Building a Strategy for Social Media
The Road To RoI
Building a Strategy for Social Marketing Success
INTRODUCTION
The era of social media has taught marketers an important new truth: You no longer control how consumers perceive your brand. What matters most today is not what you say about your brand — it’s what consumers say about it. Successful social brands understand that they must influence this conversation without trying to control it. But how do they accomplish that? The road to social marketing success begins with a strategy built around five key initiatives: 1. Integrating social into the marketing mix 2. Organizing for social 3. Aligning social to business objectives 4. Engaging consumers 5. Building a multi-network presence This report explores these initiatives in-depth, and shares tips on how to incorporate them into your social marketing plan. Through a series of real-life examples and best practices, you’ll learn how to build a strategy that influences the conversation around your brand so you can get the most out of social. The Wildfire by Google Team
www.wildfireapp.com
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START WITH STRATEGY
The road to social marketing success begins with strategy. Surprising as it may be, many brands lack a true social strategy. Consider, for example, the results of a recent survey of enterprise-level brands: 70% of respondents characterized their social media efforts as meeting business goals, but only 43% claimed to have developed a strategy dictating how their efforts will meet specific business goals.1 In other words, while many marketers believe that they are achieving their goals with social, that belief often isn’t rooted in a clear understanding of what those goals are, or how success is measured.
STRATEGY
www.wildfireapp.com
3
START WITH STRATEGY
So what does it mean to have a social strategy? Marketers must keep five things in mind:
1. Integrate Social into the Marketing Mix
First, social needs to be an integrated part of the marketing mix, rather
Building a Strategy for Social Marketing Success
INTRODUCTION
The era of social media has taught marketers an important new truth: You no longer control how consumers perceive your brand. What matters most today is not what you say about your brand — it’s what consumers say about it. Successful social brands understand that they must influence this conversation without trying to control it. But how do they accomplish that? The road to social marketing success begins with a strategy built around five key initiatives: 1. Integrating social into the marketing mix 2. Organizing for social 3. Aligning social to business objectives 4. Engaging consumers 5. Building a multi-network presence This report explores these initiatives in-depth, and shares tips on how to incorporate them into your social marketing plan. Through a series of real-life examples and best practices, you’ll learn how to build a strategy that influences the conversation around your brand so you can get the most out of social. The Wildfire by Google Team
www.wildfireapp.com
2
START WITH STRATEGY
The road to social marketing success begins with strategy. Surprising as it may be, many brands lack a true social strategy. Consider, for example, the results of a recent survey of enterprise-level brands: 70% of respondents characterized their social media efforts as meeting business goals, but only 43% claimed to have developed a strategy dictating how their efforts will meet specific business goals.1 In other words, while many marketers believe that they are achieving their goals with social, that belief often isn’t rooted in a clear understanding of what those goals are, or how success is measured.
STRATEGY
www.wildfireapp.com
3
START WITH STRATEGY
So what does it mean to have a social strategy? Marketers must keep five things in mind:
1. Integrate Social into the Marketing Mix
First, social needs to be an integrated part of the marketing mix, rather
Cited: 1. Owyang, Jeremiah. “A Strategy for Managing Social Media Proliferation.” http://www.slideshare.net/jeremiah_owyang/smms-report-010412finaldraft# 2. Moorman, Christine. “Six Reasons Social Marketing Budgets are on the Rise.” http://cmosurvey.org/blog/six-reasons-marketing-budgets-are-on-the-rise/ 3. Moorman, Christine. “The Social Media Integration Gap.” http://cmosurvey.org/ blog/the-social-media-integration-gap/ 4. Owyang, Jeremiah. “A Strategy for Managing Social Media Proliferation.” http://www.slideshare.net/jeremiah_owyang/smms-report-010412finaldraft# 5. Owyang, Jeremiah. “A Strategy for Managing Social Media Proliferation.” http://www.slideshare.net/jeremiah_owyang/smms-report-010412finaldraft# 6. Owyang, Jeremiah. “A Strategy for Managing Social Media Proliferation.” http://www.slideshare.net/jeremiah_owyang/smms-report-010412finaldraft# 7. Barry, Chris. “Putting social media to work.” http://www.bain.com/publications/ articles/putting-social-media-to-work.aspx 8. Li, Charlene. “ENGAGEMENTdb.” http://www.altimetergroup.com/2009/07/ engagementdb.html 9. Wildfire internal data. 10. comScore, “May 2011 U.S. Online Video Rankings,” http://www.comscore.com/ Insights/Press_Releases/2011/6/comScore_Releases_May_2011_U.S._Online_ Video_Rankings www.wildfireapp.com 18