Wendy K Emerson of SIGMA Marketing Group writes, “Many businesses are still fighting with a lack of strategy and pushing content out through social networks with no real way to measure, and no effort to really engage with consumers and prospects.” This comes up quite often when companies start looking to agencies for help managing their social media efforts.
Most social media plans were built with little thought to what the workflow process would look like if a consumer or client tweets their frustration with a nameless employee. With communication now moving at the speed of “like” many companies struggle to manage the two way flow of communication that comes with social media in a way that respects their organizational structure and allows them to continue moving to reach their goals.
In large organizations the issue is compounded by the many different layers and levels of content being pushed out, much of it unapproved and potentially at odds with the overall brand message of the organization. To help illustrate the importance of having an integrated social media strategy, a visual inspired by the glorious 80’s:
The black arrows represent companies, each working to move forward to meet their goals. Each arrow within the black arrows represents a department or office. Every arrow, big or small, is a part of the larger organization. The actions that each arrow takes will have an impact on the larger arrow.
Even in organizations that have traditionally been full of “aligned arrows” introducing social media without any plans for managing it at scale can cause each arrow to run screaming in a new direction.
When working with a company, regardless of the size, you need to establish a symbiotic relationship between the social media efforts and the organization’s goals. Integration delivers efficiency and increased returns. It lets you scale – build global, implement local.
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When she’s not working as a marketing manager for Make Me Social, Mandi Frishman enjoys lining up arrows to see how far they can go. During her time studying at The University of Florida, Mandi became convinced in the power of learning through play. She has since committed herself to playing (and learning) all day, every day.
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