One thing strikes me recently when learning about social media was when I was reading “Social Media ROI” by Olivier Blanchard,
“Whenever I hear people say that their company either has or sells a “”social media strategy,” I cringe. There is no such thing as a “social media strategy.” It is kind of like having a “telephone strategy” or an “email strategy.” It’s a meaningless buzzword. What you do have, however, are business objectives and strategies to achieve these objectives. Start with those and incorporate social into them.”
And when I heard Robert Michael Murray, Vice President of Social Media at National Geographic, talk about how he thinks his position is eventually not necessary, because you would not have “VP of Telephone,” or “VP of Email” in the company. I was reminded again of how basic but important this acknowledgement is.
Social media might be a new and fancy tool, but it is eventually a tool, and the power of a tool can only be unleashed until you know how to use it correctly.
Since Facebook launched in 2004, “Social Media” becomes the new hip term, a creature from next generation. But there will always be new technology popping up, just as the latest buzz that Google+ created.So I am a firm supporter for the POST method for strategy development –people and objectives first, strategy next, technology last, and therefore the focus should be on developing the “Social Strategy” rather than “Social Media Strategy” for a business/organization.
Before learning how to use social media, it is more important to learn how to create a social business culture: to listen, to understand, to engage, and to embrace your audience. If there is just no social DNA in a company/organization, your social media might be just manifesting that to your audience : We Don’t Really Care (a dxxx) About YOU! , which can hardly help to increase your sales or to strengthen the relationship with your valuable customers.
So even though it’s tempting to have a Facebook page, a Twitter profile, and even a fancy YouTube channel, plus one nice looking blog. It might be worthy to spend few moments to answer some really fundamental questions about how social you are willing to be?
Evelyn Chang's Marketing Lab 