{"id":3157,"date":"2011-06-18T01:41:13","date_gmt":"2011-06-18T01:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/?p=3157"},"modified":"2011-06-18T01:54:20","modified_gmt":"2011-06-18T01:54:20","slug":"do-you-have-a-strategy-or-are-you-simply-%e2%80%9cdoing%e2%80%9d-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2011\/06\/do-you-have-a-strategy-or-are-you-simply-%e2%80%9cdoing%e2%80%9d-social-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Do you have a strategy or are you simply \u201cdoing\u201d social media?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" title=\"chess\" src=\"http:\/\/flybluekite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/chess-pieces-e1308017671647.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"275\" height=\"182\" \/>I had lunch with some friends last week who shared with me that they  often get asked to just \u201cdo some social media\u201d for their clients.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, if it were only that simple.<\/p>\n<p>I think a lot of businesses think this way. They believe that simply  throwing some social media icons on their website is enough or that they  need to have profiles on every single social media site because  \u201ceveryone else does\u201d.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Newsflash: this is not the right way to approach it.<\/p>\n<p>If you simply \u201cdo\u201d social media without understanding the WHY behind  it, your organization will fail miserably on the social web.<\/p>\n<p>For small businesses that want to use social media, the number one  question you should ask yourself is \u201cwhat do I want to accomplish?\u201d You  have to understand the WHY before you worry about the HOW.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, here are some reasons why you might consider using social media:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Enhance customer service.<\/li>\n<li>Monitor and respond to comments about your business, product or service.<\/li>\n<li>Research what your competitors are doing and how you can do it better.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/flybluekite.com\/2011\/04\/15\/the-key-ingredient-for-social-media-success-social-slam-recap\/\" target=\"_blank\">Build relationships with your clients, vendors and prospects<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/flybluekite.com\/2011\/04\/21\/3-ways-to-never-miss-another-opportunity-on-the-social-web\/\">Listen for trends, feedback and potential business opportunities<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Raise awareness about your brand.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/flybluekite.com\/2010\/05\/04\/why-social-media-is-crucial-to-crisis-communications\/\" target=\"_blank\">Communicate to your stakeholders during a crisis<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Drive traffic to your website or blog.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As you can see from this list, there are a lot of ways you can use  social media. That\u2019s why it\u2019s incredibly important to determine your  strategy before you get started.<\/p>\n<p>Without a social media strategy, it\u2019s like getting in your car and  driving without knowing the destination. While that sounds carefree and  fun, it\u2019s not going to help you get the results you\u2019re after for your  business.<\/p>\n<p>Before you dive into social media, you should ask yourself these questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What are my business goals?<\/li>\n<li>Will social media help me attain those goals?<\/li>\n<li>Who am I trying to reach?<\/li>\n<li>Does my target audience use social media? If so, which tools do they use most?<\/li>\n<li>What do I want to accomplish through these tools (see list above)?<\/li>\n<li>What\u2019s my message?<\/li>\n<li>Do I have the time and budget to use social media?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Once you\u2019ve answered these questions, you\u2019ll have a clearer sense of  what you want to get out of social media. From there, you can begin  focusing on the the tools and the tactics.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>What\u2019s your biggest hangup in creating a social media  strategy? Let me know where you\u2019re stuck and I\u2019ll help you think through  it.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Laura Click<\/p>\n<p><strong><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/calliope\/5347237755\/\" target=\"_blank\">Image credit: Liz West<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I had lunch with some friends last week who shared with me that they often get asked to just \u201cdo some social media\u201d for their clients. Oh, if it were only that simple. I think a lot of businesses think this way. They believe that simply throwing some social media icons on their website is &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2011\/06\/do-you-have-a-strategy-or-are-you-simply-%e2%80%9cdoing%e2%80%9d-social-media\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,859],"tags":[1040,1326,30,208],"class_list":["post-3157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-lauraclick","tag-clients","tag-just-do-it","tag-social-media","tag-strategy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3157"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3167,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3157\/revisions\/3167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}