Engaging in the social space isn’t easy…and it sure isn’t cheap. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either trying to sell you their “social media expertise” or hasn’t ever worked their way through a crisis situation where their customers are angry and rallying against them with a tirade of angry posts and comments. Because it is challenging and costly to participate, a lot of executives are asking why they should bother? And they are right to ask the question!
Before launching new social media channels and campaigns, you should be thinking through the specifics of what you want to accomplish with channels like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Each has their own opportunities, so each can provide a variety of different results. Yes…it’s difficult to answer the question of “what will we get for our investment in social media?“, but if you think through your business, I’m positive you can find opportunities to recoup an investment in content, channels and the energy required to engage with your community. The key is to align the intent of the channel with the goals of our organization and the needs of your customers.
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Hopefully, the conversations in the comic above aren’t happening in your company. If they are, take a moment and think through what you want to accomplish and what your customers are expecting of you. Get some smart folks in a room and brainstorm around the goals of social. Take some time to think through how you’ll explain to your executives that the time and budget are a wise investment.
Don’t just do it because the Marketing department said so.
Cheers!
–Sean
marc
Monday 6th of May 2013
I am lost when it comes to social media marketing, this article explains exactly my disconnect with what or how facebook can or can't do for me. And twitter -what is that for, which I do have an account there too???
Patrick Griffin (@chattopatrick)
Friday 3rd of May 2013
Hi Sean, Absolutely brilliant. So many people never stop to think of the "why" when it comes to business. To do something, such as launching a FB page, because an expert tells you to it is missing the whole point. Without a clear strategy and set of aims and objectives in place you will never hope to achieve anything meaningful from the project. Put simply. People should always be asking "why?" Why? Because the answer to the question is what will drive the project forward.