are today

• Level 0: Near-zero use of social media

• Level 1: Passive integration

• Level 2: Limited integration, some commitment

• Level 3: Committed to strategy, integration,

training

• Level 4: Full turnaround, seamless integration

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Level 0

No social media strategy, planning, training

• Management sees social media as time-wasting,

unproductive and not aligned to business goals.

• All employees are banned from use of social media

during office hours.

• Employees “steal” time to view social media feeds via

smartphones or “illegal” access on office PCs.

• All communication still relying on traditional means.

• Rivals start implementing social media tactics and

start showing results.

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Level 1: 90 degrees

Passive integration • Management allowed access to social media but still

views social media with suspicion or as a passing fad. Does not see integration as important to business goals.

• Employees are allowed to implement social media tactics on their own, with little or no management support or direction.

• A marketing or communications exec may collaborate with an ad agency or outside consultant on a single project.

• An occasional deal struck whereby social media elements are introduced in an important event or activity – product launch, promo or contest.

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Level 2: 180 degrees

Limited commitment, some integration•Management curious about benefits and integration process, but still without a defined strategy, budget, timetable and training process

•Employees experiment with social media, some training available, social media policy adopted

•A social media lead may be appointed at junior level in some departments

•Communication and marketing teams see clear benefits and integrates social media in planning but still working in silos

•Social media integration starting to be planned in advance rather than as an afterthought

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Level 3: 270 degrees

Commitment to social mediastrategy, integration and training

• Social media integration under implementation.• Appointment of social business-savvy director at board

level. Management team have budgetary and managerial power for social media integration, and a social media lead for the integration process.

• Full commitment to ongoing training required for social media integration in production, management, communication, marketing, sales, human resources and innovation.

• Social media strategy rolled out through cross-functional, multi-department teams.

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Level 4: 360 degrees

Full turnaround, seamless integration• Employees and management not learning about

social media, they are living it. No distinction among new or old staff in social media-savviness.

• Company transformed into a “social business engine.”

• Processes in place where social media is a primary source of revenue-generation.

• Management decisions flow from a social media perspective, all business processes are fully integrated with social media platforms and channels.

• All internal and external communication is rich with community elements; constant feedback loop; transparent and accountable processes in place.

Engagement: Richness and reach

REACH

RICHNESS

Strong potential to explode

- Devoted social team, tight

community

- Seeding conversations,

adding value

- Risk-averse, conservative

and not open to new ideas

Eg: Viral videos

- May not reflect your brand

values

- Easily forgotten

- If badly executed can do

damage to your reputation

- Flashy, bells and whistles

but no real tangible ROI

Social media complacency

- No resources devoted to

actually connect with

audience

- Ignore online complaints

and feedback

- Poor response times

Real connection with real

people

- Followers are brand

ambassadors

- Your community will defend

you in times of crisis

- Listen, connect, add value

and measure engagement

- Take engagement seriously

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Social media: strategic planning

1.Objectives = the broad goals and the

measurable steps to achieve them

2.Identify key target audiences, platforms

3.Tactics = the activities, apps, tools,

channels you will use, including offline

activities

4.Resources: internal, external

5.Budget

6.Metrics, targets, KPIs, success criteria

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1a. Objectives: Examples

• Improve internal

communication

• Improve external

communication with

media, vendors,

suppliers, partners

• Connect and engage

with present customers

where they are

• Increase customers,

generate leads, drive

sales

• Reach and educate

new customers

• Build awareness of

products and services

• Humanize brand,

service, management

team

• Establish thought

leadership, become

subject matter expert,

go-to industry

spokesperson

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1b. Objectives: Specifics

Example: Improve external

communications with the media

– Challenges: Media lacks information

about our products and services, technical

expertise to cover event

– Execution: Set up a closed group to reach

specific reporters to connect informally,

educate and inform them about new

products and services that may result in

stories in media

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2. Identify key audiences, platforms

• Objective: Connect and engage with

present customers where they are.

– Challenge: Unaware of which social networks

customers are using and what they are saying

– Execution:

• Run a survey of present customer base

• Listen and monitor conversations

• Follow product ‘keywords’

• Determine content shared in which platforms

• Identify fans, competitors, critics, trolls

• Identify gaps in which you can add value

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Spectators/Watchers

Sharers

Commenters

Producers

Curators

Engagement pyramid

Source: Open Leadership, Charlene Li

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Advocacy: Help the fanbase

Satisfied customers,

Fanboy/girls: People who have

used your brand, product,

service. “Help them help you.”

Ideas: Blogger/Facebook/Twitter fan

outreach programme. Provide content they

can use, link, share, mashup, send to others.

Eg: company tour, photos, videos, free fun

apps, widgets, games, promos, prizes for

their readers.

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3. Tactics and methods

• Choose platform: Blogging, Facebook,

Twitter, YouTube

• Apps or tools: Free or custom-built

• What activities?

– Contests, conferences, events, concerts,

themed monthly features, video uploads,

community activities

• Offline activities:

– Outreach programmes, tweetups, tours,

exclusive giveaways for loyal customers,

community gatherings

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3. Tactics: ExamplesPlatform Description Objectives

Internal blogMultiple individual/group

blogs

Gauge social media talent:

For employees and interns

only

Internal forums Technology discussionsBetter communication, support

for customers

LinkedIn Business networking

Engagement: Make

employees, partners, suppliers

upload profiles, start a group

Wiki Collaborative publishing

Improve knowledge database

– open to employees,

partners, customers, students

Facebook PageShowcasing new products,

services, launches, eventsEngagement with advocates

Twitter Microblogging, openEngagement, brand

awareness, media relations

YouTube CEO’s speeches, talksPromote CEO thought

leadership, start conversations

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4. Resources: Internal, external

•What can the company handle?

