Today, thanks to the internet, different groups of people get their
news, entertainment and influence from many different channels.
Traditional media
are no longer the default "news" source. Social media channels continue
to become more targeted, more dynamic and more influential.
Trying to figure out a strategy
for each social media channel will make your head spin. There's just
too much
out there
and each channel has its own do's and don'ts. There needs to be a
focus. Your social media strategy has to be a means to an end and not
an end unto
itself.
At Base Camp Comm., we've been
using a social media strategy referred to as the Starfish Strategy.
Just as a
real starfish has arms that reach out to feed
the main body, the social media starfish has arms that reach out to
different pools of people and bring them into a main destination
(corporate web
site, blog, newsletter subscription sign-up, contest page..).
The social media starfish
incorporates all or some of the following: social networks
(Facebook, MySpace...), content communities (YouTube, Flickr...),
blogs/vlogs publishing platforms, social bookmarking (DIGG,
Del.icio.us..), wikis,
online communities and even email newsletter strategies. The idea is
that social media applications literally become an arm or arms of your
marketing strategy.
So, how do you figure out what your starfish looks like, what arms do you
have?
Your social strategy is part of your overall brand strategy:
- What do we want to say (Messages)
- To whom? (Audiences)
- From where do these audiences get their news and entertainment (Targets)
- How do we deliver our messages, to our audiences through these targets (Tactics)
If you know that your younger male target customer gets most of their news, entertainment and influence through
social networks, you'll need to develop a tactic to address the social networks. If you know that your customers enjoy shooting and sharing photos,
you'll need to develop a strategy for Flickr and such.
Which groups use which channels? How do you measure success? What
kind of resources do you need to budget for to be effective? How do these
arms work together? Knowing the answers to these questions is a start.
The key is to make sure that all of these arms reaching out are designed to pull or drive people into a main
site or action, like the corporate site, signing up for a contest, requesting more info. And, make sure whatever you do is measurable.
By following this outline, social media channels will
naturally become part of your brand communications strategy. This focus helps streamline and clarify your strategy and remove some of the
head-spinning that goes on in social media strategy discussions.
