“Among all things managers do, nothing affects a company’s ultimate success or failure more fundamentally than how well its management team charts the company’s direction, develops competitively effective strategic moves and business approaches, and pursues good day-in, day-out strategy execution and operating excellence.”
- Arthur Thompson, AJ Strickland III, and John Gamble
One of the most frustrating moments for a marketing manager is being required to answer the question, “so why isn't this social media thing working?” from a company stakeholder. If that's you, you're not alone, as so many companies, large and small, desperately want to see a return on investment in this wondrous channel called “social media.” After trying it out, many people are wondering what all the hype is about.
Despite the fact that many of companies are realizing success using tools like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, other companies are not. There are of course several reasons why this is the case, but success or failure always starts with planning and strategy - or lack thereof.
When it comes to figuring a company’s social architecture around social — where a social media team should reside in a company, there are several options
There has been a healthy discussion around the concept of the Social Customer that I've been observing and participating in, and this post was inspired by this particular discussion.
Conventional wisdom states that there are two types of followers in social media. There are those who share your content, ‘like’, retweet or comment on your posts, and interact or converse with you...and those who don’t. Or, in social media speak, those that are engaged and those that aren’t. But let me introduce to you a different scenario, one that’s relevant whether or not any given follower is engaged or not. Have you ever stopped to consider the ‘value’ of a follower or group of followers, irrespective of whether they interact with you or not?
Engaging your brand in social media is easier said than done. There are many factors to consider when executing an effective social media strategy. Instead of watching the train wreck hurt your brand, here are warning signs of a weak social media strategy that you need to be aware of before things really get bad:
Perhaps the most difficult aspects of Social Media to embrace are the changes in our behavior and overall philosophy it necessitates in order to earn relevance and ultimately prominence in consumer hearts, minds, and markets.
Simply put, Social Media makes us vulnerable and officially ends an era of perceived control threaded by the illusion of invincibility.
A recent study by Econsultancy called “The Value of Social Media” shows that companies are overwhelmingly using the “Big 4″ of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Linkedin for their social media efforts.
And while I don’t have any issues with those sites (in fact I wrote about Facebook marketing in-depth here), but is treating social media like a checklist really the best possible solution for your company?
One of the most frustrating moments for a marketing manager is being required to answer the question, “so why isn't this social media thing working?” from a company stakeholder. If that's you, you're not alone, as so many companies, large and small, desperately want to see a return on investment in this wondrous channel called “social media.” After trying it out, many people are wondering what all the hype is about.
