“Social Media Strategy” , the Sally Falkow (Expansion Plus) authored guide to Web 2.0 and online PR, offers a simplistic, yet informative look into the social web.
The guide tells us that to reach your publics you should start by “telling your stories directly and do it in a way that sparks conversations.” So exactly how do you do that, you ask? Well “Social Media Strategy” clues us in on our ability to:
Listen to conversations. It’s possible to get ROI, Falkow says, but it pays to know where you’re going and what you want to achieve. One of your best bets would be to use social media site like Google News Alerts, IceRocket, Twitter Search, etc. to find out:
- who is talking about you
- what they are saying
- is it negative or positive
- what communities talk about you
- what are your competitors doing in social media
- what’s the buzz about them
And just like that, you can “establish your share of voice” and “do in-depth research at virtually no-cost.”
Identify the influencers. Accuracy and trust are two important keys to influence. We need to be able to reach the bloggers, “who can cause others to take action, change their perception and/or their behavior.” Parameters such as site traffic, inbound links, reader engagement, recommendations, etc., help determine which networks to focus on.
Engage Your Audience. Not sure how to come up with interesting content? Falkow explains that “once you have a content strategy, bright ideas will naturally flow about what to create and how to deliver this content.”
“93% of the Internet users active in social media say they expect a company to have social media presence and to be able to actively engage with that company.”
Company blog, anyone?
Measure your results. “Social Media Strategy” speaks on arguably one of the most important topics in social media: tracking your share of conversation — the degree to which a brand is associated with the problem or need that it is setting out to help with.
“If you can’t measure it [results], you can’t manage it. It’s that simple. You need know where you are when you start, what needs to be achieved and as you move along the path you have to have tools to measure your progress.”
These are only a few highlights from Sally Falkow’s “Social Media Strategy”. You can download and view the full whitepaper, with its full list of tips and social media strategies here.
“Markets are indeed Conversations. Listen, learn, and respond.”
