The Ingredients of Social Media Communications Plans

The Digital Brand Expressions report that found that those who are approaching social media with a plan find that needs, concerns, and outcomes outweigh the current scope of activities. The study found that logistics contributed to visibility, but insight was absent from investing in presence. Most notably, resource allocation guidelines, registration of branded usernames in social networks and competitive research were among the top ingredients of a social marketing plan. Other tactical elements include:

71% establish metrics to measure ROI, which is in direct contrast with a previous study by Mzinga that found that over 80% of companies were not measuring ROI.

52% plan for ongoing monitoring

45% develop social media protocols and policies

39% create and distribute guidelines for professional and personal social media use

At the bottom of the list, we see that only 29% of businesses are introducing protocols and policies for the usage of social media by specific departments. As this is the socialization of business, multiple divisions will embrace social media at any one moment, from sales to service to HR to sales and marketing and everything in between. Social media indeed reveals the true 360-degree opportunity. The social consumer is many things to brand snow and over time. And, to expect one representative or facet of business to track and engage with influential individuals in active and expansive networks is narrowing.

The question as to who owns social media is universal. Ownership begins within the team where social media championship is concentrated. As experience matures, social media extends and in many cases, “socializes” each sector. At the moment however, a land grab is in full effect with marketing taking the lead as the area responsible for the creation and management of social media plans. In fact 71% of respondents stated such with communications representing 29% , the executive team accounting for 16% and sales and IT tied with 10%.

Attention is the currency of the Internet. When you pay attention to someone or something online — by viewing it, by commenting on it, by linking to it — you help to legitimize it in a palpable way. You help it to attract more attention, traffic, and ad revenue. This of course is often the opposite of what a critic is trying to do. By paying attention to me, the conservative blogosphere amplified a voice that it hoped to drown out.

In contrast, look at what happens when people direct their attention to what they like or what more from. Companies that focus on thanking people for positive feedback, rather than defending themselves against online criticism, develop strong online fan bases. Nonprofits that reach out to their supporters expand their network of support. People who focus on their closest friends have more satisfying online relationships.

Giving this kind of attention helps the Internet become the kind of online world we'd like to see. And it means that we'll spend time in those parts of the Internet that reflect our own values. We'll spend our time online from a place of integrity. And we'll experience our time online as an authentic reflection of who we really are.

How can you best spend the currency of your own attention online?

Analysts always grasp for analogies to explain Facebook’s tortured relationship with its users. Facebook has been called the sterile suburbs to the gritty urban Internet; it is a “walled garden” in the organic messiness of the Web; it is Russia under Vladimir Putin; it is (and this one stings in tech circles) today’s AOL.

But perhaps the most telling metaphor compares Facebook to the other companies lurking at the bottom of the American Customer Satisfaction Index: cable companies, wireless telephone service providers. Utilities. Here are services everyone uses, no matter how much people dislike the companies that provide them.

Danah Boyd, a social media researcher at Microsoft and a fellow at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, argues that Facebook fits that mold.

The complications arise when you realize that every business has its own definitions of value, and of total expenditure. In order to really measure your return you’ll need to really nail down your costs and create an ongoing measurement model that can be applied to all your social media campaigns.

First, you’ll need to define exactly what ‘total expenditure’ implies.

There’s certainly a common myth that social media campaigns are free to run. Well, it’s true that setting up a Facebook page and sending tweets won’t cost a penny, but hiring someone to do that for you? 

As with any campaign, you’ll need to run some fairly complicated breakdowns to ensure you aren’t caught out by hidden costs.

Here are four main areas you’ll need to consider:

1. Staff Costs
2. External Fees
3. Advertising
4. Other

If you want an effective multichannel marketing presence, then in many cases you'll need to initiate a complete organisational shift. From boardroom to basement, success rides on an open and transparent approach that encompasses everything from customer service to marketing strategy.

It sounds like a tall order, but if you take time to examine how and where others have failed then a clear pattern quickly emerges. Ultimately, it’s down to attitude.

Let's examine some of the most common mistakes:

1. Lack of planning
2. Lack of integration
3. Lack of authenticity
4. Lack of trust
5. Lack of monitoring

How did Pixar make that and other good decisions? There seem to be several factors going on:

Its managers give its directors a lot of autonomy. The studio prides itself on being "director led" and gives them a high degree of autonomy. "Managers like to be in control," but Pixar fights it, according to an interview with Catmull at an event The Economist put on in March.

