What should be in your association's social media plan?
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
A good social media plan will have many elements in common with a good marketing plan. But there are differences. For example, social media is never a campaign. And while your members are used to getting emails and brochures, they may not be ready for all the possibilities social media creates. For that matter, your boss and staff might not be ready either. So what's a girl to do?
Here is what I would put in my association's social media plan.
A couple of initial thoughts--focus on social media as an online engagement strategy, not a fancy new website. Also, make sure the language you use in your plan reflects the shared language of your association. Use words everyone will understand--and explain the words that are new to folks.
Situation--There's usually a reason you're doing this now. Are you seeing self-forming groups getting started without you? Are your members asking for more? Do you just know you need to do something, but you're not sure what?
Readiness--Is your organization ready for this? This is where you can discuss issues like the myth of control and your tolerance for open feedback. You should identify the knowledge level of your staff and recommend training for folks at every level. You should also address your social media policies for staff who are representing your association.
Audience--You can go big and license Forrester's Social Technographics survey, or you could go smaller and spend some time listening and searching for your members and constituents on the social web. Either way, you need to understand your audience and know what kinds of social media activities suit their online behavior.
Objectives--Now we can talk goals. Since this isn't a campaign, you'll need some short term and long term objectives. You'll also want to think about how you'll measure your success. More on that later.
Strategy--If you want your organization to embrace social media, you need to start with some victories. Distill your strategy section down to 5 winning ideas that you can easily explain to your entire organization.
Tools & Resources--Notice how we're just now talking about the shiny new tools? When you start talking about tools, you'll need to address both the money and the staff time that will go in to building, growing and nurturing your efforts. And always compare three options. For example, if your strategy calls for building a members-only social network, show association examples from three different vendors who can help you accomplish that.
Benchmarking--The fastest way to fail in the eyes of your boss and your board is to forget to measure your success. There are so many ways to measure success in social media. Choose a metric that matches your objectives.
What do you think? Did I miss anything?
10 comments:
This is a good road map. The one thing I struggled with using Forrester's methodology - and which I also see here - is in nailing the fine difference between objectives and strategy. For now, I say that the objective is what I want the business to get from these initiatives; strategy is how the social media application will fulfill that business objective.
Yes?
@Frank - Exactomundo. For me, objectives are always concise bullet points with clear, measurable business goals. In other words, the objective is the destination...the strategy is the map to get to that destination...the tool is the vehicle.
And thank you (!!!) for reinforcing that social media is not just about the website, it is about engaging your members (or patrons) in a conversation.
@Peggy - In a social media planning or strategy conversation, I would always argue against setting up a blog with a set end date. These efforts take time to blossom and have the greatest benefits over a long period of time. That's why I suggest looking at both short term and long term objectives and looking for a way to marry the two.
But I'll never argue against dipping your toe into social media--if a "campaign" is the only way an organization would consider trying out these tools, then they should set up a campaign and start experimenting.
One other topic (this is big): does social networking in and of itself pose a disruptive threat to associations altogether? We can talk offline, but I think there's an existential threat looming, possibly.
I also think there should be something in the objective/strategy part about choice, but I'm not sure how to articulate it.
Great post. At what point would you determine whether or not the association needs/should invest into social media? Or do you believe all associations could take advantage of social media give the right plan and resources?
