We are delighted to present Aliza Sherman is a guest blogger for Attensity this week. She is the co-founder of Conversify, a 5-year-old social media marketing agency offering strategic planning, as well as social media monitoring, management and measurement. She is also a social media pioneer who founded Cybergrrl, Inc. and Webgrrls International in the early 90’s — and has been named by Newsweek as one of “Top 50 people who matter most on the Internet”. You can also hear Aliza in her Attensity webcast for a deeper dive on this topic:
“A blog isn’t a business plan.”
I recently saw that tweet on Twitter, and it really hit home for me the perils of using a new technology or communications tool and thinking that mastering its use or even the fact that you are using it is all you need to know and do for your business. Adding new tools to your marketing and communications toolkit is not a plan. There is nothing strategic about blogging, tweeting and updating your Facebook status if you don’t have a plan for not just using the tool but integrating it into your marketing mix. Right?
So how do you get started with a plan for social media? Social Media Marketing Plans (SMMPs) can be standalone documents but are more effective when a part of an overall marketing plan for your company. At a minimum, they should reference traditional public relations or marketing tools and tactics. Unfortunately, very few companies and organizations right now are thinking about the integration of social media marketing into what they’ve been doing marketing-wise. Instead, they tend to cage off social media marketing like a new wild animal in a zoo. It’s nice to look at and fascinating to watch, but it doesn’t quite fit into any of the cages with their other zoo animals.
When my company helps other companies with their Social Media Marketing planning, we take them back to some basic, foundational questions one might ask when coming up with an overall strategic plan, not just a social media one:
What?
Why?
Who?
Where?
How?
What?
as in…
What are you trying to achieve?
Why are you trying to do this?
Whom are your trying to reach?
Where can you most effectively reach them?
How are you going to reach out to them?
What are you trying to get them to do?
We also remind companies that Social Media Marketing is not necessarily a direct sales tool but is effective at:
- Building a brand;
- Building brand loyalty;
- Turning loyal customers into evangelists;
- Leveraging word-of-mouth marketing;
- Turbo-charging the feedback loop.
Here are seven steps you should go through (at least) to get to the heart of your Social Media Marketing Plan. This is merely a starting framework for how to think about building out your plan and how to get to the information that should be in your plan.
- What are your marketing objectives? Make sure they are attainable and measurable.
- Who is your audience? Know where they are online and where they are already engaged in related, relevant conversations.
- What are your assets? Examine your social media and online assets to see what you can leverage for full social media engagement. (See assets diagram.)
- What tactics will you use? Choose the tactics that incorporate the most logical tools for what you are trying to achieve and who you are trying to reach.
- What are your big ideas? Come up with some creative ideas that are repeatable and scalable to attract attention and provide value.
- How will you measure results? Establish benchmarks, monitor and be clear what you are tracking and how.
- Re-examine over time. What works? What doesn’t? What can you build upon? What can you improve? What needs to be scrapped?
Remember: as Jeffrey Hayzlett, former Kodak CMO said: “Social media is not a campaign. It is a commitment.” Your plan should cover both the immediate and short-term with an eye to the long term understanding that the technology changes daily. You may find that some of the tools you initially choose are gone by the time you get around to accessing them. Be flexible.
How is your Social Media Marketing planning coming along? What challenges are you encountering?
Stephen Shelton wrote,
Excellent! Focus on the basics, be clear on the goals, work with deliberate action, be a creative risk taker, learn & re-learn.
Thnx.
| Link | June 16th, 2010 at 4:10 pm
John Clevenger wrote,
Great article! Especially the part about the importance of integrating SMM into the overall strategic marketing plan. SMM is another tool, and a very sharp one, in the marketer’s toolbox.
| Link | June 18th, 2010 at 2:50 am
Webinar: Create a Successful Social Media Plan: The Seven-Step Program | Attensity Blog wrote,
[...] a precursor, you can also checkout Aliza’s blog post on the Attensity blog this [...]
| Link | June 22nd, 2010 at 5:33 pm
Siete pasos para crear un plan de mercadeo en Redes Sociales | Syscostarica.net wrote,
[...] post salio publicado en el blog de la página Attensity.com bajo el título 7 steps for Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan el 15 de Junio, 2010Entonces, ¿cómo empezar con un plan de Redes Sociales? Los Planes de [...]
