In light of new data from a host of 3rd parties that are beginning to prove social media’s ROI, brands are beefing up social media budgets. Allocations aren’t super surprising, with a majority of brands focusing resources on social platforms with scale where they’ll get the most for their social media buck.
In the newly networked world, brands with a distinctive way to play in social, and the capabilities to match, will have a huge advantage in attracting and retaining customers. Brands like Best Buy and American Express have been investing in social innovations and commensurate capabilities with experiences like Twelpforce and Open Forum respectively. These, like many other new examples, transcend social marketing and represent a new class of social brands who have an enterprise-driven approach to social. Whereas social marketers ask how social media can be integrated into the marketing mix, social enterprises ask how social media can change the business. Their capabilities are central, integrated and operational, driving huge organizational change and bigger bottom lines.
Here's a framework I've been using lately to address social strategically and operationally:
- Platforms. What social channels and platforms should we participate on? What should we build?
- Content. What’s our editorial & publishing agenda? What are we saying? Where? How often? Where does it come from? Is it custom or aggregated?
- Community. What communities are we engaging? What communities are we building? What are their shared goals? How do we empower them?
- Influencers. Who are they? How do we identify and ignite them?
- People. What new talent will you need? Community managers in marketing, customer service?
- Processes. Are the right processes in place to enable our strategy? What about workflows?
- Partners. Who are the right partners and vendors to augment you skillsets, offerings, capabilities?
- Teams. Are teams assembled and empowered to activate the strategy?
- Tools. Do we have access to the right tools in order publish, participate, personalize, etc?
- Skills. Are the right skills (and education) in place – horizontally, vertically?
- Campaign impact. How are we impacting marketing and communications efforts? What can we optimize?
- Business & brand impact. Are we moving the needle on reputation? Is social contributing to bottom line? Are we displacing other spends? Controlling costs?
- Customer insights. What are we learning more about our customer?
- Social intelligence. Are we identifying new opportunities? Threats?
As you can see, there's a lot to consider (not exhaustive, but illustrative). Addressing these components is critical to creating a successful social enterprise. Here's a way to think about it…
