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10 Tips To Social Media Success

[ 0 ] Sep. 24, 2012 | SBO Editor

Every business knows about social media, many businesses have some sort of social media presence, but very few have implemented a comprehensive and successful social media strategy that maximizes benefits and mitigates risks.  Why is this? The answer is simple: The Three “C’s”

Steve Nicholls, author of the best-selling book “Social Media in Business” (www.SocialMediaInBusiness.com), explains that most businesses take an approach to social media that is often too narrow.  They are far too worried about Content and not focused enough on Context and Conditions.

They view social media solely based on Facebook or Twitter Content which they believe is just a marketing, PR and website function.  But to be truly successful, social media needs to be implemented at the senior level and trickle down into the DNA of the entire organization as a core competence.


Of course, Facebook and Twitter will be an integral part of any good strategy but in today’s business community there must be a more holistic approach to answer the tough questions executives are faced with, such as:


Nicholls offers the following ten tips to help business leaders understand The Three C’s and succeed in social media:


2. Be the architect, be the Leader: As the CEO or leader you need to create a vision of what social media looks like for your entire organization – just like an architect has a model of the building that he is going to construct.  Really support social media at the senior level not just the people that look after your web site.

3. Understand the Culture and Mindset: Defense contractors, for instance, will have more of a closed culture because of the nature of their business as compared to a company with a Silicon Valley feel to it.   Opening a company’s culture is perhaps the greatest challenge a CEO faces. Banning social media is not a solution any longer, even autocratic political regimes have failed to do so, but using it within a conducive yet regulated cultural framework is the ideal response to the Internet revolution.

4. Create a Common Language: This is crucial so that everyone company-wide knows their part and what they are trying to achieve. Create a common language so that everyone can participate in the discussion, not a just a few experts who know the jargon.

5. Achieve your business goals: Create social media goals in the context of how they will achieve the business goals. The organizational goal could be to increase the repeat customer percentage in order to increase revenue by X %. Another goal could be to have a more effective customer relationship management strategy. You need to develop the social media strategy to support your goals.


7. Avoid the Dangers of the Dark Side: Social media can open a company up to danger and risk including security issues, PR issues and HR issues.  While these risks are very real, it is essential not to let them inhibit progress.  Social media is too important in global culture.  The key is to develop a sound social media policy that identifies the risks and mitigates them.

8. Craft a Strong Social Media Policy: Work with legal and social media experts to develop a safe and effective social media policy that makes clear what is and is not acceptable. This will protect the organization and the employees while maximizing benefits and mitigating risks.  Just because a policy is written does not mean it will be followed.  Many “unwritten” rules will take shape and the company needs to be vigilant and continuously reshape policy to match what is happening “on the ground”.


10. Time: Rome was not built in a day and the same goes with social media.  Time is the most significant cost. Implementing a social media project hastily may bring more problems than benefits, which is why CEOs need to weight the time factor properly and make sure the project is carefully studied before and during its application.


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Category: Features