Assign 4 SoMe strategy
- 1. Social media strategy<br />IntroductionAs social media is becoming the most important marketing tool, it is wise to consider how to implement this tool. What steps are there to undertake for businesses when they want to implement a successful social media strategy?Definition of `strategy’ according to Johnson and Scholes (2011): \" Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long-term: which achieves advantage for the organisation through its configuration of resources within a challenging environment, to meet the needs of markets and to fulfil stakeholder expectations\" . In other words strategy is about what the business wants to get in long-term, relevant markets, how to beat competitors, what resources to use, what factors will affect the competition and keeping the different stakeholders in mind.<br />Steps to undertake There are many thoughts and theories about the implementation of a social media strategy. Those theories describe different steps, though they also show overlapping aspects. One theory about how to implement social media business strategy is described by Laudy (2009). According to this theory, the steps to undertake are:1. Determine your objective. First organization have to know why they want to use social media and what they want to accomplish with it. `A benefit of defining objectives is that they can guide the timetable for implementation.’ 2. Find an internal evangelist. This means that within an organization a decision has to be made about which department is going to take care of social media. It will be more effective if one department makes the decisions about social media. Ofcourse organizations can also hire consultants from outside of the organization (external resources).3. Consider your employees. Organizations must understand the level of knowledge and interests of their employees. They can provide trainings to them and encourage them to participate in different social media.4. Check your tech. The organization has to look at the available technologies or else invest in it.5. Listen first. This step is important, as relevant information can be taken from others. The organization can learn by watching others, how have other organizations implement social media? What went wrong? The organization should listen to different ideas, and learn from other’s failures.An other theory, Baer (2009), explains successful social media in seven steps, which are:1. What’s your pitch? Explain what the company does.2. What’s the point? Why does the company use social media, what is the goal for using it?3. What’s your relationship with your audience? Chose a target group and find out what they already know about your company.4. How does your audience use social media? Find out for what reasons your audience use social media, how often they use it and how they use it.5. What’s your one thing? The company should have something that makes it unique and interesting for the audience. What does the company have that competitors do not have?6. How will you be human? It is all about people and let them feel they are being treated as such and they are being heard.7. How will you measure success? To see if social media has been successful a company should on beforehand chose methods of measurements.<br />Successful strategy? The fact that there are different opinions about how to implement a social media strategy proves that there is not only one perfect strategy. It depends on different factors like the industry, type and size of organization and products they offer, to decide which strategy to implement. By comparing different theories, there where some differences as well as agreements. The following things were overlapping in most of the theories: - It is important to listen to your audience when considering social media. You should have a target group to focus on and figure out how they use social media. - The company should have clear goals and objectives about what they want to achieve with social media. - You should be able to measure your goals and objectives. Then you will know if social media has been effective, what can be adjusted and what has to be improved.<br />BibliographyBaer, J. (2009). Social media strategy in 7 steps. Retrieved from<br />http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-marketing/develop-a-social-media-strategy-in-7-steps/<br />Johnson, Scholes. (2011). Strategy: What is strategy? Retrieved from <br />http://tutor2u.net/business/strategy/what_is_strategy.htmShin, N. (2010). 7 steps for a successful social media strategy. Retrieved from <br />http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/7-steps-for-a-successful-<br />social-media-strategy/<br />Lauby, S. (2009). How to: Implement a Social Media Business Strategy. Re-<br />trieved from http://mashable.com/2009/12/28/social-media-business-strategy/<br />