The Mountaintop Insights, Inspiration and Perspective for Enlightened Marketers

For large enterprise, the rationale to get involved in public social media needs to be well thought out before deciding its right for your business and your customers. It should be approached strategically from the outset.

Why Strategy is Critical

The first question you need to ask is “Can Social Media actually do anything for me as a large enterprise serving other businesses?” Its a tough question that needs exploration in regards to who you want to target and will/are these people using Social Media channels now. Here are some points to think about and remember

• Decision-makers don’t use it. Senior Executives are unlikely to use it at all. They are much more likely to listen to colleagues. IF you have something mobile however, they can be very active.
• Influencers do use it. Many types of influencers use Social Media but each one has different reasons for it.
  • Middle Management: Typical usage is for personal reasons, but many blend business interests with personal. They are looking to advance in ranks in their companies so any knowledge or interactions that help make them more capable will go over well. Most are GenXers.
  • Thought leaders: These individuals vary the most and will be looking for content and interaction that promotes thought on specific ideas important to them and the businesses they represent. They will be more involved, more vocal on opinions, and asking more questions.
  • Media and analysts: Journalism went online a while ago and many have taken to the new medium of Social Platforms. These people are highly active in using the web to research and to share their findings and opinions. Most of them are very active in the blogging community.
• Now ask who are you targeting? Where do they live online? What do they want or value from you?
  • What do they want? Needs, issues, drivers.
  • Do you have ideas to share with them that are actually different
  • Do you have an approach that matches Social Media delivery? (Friendly, engaging, balanced, not trying to sell, nor promoting yourself are all good starters)
  • Do you have a spokesperson/team that these people will accept and respect?

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The Importance of Research

Researching your targets, where they live and what they want is primary to success. Without it, you are basically throwing crap against the wall and hoping something sticks.  The other things you need to consider are:

• Who are the third party thought leaders in the areas you want to plant your flag in?
• What is the competition doing in these areas and how can you craft a more meaningful, differentiated approach?

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The Executional Plan

This is where it all either works or falls apart. This should coordinate 4 very important factors:

1. People: Who are your people (roles and responsibilities) and who is the target audience
2. Content: These are your ideas, opinions, thinking, and content on specific areas of interest to your targets
3. Channels: Everyone thinks Twitter, YouTube and FaceBook, but in my experience, these are secondary (or even useless) compared to blogs, newsletters, and community sites that are just off the radar.
4. Actions: What are our objectives, how are we going to acheive these objectives, and how does it integrate with everything else we are doing?

Once you have the research done and the strategic plan, you need to coordinate it with other marketing and relationship initiatives. Live events are a powerful medium for connecting the people you have built relationships with online to your people and your brand. After all, events are highly social.

Critical Objectives and What Social Media can Deliver

Do not look at Social Media as a channel that can deliver sales. Look at it as a channel that can deliver relationships that can deliver top of mind presence that leads to sales. The tremendous power of social media is its reach and interaction capability. If you manage expectations back to the Enterprise with this understanding, you can manage your risk for delivering results easily.

Remember, decision-makers are most likely to be influenced by peers or subordinates in their organization or busienss networks. Craft your strategy to reach those people so that your ideas reach the top of the totem pole through people decision-makers trust.

Please feel free to comment, push back or ask questions on this or any other topic. I enjoy every discussion.

Jeff – Sensei