Tips for planning a social media strategy

Digital Chameleon Blog

Tips for planning a social media strategy

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

I've started a monthly column for Beautydirectory.com and will share the first one with you here:

Your audience is spending an increasing amount of time on social networks. Social media is the biggest trend across all online categories and, according to Nielsen, Australians are spending an average of 7 hours a month on social networks. That’s more time than any other country! Over 70% of active online users in Australia are on social networks. Nielsen has identified a social media divide, where “Facebookers” are spending significantly more time online overall than “non-Facebookers.” In Australia, Social media is used equally by males and females, and women age 18-34 and 35-49 have the highest index of social media use.

How much time is your brand spending in social media? Probably more than you may think! The time to actively join the conversation and connect with your target in these environments is now. The opportunity is to leverage the ability to connect on a one-to-one and many-to-many basis, taking advantage of your audience’s network of networks. Not sure where to start?

The IAB in the U.S. suggests that the process includes four main steps:

1) 1) Set clear and measurable objectives and strategies

2) 2) Understand your audience motivations and behaviour, especially in social media

3) 3) Develop a creative approach for your brand in one or more social platforms

4) 4) Define your success metrics

Social Media planning is different from traditional online media planning in several ways. First, social media programs can be more flexible than campaigns with hard start and end dates, and can extend well beyond finite dates. Second, pricing models can be flexible and map to your specific campaign goals. And finally, social campaigns can have owned, bought, and/or earned components and delivery is not guaranteed, but based on user action. A recent study by Nielsen and Facebook (Understanding the Value of a Social Media Impression) revealed that while earned impressions (brand mentions that are broadcast or shared by users) have the highest level of impact, they rarely provide the reach of paid advertising and therefore a strategy including a mix of both paid and earned social impressions should be considered.

Here's some homework – if you’re not personally involved in social media (are you on Facebook? Do you tweet?), get online and sign up. It’s the first step in becoming familiar with how social media works.