Implement your Social Media Strategy – Part 2

In Part 1 we explained how to use different Social Media Channels to your advantage and about the difficulties in measuring a direct ROI.

So let’s go a step further now….

How do you measure influence?

Find below some common parameters we use to establish which bloggers and/or networkers we should focus on:

Traffic: Unique visitors, page views and RSS subscribers

Inbound Links: Primarily contextual links from well-ranked sites and blogs

Reader Engagement: Time spent on blogs & sites, number of comments

Recommendations: Re-Tweets, Bookmarking, Tagging and Sharing of Content

Connections: Followers & mutual connections across multiple social sites

Track Record: Age of Domain, number of Blog postings, length of engagement

Referred Traffic: Analytic s tell which sites send most traffic

Conversion Rate: This shows the rate of conversion for each referring site.

Social Media Request for Proposal

Let’s now learn a bit about how information is shared between the Social Media Consultant and the Client.

Client Information Checklist

- Organization’s Background                                      - Immediate & Future Business Objectives

- Key Performance Indicators                                     - Key Concerns

- Social Media Expectations                                       - Social Media Project Brief

- Project Outlines & Schedule                                     - Service Level Agreements

- Measurement Metrics

Social Media Consultant’s Credentials Checklist

- Ownership Structure                                                   - Proprietary Tools

- Years of Experience                                                   - Number of Employees

- Single Point of Contact                                              - Campaigns executed

- Vendors employed                                                     - Social Media Communication Tools

What you should ask your Social Media Consultant prior to initiating a partnership?

1. What is your Social Media Strategy?

2. Deliverables of the Campaign

3. What is your approach to Social Media Risk Management?

4. How do you incorporate existing applications, websites, microsites and newsletter programs into you overall Social Media Strategy?

5. How do you insure compliance with client legal requirements?

6. Please describe your approach to integrating across client marketing, customer service and corporate communications departments

7. How do you blend Social Media with Traditional Media?

Well, does sound a little complicated, I agree. So let’s make it a bit easier:

In a Nutshell

- Social Media Marketing is a extremely effective way to reach your customers at a very low cost.

- Social Media enable a customer to be a marketer for your brand.

- Social Media are measurable and provide targeted advertisement to your consumer.

- Social Media allow you to listen to what is being said about your brand in real-time

- Social Media allows you through Online Reputation Management to track impressions and to react extremely fast to your clients’ wishes

- Social Media are a very crucial extension of business as they allow sharing of knowledge and insights, development of integrated business processes and enable distributed business teams to work closely together to complete predefined tasks.

What you can’t forget!

- Social Media are real-time; your content has to be always up-to-date and interesting

- Social Media are meant to engage and interact with your users and at no point should the company try to control their behavior

- Social Media should be expendable to converge with other media so that its keeps up with technological advancements.