Social Media - A Team Sport

 
If your organization’s social media program isn’t in high gear, here are a few tips to get there. You wouldn’t enter a cycling team in a long-distance race without a great deal of preparation from planning to training, and ensuring you have the all the right gear to go the distance. Success with social media and digital marketing also requires planning, preparation and of course flawless execution.  It takes a team to pull it off.

Many business and marketing professionals have asked me where to focus their social media and how to make the most of it.  As mentioned in the past, I believe strongly in first developing a strategy and a plan, identifying who you want to reach, and with what message and call to action.  First find out what your target market is talking about online.  Listen and learn from conversations in your industry. Then develop an editorial calendar and adjust if current events change the conversation.

After you’ve developed a strategy, or worked with a professional outside firm to help you develop one, execution is critical.  A colleague one said “Execution Eats Plans for Breakfast”.  This is true in so many scenarios—of course in sports, and also when it comes to marketing through social media.  Even the best plan won’t garner results without a skilled team of experienced social media experts handling the execution.

Several times I’ve seen businesses assign team members with very little social media experience or training to implement their social media plan. The thinking goes something like this ….”Well, anyone can post on Facebook or Twitter.”  But this same group of business managers probably wouldn’t consider assigning ‘just anyone’ to developing key content for their sales messages, or their website.  They are typically disappointed with their social media results and find themselves wondering if it’s really an effective route for marketing.

 Social Media isn’t just about posting and activity, it’s about interacting with customers and potential customers on relevant information they are interested in discussing in a conversational way. It’s about positioning your organization as a ‘thought leader’ by serving up fantastic ideas and content that is helpful to your audience. And this takes an expert’s approach.  If you want to manage your social media internally, plan to dedicate the hours necessary to win the race. Assign a team manager with lots of experience and understanding of social media. Gather a team of 3 – 4 people or more depending on the size of your organization, and offer continual training to keep them up to date on the constantly changing environment.  Set team goals and monitor results during execution.  Remember, ‘Execution Eats Plans for Breakfast’.
​
If you don’t have the internal resources available to dedicate to social media, talk to a professional about creating a social media team for your business. Let’s Chat. www.bohmanmarketing.com.