SocialMedia404

photo credit: stop.down

Here is the lates draft of our social marketing framework including an intro and some parting thoughts!!

**The world has become an increasingly connected place. Today people communicate and  share information with each other more often and in more ways than ever before.    Your customers, your employees and other stakeholders are talking to each other.  They are having a conversation about lots of things, including you.    Whether rating your products, reviewing your service or discussing new ideas, these conversations are happening now.

How will you participate?  

We can  help. Using our OASIS framework we can help you define your objectives, understand your audience, develop a strategy, plan the implementation and then manage your on-going role in the conversation.  Because we understand business, technology and social marketing (we do all three), we will also make sure that you know how you are going to measure your success, and stay on track to meet your goals.

OASIS is a five step process.   Here is how it works.

Define your Objectives

Participating in a conversation is one thing, getting something out of it is another.  The first step in OASIS is to clearly establish your objectives.    Whether you want to grow revenue, lower costs of test out new product ideas, we will start by creating a common, clear and concise understanding of what you want. This will guide all other activities and establish the yardstick we will use to define success.

Know your Audience

Understanding your audience is key.  People behave differently online than in real life. How they behave will determine how to engage them, and what role they will play in your conversation.   Some people watch, others create, some review and many don’t do anything at all.  It will be critical to understand how the people that are important to you behave, and how that affects you.

Develop a Strategy

Once you have defined your objectives and know your audience, we turn our attention to strategy.  We determine how you will engage each member of your community, how they will engage each other, and how this will meet your goals.  The options are broad, so this stage involves lots of discussion and examination of alternatives to see which ones offer the best fit and most potential in the short, medium and  long term.

Plan the Implementation

This step determines how you will bring your strategy to life.  We will define what technologies are important and what you will need to do to make them work.  If requested, we can also create the plan and manage the project required to bring the conversation to life.

Think about Sustainment

Successful conversations do not necessarily end, nor do they always go as planned!  Part of the OASIS process will be to look at how you will manage for the long term. What will you do if things go wrong?  What if they go right?  Are there any legal, organizational or other impacts that need to be considered?  And in the long term, how will you monitor, measure and adjust your efforts to ensure that you and your community stay in touch, engaged and productive.

We recognize that everyone is different.  Every organization and the people they engage with every day are unique.   Alone OASIS is just a framework; it can not deal with the complexities that arise from real life, real people and real business situations.   Together however, we can use it to help us define a path and help get you to where you want to go. 

No matter what you do, please remember this.

You are connected to your customers and your customers are connected to each other.  They are out there talking about you now.  If you choose to participate remember that this is their conversation, not yours.  It’s OK to talk, but don’t monopolize.  

If you are listening, do it actively.  When you respond, do it carefully and show you listened.  If you are speaking, use your own voice and say what you mean, mean what you say. Anything less will ring hollow.

And finally, be authentic, be genuine and above all be yourself

Get ready.  The rules have changed.