Perhaps you don’t know where to start, that’s ok. Every project, person or business requires something unique, a special treat, it’s a new adventure.
On the other hand, perhaps you are tired of listening terms such as social media, new media, human media or social business, social CRM and so on. I believe that it can be annoying when people talk too much about these “buzzwords,” let alone not showing real results or even giving a starting point. Please, we need something actionable and applicable from you, please.
Here you have my “no problemo” approach, I would like to provide you with some movements that may help in your path towards building an online presence. Find here some of the essential points for implementing the social web, social media and so, new media into your business.
How to implement the Social Web into your business
– Strategic formulation: design, structure, integration, implementation and the make-of of a strategy based on general and specific goals. Think about how this fits into the business model, it should be integrated within the overall business strategy and aligned with the offline marketing and communication. Also consider the role that SEO, digital marketing, creativity, web development, APPs and mobile marketing are playing.
– Training and guidance: A must for most of the group, this is something complicated because many brands either allocate one / two people to work on it or go for the outsourcing model. As we have seen many times and you probably know, Social Media is not an isolated case, neither will it do the magic. The real potential lies in integrating people and processes and making them work. You should be looking for interdepartmental work, which means involving all company areas in the online interaction. Make use of the training process to harness that opportunity and inspire those people.
Do not sell complicated to people who come to you to buy simple. Once you have opened their minds and hearts, it is the right time for using the the tools, platforms, APPs, channels and media more effectively, so they’ll have the tools to reach their goals – theirs, not yours.
– Social processes: interactive works, social media customer care, online-emotional touchpoints, community funnel, best practices handbooks (internal and external) and cross media. Basically, offline-online job transformation, taking departments and processes to the social web and developing extended functions.
– Social Media guidance, creation, distribution and leadership: choose someone who is close and in constant contact with your business. They are the ones who should create, distribute, exchange and share social objects: pictures, videos, posts, podcasts, etc. Don’t manage, but lead.
– Development, optimization and understanding of the Social Web Ecosystem: first select the tools, channels, APPs, mediums and platforms. Then develop a highly online-oriented strategy supported by let’s say, two main goals based on the intended typology, quirks and peculiarities. Finally allocate resources and schedule each of them. The result: you have already designed a customized online ecosystem for your business. The main idea is that it allows you to see the big picture of your online strategy.
– Community engagement: lead, build interactive bridges between brands and people, respond, redistribute and filter content, connect and interact with your audience. Say what you are going to do, how, where and with whom.
– Actions: ideas, ideas, ideas, ideas and more ideas. You have only one big commitment, being accountable for the brilliance, you are responsible for the online campaigns and social media actions that will impact your audience, but most importantly, it should be designed to reach your goals: monetization, branding, visibility, virality, direct sales, traffic, etc,
– Reputation, tracking and monitoring: online branding, naming, digital corporate identity, listening techniques (opportunities and threats). Sending reports about what is said about the brand within the online landscape. Furthermore, taking care of the brand, its reputation and carry on with a qualitative and quantitative brand analysis. What happens in our brand atmosphere is really useful in order to get the word out .
– Monetization: set up the techniques and methods which you would help you obtain the expected ROI. You are waiting to get something in return, aren’t you?
Is there any other advice that you would add about the implementation of new media in your business? What is your take on this?
Photo credit: conexus marketing.