Even though directors have autonomy, they get feedback from others. "Dailies," or movies in progress, are shown for feedback to the entire animation crew. In The Economist interview, Catmull also describes a more extensive periodic peer review process:

We have a structure so they get their feedback from their peers. ... Every two or three months they present the film to the other filmmakers...and they will go through, and they will tear the film apart. Directors aren't forced to respond to the feedback, but they generally do — and the films are generally better for it.

Everyone has a big idea.

The next Facebook or Twitter is being presented to potential funders by a hundred different startups every year. However, many or even most of these ideas never really get off the ground. So what’s standing between these companies and success?

Today we’re going to look at why many brilliant ideas fail to make an impact and one essential question that could’ve helped them succeed.

Each year, around this time, we take a look at the most promising ‘on trend’ innovations, as spotted by our sister company Springwise. No surprise, that with the entire world now battling it out in the consumer arena, the amount of talent, of creativity, of innovations, is staggering. Welcome to INNOVATION INSANITY ; -)

We all agree that innovation is the only way to survive in an ever more global, competitive business arena. We’re talking basically anything that will get consumers spending, and preferably the kind of spending that involves sustainable goods, services and experiences.

And since everyone from Seth Godin to the Harvard Business Review is providing you with excellent, inspiring insights and theory on innovation as a mindset, a process, a way of life, we'd like to contribute to the conversation with examples of actual B2C innovations. Tons of 'em.

As we see it:

INNOVATION INSANITY | There will never be a shortage of smart new ventures, brands, goods and services that deliver on consumers’ wants and needs. In fact, with the entire world now engaged in creative destruction, INNOVATION INSANITY is upon us. So yes, the dozens of innovations we’ve rounded up for this briefing, courtesy of our sister-site Springwise, are just the tip of the iceberg. Invent, improve, copy… or perish.

The link between INNOVATION INSANITY and consumer trends? As focused as we are on emerging consumer trends, we never tire of pointing out that trends are only good for one thing: inspiring you to innovate, to come up with new goods, services and experiences for (or even better, with) your customers.

Innovation: not just labs, not always earnest, not necessarily expensive

Three more thoughts on innovation:

• Innovation is not necessarily about people in white coats puttering about in R&D labs. In our current experience economy, marketing innovation is equally important, and often trumps technical innovation.
• Furthermore, as consumers’ wants are sometimes frivolous, new products and services can be, too. Really, innovation doesn’t have to be so earnest all the time.
• Thirdly, doing or starting something new doesn't have to cost the world. Many of the innovations featured in this briefing thrive on nimbleness and creativity, not huge budgets.

In a nutshell, my provocation began with the question: if clients only pay for the things they can’t do themselves, what does that mean when we work in a real-time, social web world?

A bit of context first.

We’re all familiar with this behaviour now, sure. Its relevance in terms of client-agency ways of working is perhaps even more obvious: ‘baton passing’ doesn’t work. The old linear model where there were distinct lines between client and agency are now blurring:

Many of us may baulk at the idea that ‘Creative’ sits as a shared task… but thinking about brands marketing themselves in a social web context – where the content is often real-time and personal – how many brands are exclusively outsourcing their voice on Facebook and Twitter, say (and/or will continue to do so)?

With all the blurring and collaboration, not to mention the warp speed with which we all need to work, comes a need for agencies to keep an eye on the value and difference they bring. To repeat: Clients pay for the things they cannot do themselves. Add economic pressure to the mix and you cannot help but think that too much duplication is unsustainable.

Creative agencies, take note..

"Mobile is the hottest area of computer technology," Schmidt said. "The smartest developers now are writing apps for mobile before they write for Windows or Apple Mac desktop operating systems. Part of that is because these devices are hugely personal to us when we use them."

Asked what he thought of the future of newspapers, Schmidt said: "What does the newsreading experience look like many years from now? I think it's delivered to a digital device, which has text, obviously, but also colour, and video, and the ability to dig very deeply into what you are supplied with. At the moment we have readers, but it's not intelligent enough; newspapers often tell me what I already know. We'll have advertising products that are much more media-centric. The most important thing is that it will be more personalised."