The Key to Social Media: Strategy Before Tactics
This morning, I had the pleasure of discussing social media marketing strategy with members of the Wichita Area Builders Association. A major part of the discussion centered around not how to use specific tactics like Twitter, Facebook and Linked In for marketing, but rather how to develop an overall strategy based on measurable objectives to connect with target markets. In general, if you take time to develop a strategy, the decision of which social media tactics to use is easier to make. We recommend utilizing the P.O.S.T. process, originally developed and presented in the great book Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff. P.O.S.T. stands for:
- People. Understanding who your target market is and how they interact with social media is the critical first component.
- Objectives. Developing measurable objectives that tie to your overall organizational goals will make sure your efforts are aimed at achieving meaningful results.
- Strategies. Strategies should be developed that help you achieve the objectives set out in ways that match up with the way your audience utilizes social media.
- Technology. Finally, you can address the specific tactics you will need to utilize to implement the strategy.
Our discussion walked through each of these steps, highlighting some resources that can be helpful in researching your target market.
Click here to download a copy of the presentation on social media marketing.
Let us know what you think about this process. Have you used other strategy development processes?