There’s no doubt in my mind (or the minds of my fellow digital natives) that as part of a digital strategy, social media is here to stay. In fact, the conversations I’m more frequently involved in with marketers centre on “How do I make the most of it?” rather than “Are you sure Facebook is going to stick?”

But it seems not everyone is on the same page. A recent survey by Digital Brand Expressions, found that 78% percent of corporate respondents say their company is using social media, but only 41% say they have a strategic plan in place to guide such activity.

“No big deal”, you might think, “it’s an emerging channel and companies need to feel their way around a bit”.  Sure.  But it becomes very hard to turn social media activity into financial success without a P-L-A-N.

R2Integrated found, in another recent survey, that those who reported their company had profited or increased revenues using social media were:

  • About twice as likely to have a formal social media strategy
  • Almost twice as likely to have a dedicated headcount for managing social media
  • About twice as likely to rate themselves as “proficient” or “expert”
  • Almost three times as likely to have read a book on social media

Social media strategy doesn’t have to be complicated.  You can follow these simple rules:

  1. Define how social media can contribute to your business
  2. Make sure you’re in a conversation, not a sales pitch.  Ensure your business has something in common with your community, something your community values and something to share.
  3. Understand how you’re going to measure success
  4. Ensure your business is set up to support and legitimise social media through a dedicated resource and a formal social media policy that empowers your front line.
  5. Constantly learn from your activities to improve results.

The secret to success is to have a clear picture of where you’re going and acknowledge you will make a few mistakes along the way.  But mistakes and constant change are all part of the fun, not to mention an integral part of the learning curve, in this digital age.