How to implement a Social Media Strategy (Part 2): How are you going to achieve your targets?

by Stephanie Weg

Last week’s article  described how you can start building a Social Media Strategy by checking your Status Quo, defining your Business Objectives and by breaking them down into clear targets, measurable Social Media metrics.  

This week, I will explain the other 3 steps in the YNovation SOCIAL framework.

4)    I – Initiatives

After setting the base with the first three steps of the framework, you can now define the content of your Social Media Strategy. Decide who your target audience is and which interactions you want to support in the Social Web. Define which resources, content, tone of voice and processes you want to use to frame the initiatives. Also define community guidelines for your audience to make sure you have terms of use in case something does go wrong. Always think back to your business targets and apply the three core considerations for a successful Social Media campaign.

5) A- Architecture

Now, and only now is the time to define the platforms you will use in your Social Media strategy. It is increasingly important to make sure that your Social Media presence is not tool-driven. Tools might change, and they always have to be just a means of creating initiatives which support your type of business and resonate with your target audience. If the people who you want to reach are not on the most popular platforms, you do not need to be there either.
So think carefully about which platform(s) best support your Social Media initiatives, the conversations and interactions you want to have with your clients. Often, it will be the big names (such as Facebook or YouTube), but there will be cases in which it is not about getting the biggest audience, but rather using a small niche product which allows you to enable the conversation with your intended audience in the most suitable way.

6)    L-Loop

This is the point where we come back to the ROI. If you go to the effort of creating a Social Media Strategy and being “out there”, you want to get some benefits out of this. Once you are running your Social Media Initiatives, make sure you “loop back”: Review your activities and track your metrics, in the Social Media space as well as your operative results.
It is often hard to exactly hit the mark at the first attempt, so be ready to adjust your initiatives and remember that Social Media is considered to be always in beta, i.e., in testing stage. Having to change things is not a failure, after all, Social Media is about listening to your audience and learning from them how to improve your business. 

With this framework, you have a step-by-step description of how to create a Social Media Strategy. I'd love to hear how you go!