If an agency is going to offer legitimate advice to their clients on how to grow their business, social media must be a topic. So with humblest apologies to the Bard for my play on Hamlet's famous words, let's talk about the real questions your clients should be asking before they launch a corporate blog or upload a video to YouTube, or whatever social media they may think they want to use. Even if your clients are already using social media, it's not a bad idea to help them stop, take a deep breath, and really think through what they want to accomplish with the new digital marketing tools that are available.
Here are the real questions that should be asked when considering social media:
1. What is the goal for social media?
It is certainly logical to start with the big picture, but you would be surprised at how many companies say "let's start a blog" without a clear understanding and articulation of its value for their company and its role in an integrated communications plan. As with almost every new technology advancement, there are risks for companies that jump in without understanding what they are getting into.
If your clients are already using or considering how to use new technologies like blogs, podcasts, online video, wikis, widgets, etc. they need to make sure they know what they want to accomplish or they may end up using the wrong tool.
2. Who do they want/need to reach? Can social media reach that audience?
Technology has added a new dimension to analyzing and defining the optimum target audience. In addition to understanding their demographics and their psychographics, we also need to factor their technographics into the evaluation. How comfortable are target prospects with using the new technology tools? Do they have broadband access on their home computer if that's where they want to reach them? What new technology tools are target audience members currently using? How would they prefer to interact with the company?
Good marketing still requires the basics of understanding the target audience and the benefits their company (and your agency) can deliver.
3. What are the best strategies and tactics to reach this target?
This is a critical question that must be answered in order to optimize ROI. Notice that I used the plural "strategies and tactics", not the singular. In most cases, they should be considering multiple social vehicles, but before they jump in they should make sure they've mastered one vehicle before launching another. I believe that many companies that are failing or disillusioned with social media are simply trying to do too much at one time. They've launched a blog, added a Facebook page and Twitter account, are trying to monitor and evaluate, etc. with limited resources or without a realistic understanding and appreciation for the time and effort it takes to mount a successful program.
You should show them how to take advantage of the many free reports and white papers on social media for guidance on who's doing what. For example, in a recent post I referenced a new study from Hubspot that concluded that Facebook is more popular for a B2C company, while LinkedIn is used by more B2B companies. And, there are numerous case studies that show the effectiveness of Twitter for business.
Internet search can help you gain better understanding of the best strategies and tactics to consider for your client's social media program. Just type "social media research" into your search engine and see how many hits you get!
4. What resources are available and what do they need in order to implement an effective, on-going program.
Contrary to popular belief among many companies, social media is not a free alternative to traditional media, and you can do your clients a favor by making sure they understand this. It takes time, money and patience to use social media effectively, and these soft costs may not be as apparent and visible (especially to upper management) as a line item for the advertising budget. Too many companies jump into social media without understanding how much it really costs. There are many tools to help post on multiple sites and to monitor efforts and responses, but it will still require time on some one's part.
And it will require someone who understands the company and the audience, as every social media "expert" will tell you that content is king. So if your client thinks they can just hand it off to that recent college graduate who is more comfortable with technology than some of the older staff, you should advise your clients to make sure they not only understand the technology, but also know how to write well and can represent your company brand.
There are many other questions that come up along the way, but these are the basics for anyone who is considering starting or expanding their social media effort. And if your clients have been using social media for awhile, it never hurts to show them that you understand the importance of social media by recommending that they stop, take a deep breath, and analyze what they've been doing based on these questions.
Whatever your clients do, don’t let them make the mistake of putting the cart before the horse, as my dad used to say. Help them to know the basics of who they need to reach and what they want to accomplish before deciding which new technology to explore. Good marketing still requires good marketing, just like being an advisor to your clients on more than income-generating advertising can build relationships.
