As presented to the Schieffer School of Journalism faculty at TCU, February 13, 2010, this deck walks through the basis of a sound social media strategy by examining the high level concepts of community, content, conversations and connections.

1. The Four Cs of Social Media:Building the right foundation for your Social Media strategy © 2010, m strategies inc. All Rights Reserved.

2. Many agencies just offer clients Facebook and MySpace pages and call that ‘social media strategy.’ While those two huge social networking sites can be valuable tactics within today’s public relations strategies, they are not the panacea. That’s why MSI customizes its solutions, by asking “what is it that you want your community to do?” so that clients are not receiving a generic approach, but one that will help them meet their business goals.

3. It’s all about Community! Whether you’re in journalism or in strategic communications, the idea behind launching a social media strategy is to gather people around your brand. But how?

4. Community: (n) a unified body of individuals

5. So what makes an online community?

6. All social media platforms operate on the same basic premise.

7. COMMUNITY SHARING

8. What do you want your community to do? First, you must understand your audience and their influencers.

9. Must Reflect Your community’s/Brand’s core values CONTENT Video Audio Slidecasts News Discussions Blog Posts Live streams Links

10. Must Reflect Your Desired Positioning & Values CONVERSATIONS Thought leadership Resource for answers Customer Relations/Service Insights on Trends and Issues Related industry news Brand news/initiatives Messages and calls to action But what about control? Be prepared to lose some. It’s ok. Remember that while your brand is the moderator, your job is to LISTEN even more than you SPEAK. Aim to spur the conversation, not necessarily lead it all the time.

11. This is how your community grows. CONNECTIONS Between your brand and your community Between each community member Between your community members and potential community members Ultimately, between your brand and new community members Shared content and conversations that resonate, stimulate more meaningful connections. Your brand values remain at the core. The more your community connects with others, the more new community members connect with your brand.

12. Now, you not only have a Community. You have Online “Brand Fans.”

13. The Larger Discourse is an Important One Discussing the 4 C’s before delving into a more tactical discourse allows you to Truly understand your goals for your social media strategy Take inventory of the content you have and the content you need to develop your social media strategy Begin to research the social media platforms that would best fit your content and your community Conduct a “gut check” on what you will and will not say as a brand Determine if you are truly ready for a social media presence, i.e. staffing/budget to launch, sustain and manage ongoing Enough content and conversations to spur connections Launch into a “Listen and Learn” phase to understand the potential for your community online.

14. More on the Four Cs from our blog Starting the Conversation. Building Community Content & Connections Why Some Brands Would Fail Kindergarten: They Don’t Like Sharing.

15. contact us MSI Dallas HQs 208 N. Market St. Suite 375 Dallas, Texas 75202 214.741.2100 MSI Atlanta 400 Perimeter Terrace Northeast Suite 900 Atlanta, Georgia 30346 770.392.4241 mstrategiesinc.com © 2009, m strategies inc. dallas׀chicago׀atlanta