Social Media Strategy

Tools for Professionals and Organizations

Phillip G. Clampitt

• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781506346267
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Communication Studies
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

"Finally, a social media text that combines liberal arts and social science intellectualism with practical, real-world tips for success in this crucial aspect of professional communications. Its value goes beyond the classroom – everything in the book will resonate with and be useful to PR pros already engaged in social media management."

—Ray Begovich, Franklin College

Social Media Strategy: Tools for Professionals and Organizations shows professionals and organizations how to use social media more effectively and strategically. With a focus on what makes social media unique among communication platforms, this book offers practical guidance on creating, implementing, and evaluating social media strategies and tactics. Social media is constantly evolving, so the book focuses on enduring strategic principles and uses case studies and exercises throughout to help readers build the fundamental competencies needed by today's social media managers.

Part I UNDERSTANDING THE FUNDAMENTALS OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Chapter 1 Who Needs a Social Media Strategy?

“Many people intuitively understand the ‘social’ dimensions of social media, some appreciate the ‘media’ properties of social media, but only a few fully fathom the unique synergistic possibilities and perils of combining social sensibilities with media capabilities.”

—Dr. So What

Picture yourself at the dawn of the golden age of electricity. Alarmists rage about the dangers of putting lightning into wires. Leaders wonder if electricity is a fad or a game changer. Prognosticators debate the fate of AC or DC power sources. Innovators salivate about the possibilities of a world without candles. What would you do? How would you respond? Would you wire your home? Would you wait to see what the neighbors are doing before you decide?

Similar questions arise as we enter the golden age of social media. Alarmists, leaders, prognosticators, and innovators respond in predictable ways along a continuum of fear to giddiness. Organizational leaders wonder if social media is just a fad. Prognosticators argue about which platform has the most potential and staying power. Eager innovators jump in with both sides of their brains to use social media in novel ways that platform providers never envisioned. What do you do? That’s what this book is all about.

Defining Social Media

We need to start by defining social media. That sounds easy and perhaps even unnecessary. After all, almost everybody can name a high-profile social media player such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat. But a good working definition of social media can 1) highlight key features that distinguish social media from other forms of communication, 2) help us translate the conceptual shorthand of the “social media” label into something more meaningful, and 3) foreshadow many of the key issues discussed in this book that rarely surface in the daily cascade of social media blogs.

For our purposes, we define social media as an electronic form of communication that is governed by the rules of platform providers; it allows users to share images and text within their selected communities. This definition highlights five distinct features of social media:

• Electronic form of communication: Social media uses the Internet as the technological means for facilitating communication. Two friends talking face to face in a restaurant, for instance, are not using social media even though they may have agreed to meet using Facebook.
• Governed by the rules of platform providers: Platform providers such as Twitter and Facebook set the communicative parameters. You only have 140 characters, for instance, to share something on Twitter. These limits are designed to shape the community dynamics by cultivating unique cost-benefit relationships for users, consumers, and marketers.¹
• Users: You don’t have to be a celebrity, a newspaper editor, a government official, or a TV personality to communicate on social media. Anybody with the right technology can participate and become an instant social media celebrity. That’s one of the key distinguishing features of this new age of communication; the media gatekeepers are receding into the background.
• Share images and text: Information, opinions, pictures, graphics, and videos can all be shared via social media. The sharing can be one way or two way depending on the social media platform.
• Selected communities: Social media users form communities of various sizes and of assorted interests. Some communities are large, like the followers of a pop star, while others are small, like those connecting neighbors. Some communities are geographically oriented, e.g., Nextdoor, a neighborhood social media platform, while others are more subject-matter driven, such as those devoted to people suffering from a rare disease.

This definition underscores the complexity compressed into the “social media” label. In fact, we will be exploring many of these issues in this book. Consider, for instance, the seemingly easy choice of selecting images and text. How do you maximize the utility of those choices? That’s an issue we discuss in depth in the content chapter. Here’s a more perplexing question: Why are some social media communities vibrant and growing while others are stale and dying? That’s an issue we discuss in the connections chapter.

This definition also deliberately avoids identifying particular uses of social media or specific types of users. All too often, the word “social” signals a trivial amusement or a frivolous pastime. That’s an overly narrow view of social media. People use social media for a wide range of reasons including exchanging information, soliciting advice, and inspiring action. Likewise, many organizational leaders narrowmindedly relegate social media to just another tool in the marketing toolbox. This book takes a broader, more encompassing view of both the uses and the users of social media. The next section expands on this notion.

Who Can Benefit From a Social Media Strategy?

A wide range of users in a great variety of roles can potentially benefit from the effective use of social media. The sample below highlights a few of the strategic questions they might confront.

