Social Media: The Journey Begins With You

Great news, your boss has selected you to create and manage the company’s new social media initiatives.  Now like many marketers currently experiencing a similar situation, you probably immediately thought “why me?” and then quickly thereafter “how do I get started?”  First off, it is important to note that social media is not synonymous with Twitter or Facebook.  According to Duct Tape Marketing, social media is the use of technology combined with social interaction to create or co-create value.  Second, similar to any other marketing campaign, you must start by defining your target audience and then setting specific objectives that can be measured.   

Upon completion the next step is determining where your target audience is actively engaged, who the key influencers are and how does your target audience consume and share information.  The best way to answer these questions is to implement a social media monitoring program.  Depending on your budget and timeframe you can utilize either paid (Radian6) and/or free (SocialMention) monitoring tools.

The next step is building your social media strategy while leveraging the findings of your monitoring program.  This strategy should include a mix of tactics that will provide support to the campaign.  These social media tactics can include the following: blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, social media bookmarking, etc.  The final component is installing proper measurement tools to track the success of your campaign.  Below are some of the metrics that you can use for measurement:

• Followers/Connections
• Impressions
• Clicks
• Sales/Registrations

It is recommended to use these two free tools for tracking your campaigns:

• Google Analytics – use those on your landing pages to track site metrics such as traffic sources, time on site and sales funnel.
• Bit.ly – use this tool to create shortened URLs and track clicks.

Below are some great resources to help you on your social media journey.

• Essential Twitter Tips from Guy Kawasaki
• Top 5 Social Media Books
• Top 10 Common Social Media Mistakes to Avoid

Author: Brian Rice

  This article was written for Business 2 Community by Brian Rice.
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Author: Brian Rice

Brian Rice is a marketing professional with a decade of experience on both the client and agency side of marketing.  He holds a BS, Marketing from Cabrini College and a MBA, Marketing from Saint Joseph’s Haub School of Business.  Currently, Brian is on the Integrated Digital Marketing Team at SAP. … View full profile ›

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