How to Build Your Social Media Strategy

Q: I would like to know if you have a social media marketing plan template I could use to get some measurable strategies in place.  I will be getting an administrative assistant soon.  With that being said, that could become a part of the assistants job description.

A: I don’t think that social media lends itself easily to templating. Sure, there are some building blocks, such as 

• blogs  - yours and others in your niche that you can comment on
• social bookmarking sites – Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, etc
• social networking sites – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn are big three, but there are scores of others
• forums and Ning communities
• photo, audio and video sharing sites – YouTube, Flickr and such 
• wikis

 Then there are basic elements that are a must if you plan on participating (Problogger talked about the elements of social media at length):

1. Tuning into the conversations – listening to your clients’ and competitors’ chatter around your brand, your niche, your products/services, their needs and desires that are relevant to what you have to offer.
2. Figuring out the channels that are most relevant to you and which ones you want to participate in (out of hundreds of available options).
3. Participating in and leading conversations in selected channels.
4. Creating and distributing conversation-worthy content that promotes your message.
5. Interacting with your friends, followers, contacts, clients, prospects, competitors, partners in a way that builds relationships

But before you get to all this, you have to figure out what is it you’re trying to achieve with social media marketing. You have to have clear goals whether these are creating awareness of your business; building your authority as an expert in your niche; building up, monitoring or repairing your company’s reputation; attracting visitors to your website; selling; etc.
 
Finally, a word about outsourcing or delegating your social media work. And the word is “extreme caution” (ok, so it’s really two words).  Yes, social media will require your time and plenty of it. But if you need to clear up your schedule, start by delegating something else – e-mails, bookkeeping, content writing, admin duties, answering phones, etc.

If you think you don’t have time to converse with your clients and prospects, then eliminate some of the channels, conversation frequency, and/or number of connections you make (the smaller is your network, the easier it is to keep up with).

First of all, finding an admin assistants with knowledge and understanding of social media  as well as copywriting skills is pretty difficult. (And no, having a personal blog and a Facebook profile does not immediately make one a social media expert, not even close.) 

But an even more important reason is this (and I’m going to quote from this very thorough article on SmartBlogs:

Entrusting your brand’s voice to a bunch of strangers-– or anyone not directly integrated and passionate about your brand-– is risky business. The idea behind social media is to be authentic– for it to really BE YOU. (Faux celeb Tweeters anyone?) Your own voice is what wins cred with your customers. 

The problem with social media (apart from being pretty time-consuming) is that there’s more and more junk clogging the pipes now. More than ever you have to be remarkable, authentic and patient to get through layers of automation, spamming and old-style broadcasting. If you do, social media can be a powerful marketing and business development tool.

Technorati Tags: social media, social media strategy, outsourcing, virtual assistant, social media virtual assistant

Related posts:

1. How is Social Media Used for Business?
2. Should I Automate Social Media
3. Social Networks – Are You in the Right Ones?