There was a rash of events about Social Media this week in the US and Canada.

Brian Solis spoke at a PRSA breakfast in LA and drew a sold-out crowd of over 100!  Getting 100 PR people up and fighting traffic at 7 am is no mean feat.  Brian emphasized that social media is not so much about the tools, it’s about the engagement and having a sound strategy. He defined social media as anything that facilitates online content publishing and sharing.

At the Social Media for Business Marketing event in Ottawa panelists said social media is a set of tools, not a strategy in and of itself. It’s a medium, and as such, is still secondary to the message. From InMediaLog

Here are the key points this group agreed must direct any push to use social media as a marketing tool.  I have added my comments to each point.

1. Listen to what is being said about your company, its products and its brand in the social media universe before launching your own initiatives.  This is indeed the starting point. Until you know what is being said you have no idea what you should be saying or doing.

2. What are your objectives in terms of brand? Who are you trying to reach? Is this target group social-media savvy? Older age groups are far less engaged with social media than younger ones. In some industry verticals, there may be some early adopters, but the majority of the decisionmakers you want to reach may still be stuck in the ’90s trying to master their email. Take a look at the Forrester Social Technographics ladder.  And don’t refer to the people you want to talk to as an audience or a target group. The point of social media is that you are engaging in real conversations, not messages to audiences. And they now have the power to talk back.

3. What business problem are you trying to solve? How will the use of social media address this? Which tool is best for the job — a corporate blog, a Facebook fan page, a polished piece of video on Youtube, a coordinated combination of several? I’d suggest a different approach here - examine and understand the customs and culture of that community before you barge in with the intent of solving your business problem. Sure, you have a need you wish to address, but you won’t get very far if you are not sensitive to the needs of the people in that community.  They are not there to provide a solution for your business problem. 

4. What kind of business outcome do you want to achieve? Such as, is there a specific number of new clients in six months that have come to you through your social media efforts?  Agreed, any business activity has to provide
ROI or there is no point to spending the money. However, social media measurement is not always as cut and dried as other marketing.  You should set goals and measure against those goals.  But be very realistic in what social media is and isn’t and what it does and doesn’t do.

5. Experimentation is key. If one tool isn’t yielding the outcomes you want in the specified period of time, try something else. Keep swinging until you hit something. Social media is not a quick hit.  If you are not prepared to be in this for the long haul and truly build relationships, don’t bother. 

6. Tying revenue directly back to social media activities is just as difficult as saying with certainty that a story about your company in a major newspaper led to new business with customers X, Y and Z. But there is plenty of research that demonstrates increased web traffic converts into increased business. The trick is figuring out how to drive that traffic.  Good point.  There are metrics that do show the value of social media.

7. Time. Commitment. Consistency: If you are going to embark on something like a blog, maintaining a steady flow of new content is critical. Alec Saunders, for example, commits to three new postings a day and his traffic is through the roof (the debate’s still open on whether he actually sleeps). Brian Solis has a great formula for figuring out how much time you need to invest in your social media program. Read his new e-book. And content is the key, As soon as I drop off my posting rate I see the readership drop.  

8. Quality: You have to be pushing out quality, compelling content to draw and hold you audience. It’s a dog’s breakfast out there when it comes to competing for the public’s attention. The way to rise to the top is with consistency and quality. Totally correct.  After all who would come back to read your content if it was badly written, boring drivel?

9. Ranking high on a site like Technorati is less important than successfully engaging in dialogue with your target audience. There’s a difference between having a big audience and the right audience.  If you have not yet read Meatball Sundae, do so.  It’s no longer about how many you reach.  It’s all about who.

10. And lastly, if you’re in a position where you’re trying to sell the advantages of social media to a senior executive who’s slow to catch on, speak in simple terms and avoid jargon. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot with your own enthusiasm.  Educate the C suite and make sure they really get it.  If they don’t understand social media your program might live long enough to produce results.

Judy Gombita says she heard that some folk at the two SM sessions at the recent CPRS conference came away confused and feeling unfulfilled…the common refrain was that they were being bombarded with information about all of the tools/channels out there, and that companies should be involved in social media, but weren’t being given a checklist of priorities and/or a way to measure whether they were truly successful initiatives.

This is not uncommon.  I’ve heard that same comment at other conferences. It’s hard to give in-depth strategy information in a 45-minute session.  If you’re looking for that kind of information come to our one-day social media strategy bootcamp with Bulldog Reporter in August