How to implement a Social Media Strategy (Part 1): Where do you stand and where do you want to go?

by Stephanie Weg

Last week I wrote about how to get into Social Media as a "beginner". Today, I want to elaborate on how you can go about putting together a Social Media strategy. YNovation has developed a framework called “SOCIAL” which allows you to create a Social Media strategy which suits exactly your company. 
Let’s look at the first three components of this framework today.


1)  S - Status Quo

The first step in building a strategy is to know you stand today: Assess your current situation in terms of Social Media equity: What knowledge is there in terms of Social Media in your company? Are there initiatives and processes around it, how are they coordinated and what are the results? What is already available about your business in the Social Web, provided by you, or maybe by others? What do you competitors do? 
Try to get a clear answer to all these questions to you know what your Status Quo is. Once you have an overview of the current situation, you can define your Objectives. 


2)    O - Objectives
The ROI of Social Media is subject of many heated discussions. Our firm belief is that Social Media has to have an ROI to be worth it. It might not always be a short-term rise in sales, but there has to be something in this for your business. 
Defining business objectives is key in making your Social Media strategy a measurable success for your company. 

So define why you want to use Social Media and what the business benefits that you want to achieve are? 
There is a long list of opportunities: You could boost your sales, increase customer satisfaction, source new ideas for product development, connect customers to evoke more passion around your brand, enhance your brand image, market new products, improve internal communications, and many more. Always keep in mind that Social Media somewhat integrates different interactions. Since all conversations are transparent, happy customers on the Social Web might also increase sales by others who see how happy your current customers are. 
To make sure you can track this, use this step also to break down your objectives to clear, measurable operative results. Consider indicators like sales figures, customer service efficiency, customer feedback and other traditional measurements of business success. 


3)  C- Clear Targets
Now, after you have defined what benefit Social Media is expected to bring to your business in measurable operative figures, you can translate these into Social Media results. 

Let me give you a straightforward example: If you aim to increase your sales, track direct sales through Social Media platforms or changes in Sales aligned with Social Media campaigns.  
Not as intuitive, for instance, is how to track more indirect objectives such as customer satisfaction or brand equity. One Social Media metric you might want to measure here is “positive replies to answers you give your customers on Facebook” or “sentiment towards your company or your brand in the Social Web”. 

Defining meaningful metrics is one of the most difficult, but most important parts of creating your Social Media strategy. We will see next week why.