How to Manage Your Social Media Marketing Experience

I thought I had my social media world all figured out.  But that was before it got complicated and I lost track with what was really important.  Before long – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn — none of it seemed to have any purpose.  Even though I had policies and processes for what to do — I wasn’t as clear as to what my goals were with my social media strategy anymore.

Scott Allen’s Virtual Handshake and Social Media for Small Business Series to the Rescue

I hate to admit that my social media strategy had gotten away from me.  In fact, until I took the last couple of webinar sessions with OneCoach and Scott Allen — I thought my strategy was just fine.  But what I really learned was how important it is to make sure that you are clear on your marketing objectives, marketing strategy and how each social media and social networking tool is going to help you get there.

Enter The 7 Keys

In the Virtual Handshake (you can get a digital copy here)  Allen discusses the 7 Key Characteristic of a killer network that will help you focus your strategy.

• Character – How credible are you?  Do you give more than you take?  Do you inform or sell?
• Competence – Are you really an expert? Do you deliver?
• Relevance (to your short-term business objectives) – Make sure that the people in your network mesh with what you’re up to.  Don’t just go for quantity of people, make sure that they add quality to your network
• Information – This refers to the quality and quantity of information about the people that you have in your network.  In a sales classic “Swim With the Sharks”  Harvey Mackey talks about his 66 question customer profile.  The more of the 66 questions you have answered, the higher the likelihood that they will buy from you.  Still valid in the world of social media
• Strength – I like to call this loyalty or maybe obedience.  If you ask your network for something, how strong is your influence?  How likely are they to follow or take action on what you say?  A high response rate to your message makes a strong network.
• Number – How many?  If you’re in a consumer business such as a restaurant or an online business, you’ll want a large number of people in your network.  But they still have to be interested in your offer and be relevant.
• Diversity – Of course, it’s also good to have a nice mix of people in your network.  Diversity of network improves the level of conversation.

Allen recommends choosing about two of these keys to focus on, then set goals around those characteristics and choose set your social media strategies and tactics to align with those strategies.

What I’ve Done as a Result

It became VERY clear to me that I was spreading myself too thin and across communities that weren’t as relevant to my business goals.  For example – it makes complete sense for me to have a large number of marketing people in my community, but my DIYMarketers site is targeted to CEOs with no marketing department – and that means that I’m now spending MORE time on LinkedIn and more time in communities like Bizmore and FOCUS where more business owners hang out than marketing folks.  This was a huge help in how I managed my time.

How have you prioritized your social media strategies and tactics?  What tools or tips have you got?