Cross-posted on Adfero.com
A recent study found that the majority of businesses now have a social media strategy. Really? A true social media strategy? I’m not buying it.
The study I am referring to found, when interviewing 450 senior management and marketing professionals, that 72% of the respondents claimed to have a social media strategy.
I have two beefs with this study. The first is with the methodology. Who are the 450 executives? Are they from large or small businesses? How were they selected? In order to find out, one must give their contact information to the sponsoring firm so they can download the report. No thank you.
The second problem with the study is that many confuse strategy and tactics. I have no doubt, based on experience working with organizations large and small, that many have adopted social media tactics. But tactics are very different than strategy.
What’s the difference? Think about it this way. A strategy looks at the big picture, the forest instead of the trees, the overarching non-negotiable big principles. Tactics are employed to carry out strategy. They can change depending on circumstances. Take a war analogy, for instance. Both now and in centuries past, the strategy in war is quite simple – win. But the tactics change. No longer do we ride into battle, suited in armor upon our noble steeds. Our tactics have evolved.
Let’s apply this to social media. A few months ago, a colleague and I sat down with an attendee from a recent PR Smart event who wanted to get some advice on growing their organization’s followership on Twitter. So, we started to ask questions. Why do you want to grow the following? What audiences do you want to reach? Why do you want to engage these audiences? The questions were meant to draw out the strategy. Unfortunately, there was no strategy. Just tactics.
A strategy for social media might begin:
In the next two years, our organization will implement a social media strategy to:
- Increase coverage for the organization in online media by 300%.
- Dramatically increase participation in our grassroots advocacy program.
- Raise the visibility of key people throughout the organization as thought leaders.
Once the organization settles on a clear overarching strategy then, and only then, can they effectively develop a thoughtful tactical plan to carry out that strategy.