| Link | July 12th, 2010 at 2:09 am
nancyrubin wrote,
RT @attensity 7 Steps for Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan http://bit.ly/bpCrJE
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | June 15th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
mustafaduran wrote,
7 Steps for Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan | Attensity Blog #sm # marketing http://shar.es/mzm2G
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | June 16th, 2010 at 6:58 am
mustafaduran wrote,
7 Steps for Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan | Attensity Blog #sm #marketing http://shar.es/mzmqo
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | June 16th, 2010 at 6:59 am
BGConsultancy wrote,
Essential read: RT @attensity 7 Steps for Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan http://bit.ly/bpCrJE
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | June 16th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
alizasherman wrote,
RT @attensity 7 Steps for Creating a #SocialMedia Marketing Plan http://bit.ly/bpCrJE
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | June 17th, 2010 at 10:57 am
kat_rosales wrote,
Very well written, informative Article: 7 Steps for Creating a Social Media Plan: http://ow.ly/1ZSOM (via @attensity360 ) #socialmedia
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | June 17th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Minervity wrote,
RT @bkmacdaddy: 7 Steps for Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan – http://bit.ly/dsSFf3
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | June 17th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
KimBrame wrote,
RT @bkmacdaddy: 7 Steps for Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan – http://bit.ly/dsSFf3
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | June 17th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
virion_ca wrote,
RT @bkmacdaddy: 7 Steps for Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan – http://bit.ly/dsSFf3
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | June 17th, 2010 at 8:14 pm
idaoust wrote,
RT @attensity 7 Steps for Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan http://bit.ly/bpCrJE intéressant
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| Link | June 17th, 2010 at 8:21 pm
Marion_L wrote,
7 Steps for Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan: http://ping.fm/1Dlos
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | June 17th, 2010 at 9:08 pm
printedproof wrote,
RT @bkmacdaddy: 7 Steps for Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan – http://bit.ly/dsSFf3
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | June 17th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
eMilwaukee wrote,
RT @printedproof: RT @bkmacdaddy: 7 Steps for Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan – http://bit.ly/dsSFf3
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | June 17th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
Zius7 wrote,
RT @kat_rosales: Very well written, informative Article: 7 Steps for Creating a Social Media Plan: http://ow.ly/1ZSOM (via @attensity360 ) #socialmedia
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | June 17th, 2010 at 9:41 pm
cage_sabrina89 wrote,
7 Steps for Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan | Attensity Blog: Social Media Monitoring, Measurement and Soci… http://bit.ly/aIcZYV
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| Link | June 18th, 2010 at 12:50 am
hannaq wrote,
http://blog.attensity.com/2010/06/15/7-steps-for-creating-a-social-media-marketing-plan/
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | June 18th, 2010 at 12:57 am
JessicaSLeBlond wrote,
RT @attensity 7 Steps for Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan http://bit.ly/bpCrJE
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| Link | June 18th, 2010 at 2:32 am
DanielMclaren wrote,
RT @attensity 7 Steps for Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan http://bit.ly/bpCrJE
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| Link | June 18th, 2010 at 8:55 am
giannatos wrote,
What? Why? Who? Where? How? 7 Steps for Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan http://bit.ly/9nMFrH #marketing #socialmedia
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| Link | June 18th, 2010 at 11:23 am
make_money wrote,
“7 Steps for Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan | “, http://bit.ly/bB87ic
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | June 18th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
ericlodi wrote,
Build a plan for social media – as for your other mkt activities http://bit.ly/cuZ3yE /by @alizasherman
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | June 18th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
jeffreypjacobs wrote,
RT @ericlodi: Build a plan for social media – as for your other mkt activities http://bit.ly/cuZ3yE /by @alizasherman
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | June 19th, 2010 at 3:41 am
JPGuilbault wrote,
7 Steps – Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan – http://blog.attensity.com/2010/06/15/7-steps-for-creating-a-social-media-marketing-plan/
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | June 20th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
post_free_ads wrote,
RT @JPGuilbault 7 Steps – Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan – http://bit.ly/dl2hLj
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | June 20th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
kraftderideen wrote,
Social media is not a campaign. It is a commitment: http://bit.ly/dl2hLj
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | June 21st, 2010 at 7:33 am
hiloaloha wrote,
7 Steps for Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan http://bit.ly/bpCrJE #mashableday #ソーシャルメディア・マーケティング構築に必要な7ステップ。
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | June 28th, 2010 at 6:19 am
RSSirteubal wrote,
7 Steps for Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan | Attensity Blog http://ow.ly/17WtCi
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | June 30th, 2010 at 12:38 pm