Best Practices in Social Media Strategy & Platform Development
Branding + Design + Social Media
The use of Social Media amplifies your brand and strengthens your real-world connections. By engaging stakeholders in an open dialogue, we bring shape and longevity to B2B and B2C conversations.
It’s very easy to jump on Social Media and begin tweeting and posting status updates. However, you can be much more effective with a strategy in place. We believe in a 12-step process to create and execute that strategy.
Social Media Platform: Best Practices. 1) Assemble a Team 2) Present State Audit 3) Team Summit 4) Strategy 5) Policy 6) Guidelines 7) Global Training 8) Channel Development 9) Content Identification 10) Publication Calendar 11) Content Creation 12) Launch, Evaluate & Measure
Without a clearly defined platform, your social media presence lacks organization, reach and effectiveness.
1
Assemble a Team Before you write your first tweet or upload your first video, you need a team of Social Media ambassadors in place. Social Media can fulfill the communications needs of many departments within your organization. Bringing in an agency like Falk Harrison at step one helps get the process off on the right foot.
The Right Team •
External Social Media Consultant
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Internal Team Lead
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Public Affairs/Relations
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Sales and Marketing
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Research and Devlopment
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Human Resources
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Information Technology
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Investor Relations
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Procurement/Operations
2
Present State Audit Looking at where you are with Social Media to date is important. Even if you aren’t participating, your customers and competition are. Where are you currently showing up in Social Media channels, and how far along have your competitors and customers taken themselves in this arena?
3
Team Summit Organizations have many stakeholders, all with an opinion, all with goals of their own. Convening them in one room, with a trained moderator that understands Social Media, will yield a strategy everyone can own.
4
Strategy There are many social media channels to choose from, and not every one is a good fit. We strongly recommend centralizing your messaging on a blog.
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GRAND CENTRAL FOR CONTENT
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Policy A well-written social media policy will help mitigate risk, and keep HR and Legal happy. This will allow you to begin using Social Media.
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Guidelines “Don’t do anything stupid” won’t fly with your internal counsel. However, it’s a great place to start when writing guidelines. Understanding the ins and outs of each platform, proper time management and how the platforms work together is critical to continued success.
7
Global Training In-person training sessions are a great idea. However, when your team is comprised of a global cast, online training modules also work quite well.
8
Channel Development Your brand voice must carry through to every social channel you choose to use. From Twitter to Facebook to YouTube to your blog, a consistent brand voice makes you more recognizable, and easier to get to know. That familiarity comforts your audience, keeping them on your blog and website longer. They might even come back.
9
Content Identification Your Social Media team is a diverse and true representation of your company. Each has unique messages to tell. Identifying what is a distinct story from each vs. white noise is imperative in creativing and activating strong connective messaging.
10
Publication Calendar What if the whole world spoke at once? Would anyone be heard? Timing is everything, and planned content is most effective when posted around existing events. Scheduling content surrounding these key events will allow you time for more pressing matters ... like staying in contact with your customers.
11
Content Creation Blog posts can come in all shapes and sizes. Headlines, stories, graphs, videos, images, audio files, presentations, white papers and more - all excellent forms of sharable communication. Your content output needs to be less about what you do, and more about how and why you do it.
12
Launch, Evaluate & Measure You’ve navigated the first eleven steps, which is exciting. It’s time to flip the switch and begin the conversation. Over time, you want to figure out if it’s “working.” Various tools and metrics will be measured and adjusted. If you follow the 12 steps and maintain your focus on this medium, Falk Harrison believes your Social Media efforts will flourish for years.
Falk Harrison is a brand communication agency that solves today’s toughest communication challenges. Our approach focuses on asking the right questions, uncovering essential truths and distilling clear and meaningful messages. We call it “Discover The Remarkable®” — it’s our process, our product, our promise ... and it’s your story.
Branding
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The best brands stand for a big idea, a strategic position, a defined set of values and have a voice that sets them apart. We help organizations define and articulate their brands.
Design
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Great design is powerful. It organizes information in a thoughtful manner to visually express your brand. We use design to bring clarity to your story and engage your audience.
Social Media
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The use of social media amplifies your brand and strengthens your real-world connections. By engaging stakeholders in an open dialogue, we bring shape and longevity to B2B and B2C conversations.
For over 40 years, Falk Harrison has helped companies and organizations strengthen brand equity through a proven blend of strategy and design. We bring our unique perspective and a positive approach to consistently deliver results — connecting brands to audiences and shaping places in the market.
Let’s Talk Contact us today, and let’s get to work on telling the most important story ... yours. Falk Harrison 1300 Baur Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63132 Phone: 314.531.1410 Online: falkharrison.com Blog: falkharrison.com/blog Twitter: twitter.com/FalkHarrison Facebook: facebook.com/FalkHarrisonSTL
Branding + Design + Social Media
Branding + Design + Social Media
@FalkHarrison