5 Steps for Developing a Social Media Plan for your business

Social media isn’t just for the hip businesses in niche industries anymore.  Companies  from Apple to local electric and plumbing companies invest time and resources in social media.   Social media enables fast, real-time communication, and the ability to target people with similar interests. This can be great free publicity for companies, but it can also be a headache to manage. Anything that a user is commenting on, good or bad, on various websites across the Internet is out there.  With the Internet being so vast, figuring out how to maintain and manage customer comments, interactions or passing along information can be daunting. How then can a company manage their online presence?  Here are 5 steps to help you with developing a social media plan for your business:

1)      Decide what problem you are trying to solve with social media.  Do you have customers posting questions about your products on other sites?   Customers airing complaints on a discussion board not controlled by your company?  Perhaps you want more people to recognize your brand.  Whatever it is, first figure out what problem you think social media will help you solve.

2)      Next, plan your goals.  If one goal is to increase customer satisfaction, give yourself a specific goal and an end date to make this happen: “We will increase customer satisfaction by reducing the number of support calls by 20% by December 2012.” Or perhaps you want to use social media to tackle a project that you have wanted to fix for some time, such as  “By December 2012, our customers will have a discussion board where they can ask questions of other users.  This will increase customer satisfaction by….”

3)      Look at what activity is happening on the web about your company.  Thanks to a growing number of search tools like Radian6, it’s easier to scan the Internet and find comments about your company on discussion boards, blogs and social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook, etc.  Ask yourself, what conversations are happening? Where are these conversations occurring? Take note where people make the most comments about your products or services. For example, if you own a plumbing or cleaning service, you might find the most comments on review sites like Yelp or Angie’s list. Take note of the opportunities available to you, and how other businesses are using certain sites.

4)      Put together a small committee- if you have a small company, designate two or three people who are tasked with following through on social media tasks.   These people should be ambassadors of the company and excited about promoting it. They should also have an idea of where to find customers and potential new prospects, and prioritize activities based on these  social media networks.

5)      Evaluate results and adjust your plan. Based on the goals you set in #2, what were your results? How should you adjust your plan and resources to focus on the areas with the highest return?

Following these steps to put your plan into action. If you are adding a new discussion page or Twitter account, think about posting topics that can lead for discussion or makes interesting news items. Look at your overall goal and think about how the message will help you achieve your goals.  MarketSmarter has a great template in our resource section that can walk you through the above steps. Check it out today!