• Senior leaders: Traditionally, CEOs, university chancellors, and presidents of nonprofits would share information with their employees through memos, emails, and town hall meetings. Today, many are using social media like Twitter and Facebook to stay in touch with employees. Some use an information-rich strategy by tweeting on a regular basis.² Others use social media in a more supportive role as a follow-up to using more traditional tools such as a town hall meeting. Still others avoid social media altogether. Which approach makes the most sense?
• Research and development professionals: Less than 50 percent of companies use social media for research and development.³ Instead, many companies develop and test new products and services using more costly tools, for example, by assembling numerous focus groups around the globe. How can social media lower those costs while harvesting innovative consumer ideas?
• Marketers: Marketing professionals were probably the first people to recognize the power of social media. They are uniquely qualified to do so because their day-to-day personal relationships with customers drive sales. What role can social media play in building or supporting those relationships?
• Public relations professionals: Traditionally, PR professionals crafted press releases, built press kits, contacted the media, and staged press conferences. Many PR professionals assume the role of brand ambassadors, as well.⁴ Can social media replace or support some of the traditional roles?
• Internal communication specialists: These professionals are often tasked with rolling out major changes, building support for organizational values, and getting new employees on board with an organization’s culture, policies, and procedures. Many of these professionals embrace social media to either conduct or support these functions. How can these professionals enhance their usage of social media?
• Human resource professionals: These specialists are tasked with hiring the right people, training them, and supporting them in their careers. Many use LinkedIn or Facebook for some of these functions. How can social media better support HR professionals?
• Journalists: Many journalists search for story leads and breaking news by following celebrities, sports figures, and politicians’ social media posts. Some journalists tweet their followers about an upcoming story or article they’ve written. How can journalists make the most effective and ethical use of social media?
• Small business owners: Small business owners clearly don’t have the financial resources of Fortune 500 companies, so they are always looking for cost-effective ways to compete. To some extent, social media levels the playing field by allowing local restaurants, for example, to compete against national chains. Clever localized promotions via social media may well trump high-profile national advertising campaigns. How can small business owners make the most efficient use of social media?
• Celebrities, politicians, and thought leaders: Many people offer advice, promote their personal brand, share their thoughts on current events, and post about their day-to-day activities. This kind of familiarity subtlety encourages followers to attend their events, buy their products, and share their lifestyle choices by exploiting peer-to-peer networks of influence. That is, you tell your friends about a great concert or book, and they, in turn, attend the event or buy the book. Some celebrities copromote their wares and commercial products. For instance, Selena Gomez posted an Instagram photo of herself drinking Coca-Cola with “You’re the spark,” lyrics from her hit song “Me & The Rhythm,” written on the bottle. Her post, with the clever caption under the picture, “when your lyrics are on the bottle,” generated an astonishing 4 million “likes.”⁵ On the other hand, almost every day we can find celebrities, politicians, star athletes, or thought leaders posting something really stupid, offensive, or classless. How can these celebrities and leaders avoid the downside of social media while enhancing their reputations?

The list of professionals who could benefit from a social media strategy could go on and on. Regardless of your professional background, social media usage raises some rather challenging questions, such as the ones italicized above. Crafting the right social media strategy can help you answer them.

So What?

Fair warning: You are going to see this question a lot in this book. It’s my favorite question because it focuses attention on the implications and next steps implied by an idea, insight, or intuition. But, there’s another bonus: this question builds a strategic mindset into your thinking that we will use throughout the book.

In this case, the “so what” question allows us to explore the broader implications of our social media definition, especially those relating to our discussion about the potential benefactors and the benefits of a good social media strategy.

First, what works in your personal world may not translate well into the professional universe.

You aren’t qualified to be a traffic engineer because you know how to drive a car. Sure, it helps, but it’s not going to help you optimize the system, smooth the flow of traffic, or prevent accidents. Similarly, just because you regularly post on Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter, doesn’t make you a social media expert. While your social media experience helps, it won’t guarantee that you’ll know how to use it to deliver business results, promote an event, or prevent PR gaffes. That’s exactly what happened to Cinnabon when a well-intentioned—but clueless—social media “specialist” tweeted about the death of actress Carrie Fisher, the famous Star Wars’ Princess Leia. Cinnabon’s poorly conceived and insensitively illustrated “tribute tweet” said, “RIP Carrie Fisher, you’ll always have the best buns in the galaxy.”⁶ Ugh!

Second, most people are victims, rather than masters, of their own de facto strategies and rarely seize on new opportunities.

Only in recent years have many mobile phone users started discarding their landline telephones. Consumers wasted billions of dollars on services they...