Social Media Strategy Framework Steve Sponder Headstream

Social Media Strategy Framework Steve Sponder Chief Digital Officer, Headstream // headstreampr.com blog.stevesponder.com // @stevesponder Image Credit: [email_address]

There are certainly no shortage of agencies offering social media tactics to brands although almost all of this activity is crude, forcing a conventional advertising approach into this new social media environment.

Social media has disrupted the conventional marketing model. People are one click away from the perfect job, the ideal product, a damming video diary or the 5 star review.

Access to, and control over, this information results in different behaviour and attitudes. We believe social media is disrupting marketing and business models and the result will be more profound than the introduction of the Internet.

Brands need to adopt different mindsets, models, approaches and strategies to meet their commercial objectives. In order to help brands adapt to this change we have developed a Social Media Strategic Framework which we believe will enable brands to strategically navigate through, as opposed to just blindly rolling out the latest, must-have tactics.

As organisations start to understand the far reaching implications of social media they quickly appreciate the need to define a social media strategy that mutually supports other strategies within the organisation.

Work with cross-organisation stakeholders to identify how social media will contribute to your organisations objectives

Consider how online reputation, influencer networks, brand outposts and engagement activity will feature in your social media strategy

A comprehensive strategy, consistently implemented will ensure your brand is an authentic part of the social media community and the ROI will be increased brand equity.

1) Social Media Strategy Development

Arguably, real-time eavesdropping on what people are saying about your brand is one of the most immediate benefits of social media marketing although, conversely engaging in a negative conversation could escalate in a full blown crisis so again a clear separate strategy is required here.

Put in place a robust online reputation management strategy which identifies how to listen to and engage with the social media community as well as policies and protocols for crisis management.

2) Online Reputation Management

Influencers will play different roles within different market-sectors, so the key here is to understand how to identify them, the role they play and how to engage with them.

Identify key influencers within the social media community and invest in building mutually beneficial relationships.

3) Influencer Networks

Don't just set-up a Twitter account because everyone's doing it. Take a step back and think about how your outposts will support your social media strategy, who will run your outposts and where the content will come from?

Create the appropriate profiles across social networks and put plans in place to ensure they are working hard towards the over-arching social media strategy.

4) Brand Outposts

Brands with something interesting, useful and/or relevant to say should be aiming to start conversations, using branded content as social currency. A distribution strategy will then ensure that engaging content has the best opportunity to kick-start a conversation.

Run activity which is designed to start conversations by creating engaging content and well planned distribution strategies.

5) Conversation & Engagement Activity

In conclusion, the strategic intent should be for organisations to be an authentic part of the social media community and appropriate conversations, along the way there will be immediate, tangible results although like branding, social media is about the long-haul. It's about systemically and consistently building the reputation of the brand where the pay-back is ultimately brand equity.