All too often, I hear organizations express their interest in establishing a presence on Facebook, Twitter, or any of the other social networking sites du jour. While I admire that they realize the value in social networks, I have to question their motives in being involved. Many organizations are now making the move to Facebook and Twitter, and for obvious reasons. With 175 million+ users on Facebook and approximately 4 million on Twitter, the benefits are huge.
If you are considering a foray into social media, consider the following:
What do you want to get out of your social media campaign? This is most important question you need to answer. Are you trying to provide your customers with an online support forum? Do you want to monitor the back-channel conversations? Before you even start putting together your strategy, write down the goals that your campaign should accomplish.
If you are starting a social media campaign just because everyone else is doing it, then you are doing it for all the wrong reasons. This is a bad idea. If everyone else was jumping off a bridge, would you do it too? Probably not (unless you were bungee jumping off a bridge, at which point we’d say GO FOR IT!). You must be able to answer why you want to start a social media campaign. If you don’t have a good answer, or any answer for that matter, DON’T DO IT.
Social media campaigns should be about engagement and building one-on-one customer relationships, not about broadcasting and shouting your message. So many organizations are guilty of this. Please don’t add your name to the list of organizations that commit this crime on a daily basis. It can be likened to opening a door to a room full of people, shouting something, then immediately shutting the door and walking away (hat tip to @jaygoldman for that analogy). Always try to engage your customers in conversation. Get them involved in your operations. If you write content on a daily basis, find out from your readers what they would like to hear about out. It gives them the feeling that their opinions are valued and respected (and well they should be).
And finally:
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
What do you think? What strategies have worked (or not worked) for your social media campaign?