•What resources can we dedicate

in terms of people, tech, etc?

•Accept that staff, customers may

be critical or negative.

• If the company’s culture is top-

down, command-and-control,

you need to break mould by

seeking third-party expert help.

•Third-party may not share

authentic voice of company

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Internal resources: The rollout

• Fail fast: People will appreciate

transparency. Don’t fear failures - first

time you make a mistake, try again.

• Lobby: Personal motivations matter: eg:

if there’s someone wanting a promotion

approach them individually. Get them on

board and to champion project early so they can claim

benefit later on. It’s all lobbying skills.

Champion: Champions come from all depts. Age is not

an issue. Just because someone is young doesn’t mean

he/her is innately ‘digital.’

Skeptics: Get some pessimists and skeptics on board.

Give them the tools, learn from their criticisms.

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Scenario 2: SWAT team: Get a small

team sneakily doing something and rack up

some small wins. (This method can backfire

though. Eg: A page that attracts attacks.)

4. Resources: scenariosScenario 1: Corporate-wide awareness

training: Drum up support for social media, identify

talent, bring in trainers, speakers.

Scenario 3: Start small with a few

external committed bloggers, social

networkers and tweeters and roll out

wider if necessary.

NOTE: Document successes and failures

and lessons from above.

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5. Budget

• Agency costs

• Custom-built apps

• Web design

• Additional internal staff

• External freelancers: bloggers,

photographers, videographers, designers,

database programmers

• Prizes and giveaways

• Sponsorship for events

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6. Metrics, KPIs, success criteria

• You cannot improve what you don’t

measure

• Quantitative and qualitive metrics

• Set up monitoring tools to measure

downloads, views, followers, likes,

engagement, sentiment

• Don’t be afraid to set high numbers,

ambitious goals to grow community

• Constantly challenge the team

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On management buy-in

ROI: There is no silver bullet to building a

business case for using social media• The 1st question is often ‘How can this make money?’ but it

should be ‘How can we help our customers?’

• Evaluate the cost to achieve the same by traditional means

ie: print advertising, marketing, support and IT dept costs.

• Justification: “If we don’t, our competitors will take market

share.”

• Financial Dept: Give them the numbers.

• HR: Talk about staff retention.

• IT: Talk about leverage to buy new toys.

• Legal: Aim of legal dept is to reduce risk to zero. Businesses

work by taking and managing risks.

• Executive buy-in will expedite the financial, legal, HR teams

getting on board.

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Example of social media policy

•Use common sense (don’t piss off

your boss)

•Do not post entries that are

personal attacks or culturally

sensitive or religiously offensive

•Do not discuss unreleased

products and features

•Post a standard company

disclaimer on your blog, profile

page and disclose affiliation to

company or specific projects

•If you post all or parts of an

internal email, conceal the names

of the sender and recipients

• When expressing an opinion,

emphasize that you speak only for

yourself, beginning a sentence

with "IMHO"

• If you doubt the appropriateness

of a post, ask a peer what they

think and then read it again the

next day as if it were headline in a

newspaper.

• Do not post too much noise (ie:

inane accounts of your boredom

with life)

• Respect the platform, be an adult

• Keep it friendly, and have fun

• Be wary of copyright issuesEG: http://channel9.msdn.com/About/

http://womma.org/blogger/read

http://www.intel.com/sites/sitewide/en_US/social-media.htm

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Dealing with the trolls

Source: Forrester Research

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Signs of success… on Google

When company or brand is Googled:1. Leads me to company website, Facebook page, Twitter

account, official blog, other owned media or staff’s social

media pages

2. Leads to news stories, active discussions and commentary

on social media sites on issues related to company

3. Does not lead to something controversial or negative,

(unless a lesson to be learnt)

When staff are individually Googled:

1. Doesn’t come up blank.

2. Leads me to their online blog, webpage or social media

profiles and company is identified.

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Signs of success on blogs

They have interesting things to say about your CEO, your

company, products, services and your industry

They share and link regularly to interesting ideas, stories and

posts from your official accounts

They provide glimpses into how you are humanizing your

brand for them

They do not bad-mouth your company or staff (caveat: unless

there is a lesson worth learning)

They seem genuine and honest in their opinions of your front-

facing staff, company, brand, products, services

Adapted from Boris Epstein, CEO and Founder

of BINC

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Signs that your social media

strategy is working on Twitter

You often find positive tweets about your

company, many re-tweets of your posts

Your replies are viewed positively and seem

genuine and authentic

Your official account is growing steadily and as

a diverse set of followers

You keep a healthy balance between personal

and professional tweets

You engage in discussions related to your

business and seem to be an authority in your

field

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Signs your community is

working on Facebook

Community is responding well to your regular

updates with increased Likes, Shares, Comments

Fans sign up on your Events fast

Fans leave comments and show genuine interest

in wanting to engage with brand and admins

Fans are enthused and constantly finding new

content to keep conversations fresh.

Fans find updates relevant to their profession and

industry

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Signs of success on LinkedIn

Users in your group have complete profiles

They make genuine recommendations

about peers, managers and colleagues

They voluntarily answer questions

They are linking to their employer, blog and

other projects of interest.

They are participating and getting involved

discussion in the community.

2015 and beyond1. It’s early days yet… go for it.

2. Be a sponge: Learn as much as you can, all day, everyday, from anyone.

3. Begin with the end in mind: Plan how you will integrate your new skills with workflow immediately. Have incentives and rewards in place.

4. There are no shortcuts. Building online communities surrounding social content takes time, your entire team AND your community needs to be behind you.

5. Expect to fail: It is still a period of experimentation so try, fail, try, fail, try, fail, try again.

6. You will get better at it.

7. People will care, if you care.