The document provides guidance on building a successful organizational social media program. It recommends establishing an executive champion, clear lines of authority, a social media evangelist, metrics and measurement, partnership with legal, social media policies, and employee education. It stresses the importance of defining goals, selecting the right measurement tools, and growing engagement. It also offers tips for working with influencers, handling social media crises, and publishing guidance in a book.
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The social media strategist awareness 1-19-12 v4
1. The Social Media Strategist
Building A Successful Program From The Inside Out
Christopher Barger, SVP Global Social Media, Voce Connect
Awareness Networks
January 19, 2011
6. Organizational Social Media:
“Lucky Seven” Essential Elements
• An Executive Champion
• Clear Lines of Authority
• A Social Media Evangelist
• Sensible Metrics & Measurement
• Partnership with Legal
• A Solid Social Media Policy
• Employee Education and
Training
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8. The Executive Champion
• Has credible authority
• Can moderate disputes
• Can sell to the C-suite
• Can provide or raise budget
• Liaison between social & greater
strategy
• Strong relationship with social media
evangelist
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10. Lack of Clarity: Risks
“Too Many Cooks In The Kitchen,” John
• Inconsistent online Cherry
presence and brand
personality
– Audience confusion
• Internal turf wars drain
energy, attention and
resources
• Staff frustration and burnout
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12. Clear Lines of Authority
• “Lead” does not mean “exclusive”
• No other business strategy executes
independently; social shouldn‟t either
• Regular contact and collaboration is
necessary for success
• Guard actively against development of
“box-checking” mentality
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14. The Social Media Evangelist:
Internal Keys To The Role
• Not just a “social media rock star”
• More than just a community
manager
– Strategist with business focus
– Consensus and bridge builder internally
• Equally focused on – and adept at
– the internal aspect of the job
– Can delegate as opportunity to do so arises
• Has some experience or seasoning
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15. The Social Media Evangelist:
External Keys To The Role
• Actively involved in
social networks
• Comfortable showing some
personality
• Rents, doesn‟t own
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16. Dealbreakers: For The Business
• Overemphasis on personal brand
• No marketing or PR background
• Hasn‟t done homework
• Social media-speak
• Catch-phrases
• Unrelated titles/professional immaturity
• Hasn‟t delivered business results
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17. Dealbreakers: For The Candidate
• Lack of clarity in the organization
over “who owns social”
• No clear champion for social – or for
you
• Unclear or no commitment of
resources
• Failure to understand, accept or
commit to interaction
• Social media is pushed to the
kids‟ table
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18. ROI & Measurement
• Define “success” and know what you want
to see before you start
• Know your zero point
• Select the measurement tools that fit your
goals
• Numbers don‟t mean what you might think
they mean
– Up to 47% of Twitter accounts are abandoned
– 57% of Facebook users hide brand content in their
news feeds
• Grow your engagement as zealously (or
more so) as your reach Source: eMarketer
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19. Working With Legal: Why?
• Recognize that you have similar goals: the
company‟s best interests
• Recognize that “the right thing” in social
and the company‟s best interests aren‟t
always directly parallel
– Transparency is not a zero-sum game
• There is no longer anything such as “ask
forgiveness later”
• Opportunity to create your own legal
social media „experts‟
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20. What Legal Brings To The Table
• Understanding & informed
interpretation of FTC guidelines
• Knowledge & informed interpretation
of emerging case law
• Experienced eye for policy
development
• Rules and ToC for contests and
promotions
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21. Building Social Media Policies
• Why?
– Protects organization and employees
• Who?
– All functions that affect or are affected by social
• How?
– Sync with established business guidelines
– Compromise will be necessary
– Policy and “usage guide” are not the same thing
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22. Good Social Media Policies:
Common Elements
• A statement that employees are expected to follow
organizational ethics guidelines in the social web
• Reminders of individual responsibility and liability
• Reminder of the need for disclaimers that employees do not
speak for the organization
• Disclosure of affiliation with the organization when posting
• Respect for copyright and fair use laws
• Honoring the confidentiality of proprietary or internal
information
• Prohibitions on hate speech, ethnic slurs, etc.
• Privacy and discretion reminders
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23. Education and Training
• Tier 1: The Basics
– Review social media policy
– Familiarization with tools and platforms, uses
– Etiquette guide
– Resources for learning
– Points of contact within the organization
• Tier 2: Advanced for Regular Use
– Instruction on how to represent the brand
– Case studies
– Scenario planning and “war games”
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24. Education and Training
• Tier 3: Everyday Reps
– Outside speakers
– Conferences and influencer events
– Direct experience
• Doing the training
– Intranet modules
– Classroom instruction – both lecture and lab
– Ongoing education
• Lunch and learn/brown bag sessions
• Newsletters and emails
• Internal social communities (Yammer, SocialCast, etc.)
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25. “Immerse and Disperse”
• 15+ people did a stint on
social media team
• Served approximately one
year
• Moved on to other parts of
the business
• Result: 20+ “experts,”
dozens more at
intermediate level
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26. Working Smartly With Online Influencers
• Get over yourself
• Know & follow the FTC guidelines
• Do your homework
• Don‟t be a lounge lizard
• Be involved offline
• Be clear – about everything
• Use the right people from your brand
• Monitor and follow up
• Build your community of advocates
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27. Get over yourself
• Ditch the big brand hubris; they‟ve built
their audience without you.
• Relevance: make sure your pitch actually
fits the influencer‟s personality, audience,
usual subjects – not because you say so.
• Your executive‟s title doesn‟t mean
anything. In fact, no one knows who they
• are. all about you! Lead with their
It‟s not
interests and topics.
• Follow up. Every time.
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28. Social Media Crisis: (Stuff) Happens
• If you are active in social
media, something will go
wrong.
• The trick is not preventing
crisis, it is in how you
handle one when it
happens.
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29. Six To Fix:
The 6 Types of Social Media Crisis
• Individual generated
• Customer service #fail
• Campaign
• Social media #fail
• Organizational brain freeze
• Three Mile Island
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30. Crisis Response: Common Themes
• Keep your social team in the loop
• Apologies go a long way
• Speed is critical
• Don‟t delete criticism
• Your audience isn‟t just the critics
• Use the right tools
• Get caught learning from it
• Keep engaging and follow up
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31. The Book
How to build an organizational social
media practice
Available at stores, on Amazon.com,
on Kindle, and barnesandnoble.com
Facebook.com/thesocialmediastrategis
t
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