7 Questions Every Social Media Strategy Must Be Able To Answer

7 questions every social media strategy must be able to answer
By Jesse Stanchak on July 28, 2011 |
It’s easy to get distracted by trivial social media arguments. Social media experts spend a lot of time hashing out old fights about the best tools and tactics for the same reasons some people can spend hours looking at new faucets or cabinet doors. The less important something is, the more funit is to kibitz about, because the responsibility that comes with being wrong is relatively minor. It doesn’t really matter what your kitchen looks like; so long as it is functional, durable and built on a stable foundation, you can have those cabinet arguments worry-free.
The trouble is, too many people have the cabinet door conversation without ever talking about the foundation. The way I seeit, there are only seven questions in all of social media that really matter. Of course, they’re pretty big questions. But if you can answer them to the fullest, then the answers to many of your minor questions fall into place.
Who am I speaking to? And don’t just say “potential customers.” That’s a dodge and you know it. Get specific. Think about who you’re trying to reach in terms of bothdemographics (age, location, income, etc.) and psychographics (what to they believe? what do they like? what are they worried about?). And remember that the latter often tells you more than the former. Unless you really know, on an intimate level, who are you’re speaking to, everything else you’re doing is essentially guesswork, because audience knowledge informs your answer to every one of theremaining questions.
What do they want from me online? The temptation is often to focus on what you want from your customers — and we’ll get to that — but you’re setting yourself up for disaster if you focus on yourself first. Because before anyone is going to do what you want, you have to give them a reason to care about you first. All businesses, nonprofits and institutions exist to serve a function.You do something that people want or need — or you go away. So what function do you serve for these people within a social media context? You can start with a grand mission statement if you want, but then you’ll need to whittle it down to a social-media-specific context if you want to be successful. Maybe you run a restaurant and your function is feed people. That’s great. What do people wantfrom you online? The way you answer this question depends largely on how you answered the first one. Steelers fans will want something different from the Twitter feed of their favorite sports bar than what dedicated foodies will expect from the Facebook page of an organic, local cafe.
What do I want them to do online? Don’t just say “spend money.” Think of a specific “goal action: that you wantyour fans to take. It should be simple and easy for your fans to perform in the moment. It can be something that involves a financial transaction right now or it could be something that enables a transaction down the road, such as getting them to give you their e-mail address so you can put them into your lead generation system. Your goal action will be guided by the kind of organization you haveand what kinds of fans you have. What’s the simplest thing someone can do to help you? What can you reasonably expect your fans to do, given what you know about them?
How can I align those actions? Some people find this aspect of social media frustrating. They don’t see how blogging about your industry is going to drive leads for a b-to-b company or how offering customer service via Twitter willget people to come to their new downtown store. You need to find ways to tie what your customers want to what you want. Sometimes that involves denying fans the thing they want until after they’ve done what you want — like asking readers of your blog for their e-mail before letting them download your white paper. Sometimes that means working what you want into the conversation, by mixing promotion...