Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Social Media - Important But Not Without Strategy

I attended the Society for Marketing Professional Services annual conference in Boston a couple of weeks ago. One of the focuses of the conference was social media and its place in marketing programs. There was a large buzz around the conference as many people used Twitter to communicate the salient points of the sessions to those who attended other sessions and vice versa under the hashtag, #smps2010.

One of the keynote speakers, Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan) spoke of how social media may replace e-mail in the future and how social media can be used to build relationships with clients and prospects. While I agree with Brogan’s general premise, it is with an important distinction. Social media is important, but it must fit into a marketing strategy. Social media is a marketing plan implementation tool and is not, itself, a marketing strategy. In other words, social media can help you implement your strategy but it is not the strategy. I say this because there was so much buzz around the conference regarding Twitter and since I have returned I have been followed by an additional 25 people. I’m not convinced that many of them have thought much about the reasons they are using social media and how it fits into their marketing strategy.

Social media can help one build relationships. I don’t think anyone will argue that relationships are important to your overall business marketing strategy. Social networking can help build and further your relationships and relationships with your firm. I am connected to several friends and colleagues, many of whom I rarely see, through Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. One of the most amazing things is that when I do run into these friends and colleagues, or we get together, we are up to speed on what’s been happening in each other’s lives and our conversations have a great starting point.

Content is key. If you have been on Twitter for even a short time, I’m sure you have been bombarded with tweets telling you how to increase your followers. I’ve got a sure fire way too: write something compelling and worth reading. If you are using social media to build relationships, then content is key. This is where the firm’s strategic plan for social media comes into play. How are you going to use social media to show off your firm? Once you established your intentions for social media, the content can be specifically tailored toward achieving your goals. For instance, at my firm, Lucchesi Galati, we decided not to use Twitter or LinkedIn at the firm level, but instead created a Facebook fan page to highlight our culture and the fun side of the firm. We’ve linked our Facebook page to our website. We are just beginning to explore linking our Facebook page with video testimonials showing what it is like to work with us. Stay tuned.

On a personal note, I use Facebook to connect with family and close friends while I use LinkedIn for professional contacts. If you follow me, you know that I use Twitter to post random thoughts and to publicize my blog.

Take social media seriously. After attending several social media seminars, a friend of mine wanted to know how firms use Facebook. What she found was that of the firms in her industry, most didn’t appear to have a clear strategy for using Facebook and in almost all cases, the firms’ pages did not have new content with posts less than 30 days old. If you are going to engage in social media, take it seriously, keep it up to date, and regularly post the things that help you accomplish your goals. Just like the rest of your marketing plan, social media must be consistent. This means that the person who is placed in charge of social media should clearly know the objectives of the strategic social media plan. In a blog on her Morgan + Strategy site, Lilly Chiu writes, “...the more experienced the team or individuals creating the social media voice of the company, the most productive the outcome.”

Social media has a place in your firm’s marketing plan. It can take your firm’s message many places. Make sure you have a strategy to communicate the correct message for the firm.

Until next time…

Craig (@cgalati)

1 http://morganenvironments.wordpress.com/2010/07/31/bim-social-media-strategic-plans-yes-you-do-need-them/

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